I think the easiest way to know if the learning theories in the classroom are prevalent (notice I don't say how I know that I'm using the theories) is by analyzing what the students' ZPD's are. I would first ask myself what the average student has knowledge of the subject already and try to expand that. For example, if I am a teaching 9th grade Spanish or ESL/ELL class, and the students already know how to speak in the present tense, I would try to teach them to speak in the present progressive tense. However not everyone, especially in foreign language class, may have the same abilities or understanding of the material as others. I would have to explain the how the tenses work in different ways so they can understand it. I would think about what their schemas are and have to find a way to fix it (CLT).
In regards to Developmental Learning Theory, I would need to ask myself what would be concrete for them to understand and how concrete does it need to be. Then if the students can't understand it that way, how can I make it more concrete? I would also have to ask myself when is the right time to go abstract.
For Social LT, I would need to ask myself how I word what I say. For example, if I am teaching ELL, I would have to speak in slow, simple English, but if I'm teaching Spanish I would have to speak Spanish slowly and simply as well. I would also need to ask myself who the more knowledgeable peers are and to what affect would their presence in the classroom be.
I liked that you included all three theories in your blog post along with details for what you would do for each learning theory. I also found it helpful that you showed specific examples for CLT and SLT in order to help ELL students learn. What example would you use for DLT and ELL students?
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