My teacher for my service learning placement seems to use the learning theory of constructivism most often. She was going over spelling one day, and she would have the students give her examples of words that they knew made the sounds she was discussing (i.e. "Do you know any words with an 'oa' that makes the long 'o' sound?") Still discussing the long 'o' sound, she asked, "Would you guys say, 'Look at the coo?" Referring to the word cow, if following the 'ow' makes the long 'o' rule. She uses real-life experiences in order to teach the students, and they are able to make connections and better learn the material that she is teaching.
Regarding the different developmental levels of her students, my teacher works with groups that are on the same level specifically. I was working with her in the Reading Center and she has three groups of students, each group having different levels of reading ability. For example, one group of three students reads a very basic children's book with simple words and a simpler plot. Then, she has a larger group which is reading a longer book with larger words. She works with each group on their level, and understands what they each need. We were discussing the differences of the groups and she said that she knows the higher group needs to develop better reading comprehension, while the lower group needs to focus on being able to read the words. She works with different learning preferences quite fluently- meaning that there isn't necessarily a distinct "And this is for the visual learners" moment. While she was going over spelling she drew a diagram of the 'oa' vowel pair in which they are both walking but 'o' is talking, in order to demonstrate the saying "When two vowels go walking, the first one does the talking." Then, she gave some auditory examples, such as 'boat', 'load', and other words, making sure to carefully emphasize the sounds such that they could be picked up on by the auditory learners.
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