My personal theory of learning is extremely complex, I have many views, some of them

highly unpopular. Ive been lucky enough to have really good teachers in my lifetime therefore
its really easy to figure out the differences between good and bad teachers. For one they set high
expectations, they make class fun, they take into account every learning style, and they make an
impact on their students lives.
Characteristics
There are a couple of similarities between all of the great teachers
that have been a part of my life. For one they were fun, they always came up with ways to make
class entertaining, no one was ever bored, no matter how boring the subject was. Somehow they
made the periodic table and grammar entertaining. They all set very high expectations and
expected us to achieve them, personally I found it boring when teachers made things too easy so
I was grateful that they challenged me. They all had very different personalities, but they all
respected us and treated us like we were young adults, not children. I hated it when teachers
would belittle me and treat me like a child. They were experts in their respective fields and they
made the material easy to grasp, no matter how complicated it was. They were strict, but only in
their expectations. Ive had a couple of teachers who would not accommodate the needs of their
students and refused to change the way they taught, even though most of the students would fail
every single test. I specifically remember one, my chemistry teacher in High School, who would
expect us to write in our lab books in pen and then take off points when we made a mistake, we
couldnt use white out or rewrite the page because it was a composition book. She also refused to
give us any additional help and would only teach through lecture and then expected us to pass
the tests. The teachers that I consider to be the best always offered as much help as possible, set
high expectations, were experts in their field, made learning fun, were dedicated, and respected
us. This is the kind of teacher I hope to be and after observing Mr. Barrett I can see many
similarities between him and my other teachers, he has a way of making class fun no matter how
hard or boring the subject matter is. He uses music and pop culture references to make
connections to difficult material and it is something that I will definitely use this in my practice.
The one thing he did that I didnt particularly agree with was when he read straight out of the
book during his civics class. I realize that this is necessary sometimes, but I plan on avoiding it at
all costs.
Learning Styles
I believe it is very important to take different learning styles into
consideration. In advanced foundations we had to pick a theory to study and I chose the theory of
Multiple Intelligences by Howard Gardner. Gardnersdefinitionofintelligenceincludesseven
intelligences;sinceimplementation,thenumberofintelligenceshasgrowntonine(Helding,
2009,p.194).Theoriginalsevenconsistoflinguistic,logical/mathematical,spatial,
bodily/kinesthetic,interpersonal,intrapersonal,andmusical.Linguisticknowledgeinvolvesa
personsabilitytounderstandandusespokenandwrittencommunication,italsoinvolves
onesabilitytocommunicateeffectivelyandtouselanguageasawaytorecallinformation
(Moran,Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.25;Brualdi,1998).Logical/mathematicalknowledgeis
theabilitytouseandunderstandnumbersandlogic,peoplewiththisabilityarealsogoodat
detectingpatternsandreasoningdeductively(Moran,Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.25;
Brualdi,1998).Spatialknowledgeinvolvesonesabilitytomanipulateandcreatementalimages
inordertosolveproblems,peoplewiththisknowledgeareabletoorientanddirectthemselves
(Moran,Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.25;Brualdi,1998).Bodily/kinestheticknowledgeisthe
abilitytocoordinatephysicalmovement,itisalsotheabilitytouseonesmentalabilitiesto

coordinateonesownbodilymovements(Moran,Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.25;Brualdi,
1998).Interpersonalknowledgeispresentwhenoneisabletounderstandandinteracteasilyand
wellwithpeers,inotherwords,youareawareofotherpeoplesfeelingsandemotions(Moran,
Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.25;Brualdi,1998).Intrapersonalknowledgeisonesabilityto
understandanduseonesthoughts,feelings,preferences,andinterests;inotherwordsitisthe
abilitytounderstandonesownthoughtsandemotions(Moran,Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.
25;Brualdi,1998).Thefinaloriginalintelligence,musical,istheabilitytounderstandanduse
suchconceptsasrhythym,pitch,melody,andharmony,itisimportanttonotethatauditory
functionsarenecessaryforapersontodevelopthisintelligence(Moran,Kornhaber,&Gardner,
2006,p.25;Brualdi,1998).
Thenewadditionalintelligencesincludeexistentialandnaturalistic.Existential
knowledgeistheabilitytocontemplatephenomenaorquestionsbeyondsensorydata,suchas
theinfiniteandinfinitesimal,(Moran,Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.25).Finally,naturalistic
knowledgeistheabilitytodistinguishandcategorizeobjectsorphenomenainnature,(Moran,
Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.25).Itisimportanttonotethattheseintelligencesdonothaveto
beindependentofeachother,theycancollaboratewitheachotherand,thoughrare,canall
coexistwithinoneperson.Forexample,anastronautwillmostlikelypossesstheexistential,
naturalistic,spatial,andlogicalintelligences;amusicteacherwillmostlikelypossessthe
linguistic,musical,interpersonal,andintrapersonalintelligences.
Ineducationthistheorycanhelpinstructorsidentifyastudentsknackandexploitit.Ifa
studentishavingtroublewithhisorhersocialskills,byusingthistheoryateachercancomeup
withplanstostrengthenhisorherinterpersonalandintrapersonalskills.Ifastudentisstruggling
withwritingapaper,ateachercanmaybegivethatstudentstheoptiontomakeapresentation,
designaboard,orcreateamusicalpiece.Withthistheoryteacherscanobservestudent
performancetofindrootcausesofmisunderstandingsandtofigureouthowstudentscanachieve
superiorunderstanding,(Moran,Kornhaber,&Gardner,2006,p.26).
WhatIplanondoingistocategorizeeachstudenttothebestofmyability,underwhat
intelligencesuitsthembest,duringthefirstweekofschool.Listthem,andthenastheyear
progressesrevertbacktothatclassificationanddiversifymylessonplans.IfIhavealargegroup
ofstudentswiththemusicalintelligence,Iwilltrytoaddmusicclipstomyclass,forexample,
whileteachingtheprocessofturningabillintoalaw,Icanshowthemtheschoolhouserock
songImjustabill.IfIhavealargegroupofstudentswithainterpersonalintelligence,Iwill
makesuretoletthemworkingroupsorpartnersasoftenaspossible.Ifmostofmystudents
possessthelinguisticintelligence,Iwillmakesuretolectureoften,aswellashavethemwrite
morepapers,makemorepresentations,etc.Thepossibilitiesareendless,andthiswayImtaking
intoaccountthefactthateverychildisdifferentandcomplexintheirwayoflearningand
understanding.
Inclusion
I believe that full inclusion is unrealistic. While these students may
be of the same intelligence level they require more attention that should be given to them by
individual teachers. In my mind, full inclusion harms both special and general education
students; a teacher with 20 kids cannot be focusing on one student while disregarding the rest
and at the same time that teacher cannot be focusing on the majority while disregarding the
special education students. Perhaps my views will change with the continuation of my education
and with actual experience but for now my view remains that partial inclusion is the best

approach. My opinions have not changed, if anything they have only been reinforced by my job
at the Intermediate Unit.
Reflection III
Right now there are many things that I need to improve on. After
teaching my first class, I have realized that I need time management skills. My very first lesson, I
went too fast and had twenty minutes to spare, I panicked, and this is something I need to work
on. I think I did much better when I taught my second lesson, I took into consideration the advice
given by Mr. Barrett and Zach and I added a bell ringer at the beginning of class and I wrote all
of the Southern states on the board. My instructions were clear, which is why I didnt understand
why some students were having trouble with them; I was later told that that class had the biggest
number of IEPs. I later addressed this for my third class and kept emphasizing the southern
UNITED STATES.
I feel very comfortable speaking in front of a class. I have always had trouble with public
speaking but with the practice that I have had in my classes, I have gotten much better at it. I am
also comfortable with my content knowledge, I feel like I prepare myself well for student
questions and the content of the lesson. I am also comfortable with student participation, I
believe that I am good at getting kids to answer my questions, I dont let them just sit there, I
make sure that they participate in class discussions.
With that being said there is always room for improvement, apart from time management,
I need to work on the amount of time I speak. While I believe I did a good job at involving the
students, I felt like I talked too much. I was getting tired of my own voice and I need to come up
with more activities, even for lessons that are mostly direct instruction. That is very hard to do
with students who are unfamiliar with my expectations and my style of teaching. I will address
these areas by doing more research on activities that help students understand the content I am
trying to teach.