Many of my beliefs about learning are rooted in Developmental theories and Constructivism, as was shown in my TPI results of Developmental

and Apprenticeship. Looking back at my personal theory of learning, my concept map and the readings, activities, and discussions of this course, I feel I can clearly see how many of the theories presented not only relate to one another , but help to reinforce my teaching perspectives and converge to form my theory of learning. Learning is about making connections... (Anderson, 2008, p.49) I believe that this can best be achieved when learners are able to make meaningful connections between new and previous knowledge. Information needs to be appropriate to the learners level of understanding and activities scaffolded to best meet their abilities thereby allowing them to operate in their Zone of Proximal Development. Learners need to have ownership of their learning and learning goals, as well as opportunities to reflect on these. Learning is a social enterprise. (Driscoll, 2005, p.234) The influence of ones culture and community cannot be ignored, as they dictate what concepts and skills are valued and important to learn. Learners need to be afforded the opportunity to collaborate with others and to participate in discussion and activities that will help create meaningful connections. Through this participation and collaboration, a community is created in which all learners are members and learn from one another. As a teacher, my job is to know where my students are and what they still need to learn. I need to guide learning through questioning and examples that allow them to think critically and discover or create their own connections, while remembering each learners culture and community. Tasks and activities should be as authentic as possible and based in a real-world application. While I believe that there are concepts from other theories that are important to learning, I feel that those presented by Constructivism and Developmental theorists are most prevalent in my teaching and my beliefs around learning.

References

Anderson, T. (2008). Toward a theory of online learning. In T. Anderson & F. Elloumi (Eds.) Theory and Practice of Online Learning, Chapter 2 (pp. 45-74). Retrieved November 10, 2011 from: http://www.aupress.ca/books/120146/ebook/02_Anderson_2008_Anderson-Online_Learning.pdf Driscoll. M.P. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction (pp. 227-244; Ch. 7 Interactional Theories of Cognitive Development). Toronto, ON: Pearson. Driscoll. M.P. (2005). Psychology of Learning for Instruction (pp. 384-407; Ch. 11 Constructivism). Toronto, ON: Pearson. Miller, P. H. (2002). Theories of Developmental Psychology, 4th Ed. (pp. 367-396; Vygotskys SocioCultural Approach). New York: Worth. Pratt, D.D. (2002). Good teaching: One size fits all? In Jovita Gordon (Ed.), An Update on Teaching Theory. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Retreived September 8th, 2011 from: http://www.teachingperspectives.com/PDF/goodteaching.pd Wenger,E. McDermott, R. and Snyder,W.M. (2002) Cultivating Communities of Practice: A Guide to Managing Knowledge - Seven Principles for Cultivating Communities of Practice. Retrieved from: http://hbswk.hbs.edu/archive/2855.html