SIGNATURE ASSIGNMENT

Analyzing and Applying Teaching and Learning Theories

Maria de Jesus Rocha
Arizona State University

EDP 310: Ed Psychology for Non-Teachers

Professor Dr. Newsome
Signature Assignment
October, 25, 2016

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Analyzing and Applying Teaching and Learning Theories

Children are curious learners and a teachers main priority is to nurture their love of
learning. A childs learning process can be a bit of a challenge for some which can be very
frustrating for the child. Luckily for them, there are different styles of teaching and learning
methods teachers can implement in their classroom to support every type of learning styles.
These learning theories were created with our children in mind and to help them enhance their
learning.
The learning theory that caught my attention and plan to use in my future classroom is
active learning. This method of teaching will ensure each student to have a better understanding
of the material being taught in class. In our readings it explains how active learning helps
students discover rules and principles themselves rather than imitate adult performance.
(Vousden, Wood, and Holliman, 2014). If I look back onto my high school years, I remember
disliking this type of teaching method only because I was a very shy student growing up. I never
raised my hand to ask or answer questions, and it was rare for me to volunteer for anything. Now
that I am older I regret not being more involved in class. This theory can potentially be a
challenge to implement in any classroom. Initially, students will not want to participate for a
number of reasons. Either they are too shy or stubborn to participate, or for whatever reason it
should not stop teachers from trying it out. I know I was never a huge fan of active learning, but
if my teachers were pushier and made it fun, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. It is all about
how teachers present it to the class and push students to do it.
Background Information on the Interviewee
The teacher I have asked to interview works for a high school in Salinas, California. His

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name is Nicholas Perry and I met him a few years back when I was doing some volunteer work
for a class. He is a very kind and fun teacher. His students love how honest he is and how he
treats them like adults. He has been working for Salinas High for 3 years and before that, he was
working in El Sausal middle school for another two years. Mr. Perry is an English teacher for
freshmen and sophomores.
Mr. Perrys Teaching Methods
Mr Perry is in his late thirties and I could see how much he enjoys teaching English. I
was curious to know what learning methods he enjoyed learning about when he was still in
college. He automatically responded constructivism. The one theory that stuck out from back in
college was constructivism and social learning were the two that he focused on the most.
According to Educational Psychology, it states that constructivism it the an active
constructive process, determined by the child, rather than by external teachings or even by
internal maturation (Holliman, p.45). Mr. Perry did mention how project based learning is a big
deal right now. He went on to explain how project based learning is the basis in his curricula
especially because of the population in Salinas. The children learn best this way for the reason
being that they learn by doing. Students learn by creating their own product that they could then
explain using the technology available to them by the schools.
A second theory Mr. Perry enjoyed learning about was social learning. This theory holds
that children develop behaviors as a result of watching what other people do (Holliman, p. 45).
Mr. Perry uses the social learning theory with something like productive group work, where it is
not just group work but the students also have learning goals. Based on the learning goal they
have to take on certain roles and they all work together and they all have accountability for what
they are doing. In my opinion, social learning theory is the one that everyone uses because we all

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learn through observations.

These are the two learning theories Mr. Perry spends the most time with in his classroom
because he only has a limited amount of time before the bell rings to dismiss the class. He has
had the most success with it these two theories because they work for him and his students.
Active learning has helped his students take the nervousness away, they have the chance to
collaborate and work together. They have the opportunity to learn while they also learn how to be
as a team and how to research and organize information within the group. In our textbook
Educational Psychology, it states that for a teacher to be effective, educators must be mindful
of the intellectual growth of children and encourage them to discover rules and principles
themselves rather than imitate adult performance (Holliman, p.46). I plan to use this theory in
my own classroom to support their learning process.
Demographics
In the Salinas community, there are more than half of Hispanics and Latinos. With that
said, Mr. Perry has a lot of ELLs and LTELs students in his classroom. He also mentions how
he has a few SPED students and they have various types of learning differences. In his classroom
he tries to how what he considers normal students or average students is a very small percentage
of most of his classes. I then went ahead and asked which group are the most challenging to
work with and he said the ELD students. Most of ELD students are really low students because
they come from a socioeconomic disadvantage area, such as Salinas. They do not hold much
value in education because to them it is all about going out to parties and doing drugs. For the
most part, he definitely tries his best to speak to them like there people rather than just students.
He understands that he needs to try and make what they are learning significant in terms of how
it is applicable in the real life and not just college because most of these students are not college

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bound. If teachers participate in the community, they will learn language and practices to
become more central person within it as your competency and experience improve (Holliman,
p.58). Teachers must also do their part and immerse themselves into the community to better
understand the student as an individual and where they come from to enhance their teaching
methods. Teachers will feel more connected with their students and the students will in return
work harder to learn.
Conclusion
If I would have taken active learning more seriously, I would have had no trouble in
understanding the material being taught in class and I would have been more social with my
classmates. Active learning not only helps students understand the material but it also pushes
them to feel comfortable talking in front of the class. They develop better social skills and gain
confidence in themselves. Active learning is a fun way of learning, students have the chance to
get up and show the class what they learned. It can be a bit intimidating, but with practice and
patience they will learn to have fun with it.

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6
References

Vousden, J. & Wood, C. & Holliman, J. (2014). Theories of Teaching and Learning In A.
Holliman (Ed.), The Routledge International Companion to Educational Psychology (p.
43-51). Oxon: Routledge.
Holliman, A. J. (Ed.). (2014). The Routledge International Companion to
Educational Psychology. Oxon: Routledge. ISBN: 9780415675604 or
9780203809402 (e-text)