“let us think of education as the means of developing our greatest abilities, because in each of us there is a private hope and dream which fulfilled can be translated into benefit for everyone and greater strength for our nation.”

-John F. Kennedy-

     I believe an educator is someone who embodies a little or a lot of each theorist,  which includes great names like: Richard Mayer, B.F Skinner, Benjamin Bloom, Jerome Brunner, Jean Piaget, Vygotsky, and Carl Rodgers.  Educators don't just hold one theorist as the perfect one to follow, yet use parts of these many theorists to plan, teach, and evaluate one's instruction.  Like the educator in the ancient Indian parable who brought her seven blind students to “see” an elephant. Each one of the blind students touched a different part of the elephant and came up with various answers to what the elephant looked like. The teacher only observed and smiled at students as they gave answers.  For example, one student felt the truck and exclaimed “The elephant is like a big snake.  Of course, not all of the seven blind students came up with the same answer.  But when all seven blind men’s ideas came together they now could picture what an elephant is.  In the same way, each theorist is telling us how students learn.  It is up to me as an educator to put the pieces together.

    Next, I understand that each one of my students is an individual, unique, and one of a kind.  They have their own learning style and process information at their own pace and cognitive level.  Norm Piaget and others with their cognitive theory helped me understand this. My lessons will be differentiated to include students who are at different stages of development such as sensor motor, pre-operational, concrete operational, and formal operational stages.  I am also aware that students use different ways to process information such as body-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal,  verbal linguistics, logical-mathematical, musical, and naturalistic (Gardener).  It will be my goal to not display or produce frustration but embrace diversity in producing lessons that embody all learning styles. I also plan to incorporate tolerance for diversity which includes: race, ethnicity, cultural, economic, and academic backgrounds. 

    Finally, it is important to allow my students to discover how to solve problems instead of me giving them the answers. I plan on making open-ended problems that relate to real-life experiences. This can help students understand that what is learned in class is relevant outside the classroom.  It will be okay to bring their interest into the classroom to coincide with the comprehension concepts.  I also plan to guide my students in their learning when needed For example, using the zone of proximal development (ZPA) by Vygotsky, will assist me in helping my students bridge the gap between what they already know to what they don’t know. Reading theorists like Richard Mayer, B.F Skinner, Benjamin Bloom, Jerome Brunner, Jean Piaget, Vygotsky, Carl Rodgers, and other theorists helped me understand that learning can be active and relative to the real world.