Benchmark – Personal Philosophy and Theory of Teaching and Learning

Benchmark – Personal Philosophy and Theory of Teaching and Learning
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Benchmark – Personal Philosophy and Theory of Teaching and Learning
The learning and teaching process is diverse. The process's outcome depends on the techniques being used by the educators and learners. For instance, collaboration is one of the main techniques educators and learners have been using to create a difference in the teaching and learning outcome. Collaboration between the educators and their colleague’s aids in creating innovative techniques and classroom practices. Learners use collaboration to enhance their cognitive capabilities. Therefore, this paper will focus on the various learning theories applicable in my desired work environment. It will also analyze the various principles of collaboration and how they can facilitate positive outcomes in the learning and teaching process. The paper will further discuss the roles of a leader and follower in the collaboration process regarding leadership. The final section will discuss a personal philosophy of the teaching and learning process and a rationale for my preferred learning theory.
The behaviorist theory points out that punishment or rewards are the key motivating factors t learning. Therefore, the theory is commonly used as a tool for behavior correction. The theory focuses on the concept of repetition to correct behavior. Rewards motivate the learners to be in their best behavior, while punishment helps them evade behavior that could result in them being punished. Such indicates that rewards would encourage the repetition of a particular behavior while punishments would discourage the same. The rewards or punishment used in the behaviorist theory can be negative or positive. For instance, if a certain concept is applied in the environment, the outcome is considered positive punishment. If a concept is removed from the environment, the outcome is considered to be a negative reward. Therefore, educators' role is to identify the rewards or punishments that could work best in their teaching environment. Behavior control facilitates the creation of a conducive learning environment. In turn, learners understand concepts better in a conducive learning environment as compared to an unconducive environment. Therefore, the behaviorist theory would be ideal in my desired work environment.
The cognitive theory would also be ideal in my desired work environment because it focuses on how the human mind functions. In the class environment, learners are expected to take information, process it, and use it to bring learning outcomes. The ability of a student to do so depends on their cognitive abilities. Such explains why some learners find it easy to understand concepts while others take a while to comprehend the same concept. The theory is ideal for use since it enables the educator to focus on individual learner needs. It is one of the theories commonly used to facilitate collaboration and mentorship. Once the educator has identified the students learning abilities, they can easily design a teaching schedule that would accommodate each learner (Al-Rahmi & Zeki, 2017). Learning is considered a collaborative process that facilitates cognitive development. Therefore, through the cognitive theory, educators can help develop the learner’s cognitive abilities. Students tend to perform better when working collaboratively with learners that have higher proficiency level. The educator can identify students with high proficiency through the cognitive theory and group them with those with low proficiency. Such would enhance the classes’ overall performance.
The constructivist theory would also be ideal for use in the current desired work environment. According to the theory, the learner is viewed as a knowledge constructor. The theory argues that knowledge only exists in people’s minds. Such knowledge does not necessarily have to match real-world concepts. It is, therefore, an indication that human beings have a great capacity to construct knowledge. However, these abilities differ from one person to another. Learners will constantly create models regarding the real world. These models are based on the different perceptions that the learners get from the real world. The theory is based on the learner’s experience before joining the school. The theory makes it easy for educators to pass across information because they know how to use their cognitive abilities to synthesize information. In most cases, educators’ group high-proficiency students with those with a low proficiency to enhance cognitive abilities.
Collaboration plays an important role in the teaching and learning process to help a student build interpersonal skills. Such skills would be beneficial during their career growth process. Collaboration can occur on different levels. For instance, a collaboration between the students and the educators facilitates the achievement of the student’s academic goals. Collaboration between educators and their colleagues helps in the creation of innovative teaching techniques and classroom practices. Several collaboration principles facilitate the teaching and learning process.
One of the principles of collaboration is that an individual’s benefit is equally important for the whole group. Through collaboration, people with low proficiency can collaborate with those with high proficiency to facilitate quick comprehension of concepts. For instance, when educators collaborate, they come up with ideal classroom practices that benefit all learners. If one of the educators does not collaborate with the other colleagues, they will not apply the identified classroom practices. In turn, their learners will be disadvantaged compared to the learners whose educators participated in the collaboration process. When students collaborate, they clarify challenging concepts that some of them might not have understood. Such reduces the number of questions regarding previous concepts that the students might ask during class time. The overall outcome is that the benefit of every learner or educator is bene...