My Service Learning Observations: Part One

Through my first week of observation of my service learning teacher I have concluded that my teacher uses a lot of the behaviorism learning theory. They have a system set up where every day the students will either get a gold, silver or bronze. They get gold when they have been good all day. A silver is rewarded when they act out a little bit and this causes a note to be sent home to let their parents know. A bronze is rewarded when they act out multiple times throughout the day. When they earn a bronze, they get a note home to let their parents know and they go talk to the principle. On random days, the students with a gold get to go to the principles and get a prize. This works because the kids know the expectations and want the rewards. The teacher and the students have mutual respect and it is amazing how well this first-grade class is behaved.

Through my observation, I have also noticed that the teacher I'm observing is good at using all three learning styles. One part of her lesson comes to mind. They were reading from a book. The teacher read out loud to them but every student had a copy so they all had their own book to look at and every time they went on to the new page she'd say, "raise your hand into the air and dive those fingers down to the next page on the word...". This part of the class stood out to me because they were using all three learning styles. Auditory was used because they listened to the teacher read. Visual was used because they had their own copy of the book to look at and follow along. Kinesthetic was used when they raised their hands in the air and dove back down to the book. They could hear, see and move!