Blog Entry #2 Assignment

I am doing my service learning hours with Mrs. Porritt. I spent a full school day with her and learned that she uses a combination of all three learning styles. 


Behaviorism- Positive behaviors are reinforced while negative behaviors are discouraged. She uses “class bucks”. When someone volunteers to answer a question, is on task, or does something kind for someone in their class she makes a tally mark by their name on the board. At the end of the day, a student is assigned to hand out class bucks for every tally mark. Negative behavior receives a fine that must be paid at the end of the day. There is a jar at the front of the class that is marked “smart cookie”. There are fake chocolate cookies that are put in the jar when the class as a whole is on task and following directions. The reward for this is a class-wide reward such as 5 minutes more recess or 5 minutes more read-aloud time. 


Cognitivism- A lesson was taught about the 7 natural wonders of the world. A hook was used asking the students what some vocabulary words meant such as scenic and landscape. After that was determined she used the hook of asking the students what the most scenic place they had ever been was. This made them very excited to share and discuss. The teacher then moved on to the 7 wonders and where they were located. The lesson was chucked in digestible parts. First, what the vocabulary meant. Second, what the wonders were. Third, where on the map they were located. She used graphic organizers on the board for all three sections of the lesson.


Constructivism- For Math, the students were working on rounding. They had a mystery to figure out which Robot broke out of the Lab. They used cooperative learning groups to be the agents that solved the mystery of the robot through the rounding worksheets. Their groups were all different sizes. She let the students choose. I walked around and helped with this activity. It was interesting to hear the students bounce their ideas off of each other. They helped their teammates figure out where they had made a mistake if they were stuck.


I enjoyed seeing how all three learning theories were used. I felt that on this day she used them all equally. 



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