Sep
11
There was a great strategy we learned about in our
video this week. Talking about moving
the clip, as a student displays a certain behavior. The clip will be moved either up or down depending
on the behavior both good and bad. This
is form of behaviorist learning theory.
We just have to be careful that we don’t rely too much on behaviorist
theory. Mainly because the learning
environment can become very negative very fast, and we must try to keep it a
positive one.
Reinforcing our students effort is a very important teaching strategy. Students need to be given many examples of what a good effort is. They are so apt to just not try if they feel it is something they are unable to achieve in. I have so many students in my art classes that tell me they can't do something even before they start the lesson or even pick up a paint brush or carving tool. They need to know how effort relates to achievement. How do we expect our students to be able to know just how far they can go if they were never pushed or shown what their true limitations are. We always tell them give us your best. How do they know what their best is if they don't have good effort? It is up to us to show them they can succeed.
Now I do not assign home work to my students. I recommend to them to take work home if they are falling behind but only as a way to stay caught up with the other students in class. It is hard to tell students to practice at home and really mean that. I know when I was in school homework was never looked at as a good thing. So I never allowed myself to think of it as a way to reinforce what I learned at school or to strengthen new concepts taught or skills learned. So the idea of homework goes back to that idea of negative learning environment. I am not sure how we can show a positive spin on behaviorist theory and homework. If anyone has an idea please share with all of us.
References
Reinforcing our students effort is a very important teaching strategy. Students need to be given many examples of what a good effort is. They are so apt to just not try if they feel it is something they are unable to achieve in. I have so many students in my art classes that tell me they can't do something even before they start the lesson or even pick up a paint brush or carving tool. They need to know how effort relates to achievement. How do we expect our students to be able to know just how far they can go if they were never pushed or shown what their true limitations are. We always tell them give us your best. How do they know what their best is if they don't have good effort? It is up to us to show them they can succeed.
Now I do not assign home work to my students. I recommend to them to take work home if they are falling behind but only as a way to stay caught up with the other students in class. It is hard to tell students to practice at home and really mean that. I know when I was in school homework was never looked at as a good thing. So I never allowed myself to think of it as a way to reinforce what I learned at school or to strengthen new concepts taught or skills learned. So the idea of homework goes back to that idea of negative learning environment. I am not sure how we can show a positive spin on behaviorist theory and homework. If anyone has an idea please share with all of us.
References
Pitler, H., Hubbel, E. R., & Kuhn, M. (2012). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works. Alexandria: ASCD
Posts
4 comments:
(Sorry if I posted this twice, but I posted it, and then it seemed to disappear.)
One of my children's teachers used this system, but I loved that she actually started all the students at "Having a good day" which was actually the second level on the chart. The students then also had an opportunity to move up to the top level which was something like "Heart of Gold".
John,
Many of the elementary teachers in my building have gone to the 'clip up/clip down' system over the last two years because it offers the student the opportunity improve and have the day turn out good, even if something bad might have happened in the day. The older system of warnings and then pulling a card, moving a bear, etc., never rewarded the student for improving their behavior once a problem had occurred.
Being a music teacher, I do not assign homework, either, but as a student myself, and as a parent, I have always seen and felt a value in homework. It gives students the opportunity to process and apply new information at their pace, see if they fully understand the material that has been presented to them, and develop any questions they might have for their teachers the next day.
I can see homework being connected to behaviorism, but I view it more as an important aspect to learning. With our short school days, there is just no way that a teacher can get everything covered at school, so homework provides the opportunity to extend lessons.
Julie
I also do not give much homework for students. Remembering back to my school days, we either copied the homework or did not do it at all. So to eliminate that problem, we do the work we need to in class. We do a variety of activities and then there is always time to complete their work. If there is a student who needs more time, they always have the option to take that work home or finish it in a study hall. It also allows me the opportunity to be there will they are working on it. They can ask questions, work together, or use the textbook to clear up any confusion. This helps me create a positive learning environment because kids know they will not have homework and class time to learn and complete their work.
John,
I love that you recognize the negative effects of behaviorist learning theory if relied upon too much. I also use the clip up/ clip down system in addition to Class Dojo. Using a combination of the two seems to work best for me.
You asked about homework and how we can get students to make the connection between homework and achievement. I think that we could try incorporating homework into a Google Doc Spreadsheet as suggested in chapter 2 of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works. Students could rate their effort, quiz grade, and homework completion and then we could have them generate a line graph to show them how they all three work together. What do you think?
I also think that simply conferencing with students after they make a good grade, "Hey, you did so much extra practice for homework and at school and look how it helped you on this test!" Over time I think they will see the connection between efforts in homework and scores in school.
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