1. Classes like AEE 349 (agricultural mechanics) which are out of my comfort zone no longer scare me silly.
2. This lack of fear is a result of proper scaffolding by the professor to help me learn.
3. This is what I aspire to achieve in my future classroom.
As I come closer to the reality of teaching living-breathing students in less than a year I have begun to reflect and piece together theories and ideas from my various classes to form a larger picture of education.
Dr. Schocker taught me in my Psychology of Education and Theory of Education courses about "the Zone of Proximal Development" by Vygotsky in my first year at Penn State. This theory made sense to me and has been a key factor in my development thus far. Although, it wasn't until recently that I began to notice that every effective teacher and professor in my life has utilized this theory in their classroom to be successful.
An example of this theory put to action would be in AEE 349, where the past few weeks we have been learning about Oxy-acetylene cutting and SMAW welding.
1. In the beginning of the semester Dr. Ewing (@jce122) assessed what we knew about these topics with a survey so that he knew where to start with our group.
2. He took the time to teach us the theory of these practices in addition to the proper safety procedures to keep us safe while we are learning.
3. He, our TA, and the welding teacher at CPI helped us run our first beads or cuts if we were struggling or scared.
This component was a great to observe that all students need different levels of scaffolding
4. They allowed us to learn on our own as they supervised us, giving us assignments and tasks that were attainable but required practice and thought.
