Free Response - Chapters 9/10 - M Swaney

What ideas/concepts caught your attention and why?

The concept of classical conditioning with the story of Alan who played baseball and got hit when a ball was pitched to him caught my attention. My oldest son was hit by a baseball that was pitched to him and then it happened a second time in the batting cage. Being able to relate to this story made it much easier for me to think about the process of classical conditioning and behaviorism.

What ideas/concepts did you struggle with and why?

The concept that I struggle with is positive and negative reinforcement. I'm still trying to wrap my head around the negative reinforcement being a removal of a stimulus rather than a type of punishment.

What are your unanswered questions about the material?

In thinking about a Deaf/Hard of Hearing student who is in a mainstream school/classroom setting, I'm curious if there has been a study regarding the use of the different theories and how students learning is/was impacted. It would be interesting to see the level of self-efficacy of children who were studied and how they positively or negatively responded to the approach. Were there areas that either the teacher or interpreter could have made a greater impact on the students level of learning?

Can you relate to any of the concepts on a personal level? How so?
Group contingency was used in EDPY 201 and for the most part the use of this approach was very effective. I know that for me getting together with other individuals and working together to help one another provided me with much needed feedback in areas that I was lacking.

As a teacher/interpreter, how do you see the ideas in the chapter applying to you?

I think as an interpreter and possibly as a teacher I lean more to the social-cognitive theory/approach. I believe strongly in modeling behavior and leading by example. I believe that individual we are teaching/leading are not going to produce a behavior that we are not exhibiting ourselves. 

Free Response- Chapter 9/10 Edmonds

      In chapter 9, what caught my attention was the "Consequences That serve as Effective Punishment" section. I was really surprised to find that Verbal reprimands were seen as effective, especially scolding. I had always heard that this was the wrong way to try and get to your students. The reasoning for this was because students would tune out the teacher or it would have no effective impact, but after reading that it can be done in a effective manner, I am able to see why it would be effective. You have to make it infrequent, immediate, brief, and unemotional. From the "Consequences That May Undermine Desired Behavior Changes" section, I completely agreed that assigning extra homework to a student who is misbehaving  is inappropriate. As teachers, our goal is to help students engage in class and find learning fun. If we are punishing them with what we are trying to get them to enjoy, we will never have successful punishment.

In chapter 10, I found the bullet point "Learners' expectations are influenced by what happens to other people as well as to themselves" to be interesting. I never had actually though about this statement, but, after reading the section, it makes sense that students observe one another more than teachers think. If a student sees a majority of the class studying and participating in class, he knows that this will result in good grades. Therefore, he is going to mock their behavior to get good grades. Hopefully, as a teacher, I will be able to set up a learning environment where students set this example to their classmates.

QTC chapter 9/10

a) How would you define successful mastery of your lesson objectives from a behavioral view of learning? From a social cognitive view of learning?

I believe that mastery of a lesson or objective will vary depending on the lesson.  There will be some lessons where the mastery level will be much higher than in others.  From a behavioral view of learning, mastery could be measured by observations and defined as being able to show understanding.  From a social cognitive view of learning, mastery is what defines a person’s self-efficacy.  Success will raise a student’s self-efficacy.  With this being said, mastery could be defined as performing a task successfully that will then strengthen your sense of self-efficacy.

b) Consider your CSEL intervention case study.  Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case?  What are they?  Conversely, how might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?

Lisa could be acting this way due to a low self-efficacy and self-regulation.  In order to encourage her to interact with her group and participate, it would be important to work on strengthening these areas in her schoolwork.  You would need to use the behaviorist approach and look at the way she interacts in her group.  Since she does not want to participate, I would look at the areas where she does want to.  If there is a specific job that she desires, build up her self-efficacy by giving her that job for now, but possibly have her take some of the responsibility from other jobs as well. You would also need to help her regulate her behaviors by making her aware of how she behaves. 

DRAKE QTC 8

b) Consider your CSEL intervention case study. Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case? What are they? Conversely, how might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?


High School Case Study


There are many tools that can be used from a Behaviorist standpoint regarding the seniors in the classroom, as well as the boys that continue to disrupt and even bully other students.  I have seniors in my first block class, and there is nothing more difficult than getting seniors to (A) come to first block, and (B) be motivated to participate and stay on task. I use a lot of positive reinforcers to motivate kids to act appropriately and stay on task, and these reinforcers would also apply to the High School Case Study. The seniors are ready to be out of high school and know that time is drawing nearer, so as teachers, we must grab their attention and make the class exciting and beneficial to them. This way, they see staying on task and attendance as rewarding. Teachers can even make being attentive during class a game. "Whoever answers the most questions correctly at the end of class will receive a prize of some sort tomorrow". Make activities, notes, the WHOLE CLASS if need be, a game. Another positive reinforcement would be having a quiz at the end of class to go over what was covered that day, however I believe the kids will respond better to a game-like approach. For the misconduct issues of disturbing class, interupting others, and having phones out constantly, I would use BOTH positive reinforcement and negative punishment (and I do use both). I would use negative punishment by taking away students' phones if they continued to have them out and it became a disruption in their learning environment. If students interrupted others or disrupted class with bullying, I would have them stay after class for two minutes. If that did not work, I would contact their parents as a positive punishment, or last resort send them to the office for reprimand. However, with phones and other disciplinary issues, I would have a positive reinforcement for acting appropriately.  If there were no inappropriate disturbances, acts of disrespect to one another or myself, and if no phones were taken up that week, I would allow students to have some reward at the end of the week. This could be donuts I bring in, a game they want to play, or just social time.  All of these would reinforce a Behaviorist approach in that students would strive to meet that reward and hopefully work to avoid the punishments.

Self-efficacy could come into play with a lot of seniors in the sense that they feel as though they have done as much as they can do to pass school, and they either are or they aren't, and that is that. Nothing they can do (or not do) is going to help them pass or make them fail. Therefore, they do not try or feel as though they do not have to and come in to a sort of invincibility mindset.  I would point out certain ideas to them that if they are not passing because of missing work or poor grades, they will have to take their final or even do summer school after graduation in order to technically graduate.  I would allow students to regulate themselves after explaining the new rules implementation to them. They have the choice to make the right decisions, and they have the choice to get rewarded or punished. The fact that they may miss out on something fun at the end of the week, or they may make their classmates miss out on something fun, may make them act appropriately and stay on task. 

Group Differences Appalachia (Thaller)

I am a native Appalachian. My ancestors were Appalachians for as far back as I know anything about. My grandmother was born in what is now the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and my great-great grandfather is buried there. I don’t know if being so immersed in a culture is a help or hindrance to understanding its flaws.

I grew up listening to my grandparents’ “country talk.” I noticed even when I was young how different it was from what I heard on TV. My mother spoke less in that style, and I even less. Thaller seems to suggest that we expose kids to a multilingual education, both standard English and Appalachian English. I’m torn on the idea. I would like that old way of speech to be preserved, but as an historic artifact. I can’t see how a child’s education is enhanced by teachers modeling Appalachian speech. Maybe the kids are more comfortable talking that way, but I don’t believe education is about making people comfortable. Being fluent in standard English is important to the kids’ success outside the valleys and ridges of Appalachia.

The article mentions the creativity of the Appalachian culture, referring to the Appalachian people as more “right-brained” than “left-brained.” She mentions quilting and other handicrafts. I’m not sure that I buy her theory. I can’t see that we are any more creative as a whole than other cultures. I sure don’t want students’ educations to revolve around trying to work artistic creations into every subject. Students should learn the same math curriculum that students outside Appalachia learn. Relating math to the perceived Appalachian culture by designing world problems about quilting and moonshining isn’t going to help students better learn math.

Thaller also discusses teaching students about the physical geography of the place they live in order to be better caretakers of the land. I agree with that. I’m blown away by the amount of local people in East Tennessee that don’t know we have a world-famous national park in our back yards. But they do know about Dollywood.

Thaller also mentions that many kids are educated to move away from home. She says that more kids should be educated with an eye toward staying in rural Appalachia and improving the situation there. That’s far easier said than done. Until there are opportunities for educated students at home, most will move away. I don’t think there will be many opportunities until more stay. It’s a vicious cycle.

Finally, Thaller speaks against “blaming the victim.” I disagree. The Appalachian people are responsible themselves for the sorry state of education in the region. It’s not the fault of “greedy corporations” or stereotyping from outsiders. Most of the problem is due to the culture of Appalachians. A large portion of Appalachians see no value in education. There is even a distrust of highly educated people. Until that changes, education will continue to be in a sad state, and poverty rates will continue to be high.

QTC 8- Harryman

Middle School Case Study

You are particularly frustrated with a seventh grade group of students that appears to engage less and less with learning and more and more with one of your highly amusing leaders of the class.  Cherie is really funny, but does not show good judgment in choosing appropriate times and ways to be funny.  Yesterday she tripped Carmen as she passed her desk on the way to get a chair for a guest in our class.  The day before, Cherie made rude noises throughout small group presentations.  Today Cherie jumped up while Tommy was reading a poem about a battle, a poem that appeared engaging to the majority of the students; she started pretending she was shooting a gun at other students.  Several joined in the pretend battle and disrupted the class to the point that Tommy could not finish reading the poem.

Using applied behavior analysis could be useful here. Making an effort to praise or thank Cherie for correct group behavior, this could help her stay on task more often, and become a positive example for her classmates instead of a negative influence. This extinction is the hopeful response. Once she understands that she is capable of receiving praise and doing well in class, this could be a way of increasing her self-efficacy and self-regulation. 

QTC Post 8

QTC - Lauren Owsley

From a behavioral standpoint mastery of objectives may look like viewing certain responses to questions or material they are learning that indicates understanding. You would also look for attention to the environment and how they behave and interact with peers productively as a way to understand if they have mastered material or not. 

In the case study for Elementary Education, from a behavior standpoint, Lisa may be feeling low self-efficacy or the feeling of an inability to complete certain tasks. I would monitor the roles she does want to take and the roles she shies away from. For example, if the leadership roles are the ones she doesn't want this may mean that she has low self-efficacy about leading and being in charge. I would talk with Lisa about how great she does certain tasks and positively reinforce her when she tries to give her best effort. Hopefully, I would allow her to build her self-efficacy higher so that she feels comfortable over time taking on any role she wants in the group and can work with her small group productively.  Thus, this will build self-regulation (with my help) over time to monitor her behavior and her own goals she sets for herself. 

QTC Ch. 9 and Ch. 10

I believe the biggest notion to pull from a behavioral view of learning is conditioning.  While a person is conditioned throughout their lives (Tabula Rasa theory), an instructor can slowly mold his or her students to the unique characteristics (of the classroom) and ways of behaving which are appropriate for the learning environment.  Meaning, the stimuli presented (the classroom, the instructor, the students, and consistency with activation activities and lessons) will pull positive responses from students (contiguity)--thus, conditioning them to the ways of the classroom (rules, expectations, etc...).  Considering only observable behavior changes can ultimately inform us that learning is occurring, we must take into account gradual rise in test scores, students independently beginning activation activities on their own (conditioning), or reduction of off-task behavior.  Also, "reinforcers" must be present (positive and negative) continuously in order for students to take away from their mistakes of positive behavior (keep in mind reinforcement rather than punishment).  

Successful mastery of my lesson objectives from a social cognitive view of learning would ultimately have the standpoint of students pulling learning habits and behaviors from observing others, and by doing this, students begin to take control of their own behavior.  By allowing students to act as positive models (as well as myself), motivation will be enriched for the entirety of the classroom.  Students' self-efficacy will be determined essentially by their classmates: is everyone really giving it their all?  Should I keep trying?  There is mutual influence in every aspect of the classroom's learning environment.  What has just been described is reciprocal causation; environment, behavior, and influence of persons within the classroom need to be in action in order to utilize successful mastery of lesson objectives.  

 In application to the CSEL intervention case study (high school), there are tools from a behaviorist view for discouraging undesirable behaviors and encouraging positive ones.  As stated above (stimuli, response, and conditioning) seem to have been overlooked in the construction of this classroom environment; for unproductive behavior, even going as far as rough housing during class, would not have been reached if the instructor implemented different strategies and created a more comfortable learning environment.  Perhaps I am incorrect, but students would have made observable changes if these tools were implemented.

Self-efficacy and self-regulation would not only reap intrinsic motivation, but would encourage social stratification.     

Wolford Free Response for Ch. 9

In Chapter 9 I really liked the focus on the assumptions of behaviorism. Unfortunately so many teachers pick out that one child that they feel is continually a trouble-maker, and calls them out continually in class. However, if the teacher would consider more educational implications, he/she could possibly prevent some of those problems. For example one of the assumptions I found that Child and Family Studies continually hit on is the environment around the child. For example, if a child is continually getting up out of his/her seat and running around the classroom, or gets up a lot to go to the activity center next to him/her, then maybe the teacher should consider the arrangement of the room. Is the child sitting near to the teacher so that they can give the child reminders or help when needed? Could the activities be moved away from him/her so that the child is not distracted by the materials? There are so many ways to prevent this behavior.

I really found interest in all the types of reinforcers. So often we feel that we are reinforcing a behavior, but then when you really look at what you are using as a reinforcer, it does not even relate to what the child really needs. For example as the book discussed using trophies as a reinforcer. Although coaches think that a trophy makes a child want to try harder, they do not really satisfy a physiological need. Therefore, as future teachers and parents we need to realize the difference in positive and negative reinforcers, and how to make sure the reinforcers we use are positive ones that relate specifically to the behavior or needs of the child. So often I find myself using reinforcers with my little sister, and I continually wonder why the majority of the time they do not work, well it is because they have no relation to the behavior I am wanting to reinforce.

Thirdly in chapter 9 the focus on feedback was very relatable to me as a future teacher. While reading it I thought to myself I wish some of my teachers would read this section. So many times they give so much feedback without getting to the point, that I get confused and lose focus. Also another thing I thought of while reading this section was how when you provide to much feedback for a child, not only can it cause them to lose interest, but if you point out a lot of negative without an equal amount of positives, then the child may feel as if they are not capable of completing the task/assignment as well as the teacher wants them to, which can cause a lot of harm to the child’s confidence in the classroom.

Zeller - Blog 8

b) Consider your CSEL intervention case study. Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case? What are they? Conversely, how might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?

Lydia Zeller

Blog #8

March 31, 2014

Case Study: Middle School – Cherie

As a teacher, I face behaviors to Cherie’s frequently. I find positive reinforcement to be a good tool in increasing or decreasing particular behaviors. I use a variety of reinforcers in my classroom. One is a piece of candy; another is verbal praise, free seat Friday, having class outside one day, etc. I use these to encourage on task behavior, getting homework done, team/group activities (like a winning team from a game); almost anything can be encouraged. Also, by treating good behaviors this way it encourages others to behave this way. I see less off task behaviors when the students are working towards something; especially when the something is having class outside.

I try not to use negative reinforcement in my class room. However, I am guilty of an example from our text. Sending a student to the office – often they want to go and so it rewards them when they are sent there. However, sometimes it is inevitable; I must keep a good learning environment. I have before kept students in my room because they wanted to leave. I have felt guilty because it seems like a cheap shot for me (I didn’t like the satisfaction I got from keeping them where they did not want to be). However, I also do not want them to have the bad behavior reinforced to get what they want. I also take the rewards from the positive reinforcement section away which I would say is considered negative reinforcement. If the students earned working with a partner instead of by themselves but are too loud or not getting work done, I switch the assignment back to individual. (I do not take away without warning). This is taking away a stimulus which is negative reinforcement.

Self Efficacy – To me it appears Cherie is doing these behaviors as an attention strategy from her peers and the adults. From a self efficacy view point, she may not believe she can behave properly. I would try positive reinforcement with her. After a conversation one-on-one, we could work out a system of reward. For example, “if you are good all week I will let you take the attendance to the office each day next week”. Hopefully, I can encourage her good behavior to show her she is capable of proper behavior. Another reinforcer I could use would be to let her come eat lunch with me. If she is truly craving attention that may be a reward she will find worth working towards.

Self Regulation – Cherie may be struggling with self regulation because one of her other needs is not being met. Like I mentioned earlier, I believe she is craving attention whether it be adult or peer related. To work with her on self regulation, giving her small tasks to work toward earning would be a good start. Once she can do the smaller tasks, I would increase the difficulty or length of each goal. This will take time but hopefully she will gain the self regulation needed to not need my help.

Motivating students with standards

Hey guys, I fell upon this article when doing some research for another class. A teacher is California gives her students a copy of the state common standards required of them, and through her teaching process throughout the school year she has found it has increased her students' motivation. Thought some of you might be interested. Here is the link:

http://www.ernweb.com/educational-research-articles/science_teacher_motivates_middle_school_students_with_state_standards/

April and Grace: Addressing Misconduct HANDOUT and ARTICLE

ADDRESSING MISCONDUCT ARTICLE: 
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2791686/



ADDRESSING MISCONDUCT HANDOUT

Tips for Preventing and Responding to Misconduct in Your Classroom

• Clarify Standards for YOUR Classroom
• DO NOT ASSUME that the child has read the school handbook/guidelines, has knowledge from role models at home about how to act, or another teacher has already addressed appropriate behaviors.
• Be SPECIFIC about inappropriate behaviors and consequences
• Be firm, but fair, from the first second of the first day
• Better to be overdressed than underdressed...

• Serve as a role model for the expectations of your classroom
• BE CONSISTENT- show your children that rules apply and misconduct will be addressed the same every day
• Be respectful, be nice, be nonjudgmental- enforce Golden Rule
• Follow your own rules and lead with pride

• LOVE your students and assume the best
• Never lose faith in your students; that is the quickest way for them to lose faith in themselves
• They have factors in their lives like everyone else that effect performance- open your door
• Care about them and go the extra mile, always assuming they will go that extra mile for you (even though that may not be the case ever)

• When misconduct occurs, use NONVERBAL CUES at first
• Teacher Proximity is huge
• Turn in the disturbance’s direction, make eye contact

• If misconduct continues, address child DIRECTLY 
• Only is it is 100% necessary should you verbally address students in front of everyone during lecture
• Have child meet with you after class or quietly speak with them during an activity period

• If the child continues to misbehave, use PARENTAL SUPPORT
• School may be a way for children to “escape overbearing parents” because they believe school and home are two different worlds
• Sometimes, all you need to do is contact a parent- it can cause a world of change!

• KNOW YOUR STUDENTS
• This can help with getting a child to respect you as someone who cares for them
• This can also help you know how to respond individually to misconduct in the classroom

• COLLABORATE with Administration and other Faculty

SUGGESTED RESOURCES TO ASSIST YOU IN YOUR CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT AND ADDRESSING MISCONDUCT

Teach Like a Champion by Doug Lemov

Classroom Management that Works: Research-based Strategies for Every Teacher      by Marzano et. el. (2003)

Dangerous Minds (movie)

Stand and Deliver (movie)

Kindergarten Cop (movie)

Freedom Writers (movie)

Youtube “Classroom Management”

QTC #8 Carla Pelizzari

  Some ways I would define mastery of my lesson from a behaviorist view is to start off my lesson with simple tasks that they can all do, and assess by asking questions of understanding and slowly build on the level of difficulty. By doing this I will build their self-efficacy and guide them towards the master level. The mastery would come in the form of their grades ultimately. I use primary reinforcers when I give test results back. Those that got the A's receive candy (an extrinsic reinforcement) and I hope that this will stimulate some intrinsically to get the desired grade so they too can get candy. An example of a secondary reinforcer I have used is when we held a student spot light this semester at my school. I gave awards out to those that have accomplished outstanding achievements.
  From a social cognitive view in reinforcing mastery, I plan on writing small comments on students work when I hand them back. Just like you have done on our essays. I will write comments where I see that they have mastered an idea or concept of my topic at hand. Another example of this is the use of symbolic models that influence behaviors. My students learn from watching each other for the desired outcome mostly, but I also plan on using famous Hispanic people as models they all know and recognize that have made a positive impact on society or in history.  

QTC #8

From a behavioral view of learning, I would define mastery as successfully answering questions on an exam. A behaviorist would not be as interested in what is actually going on inside the student’s head as she would be in the student’s behavior, i.e. the answers he wrote down. The test would be seen as a stimulus, and the student’s given answers as the response.

From a social cognitive view of learning, I would define mastery in the same way as from a behavioral viewpoint. However, I would be more aware of what learning might be going on in the student’s mind that is not immediately reflected in the exam scores. Students miss math questions for a variety of reasons. I feel that a strict behaviorist would be interested with only whether the student had the right or wrong answer, while a cognitivist might be more interested in why the student answered like he did. A cognitivist might realize that even though a student’s answer was wrong, he had made progress in learning to solve the problem.

Students in my classes are juniors and seniors, just as in my case study. For a majority of the students, grades are an important secondary reinforcer. Although grades in my classes are based solely on what a student demonstrates that he understands, not on his behavior, students are quickly conditioned to learn that certain behaviors will lead to non-mastery of the material, and hence bad grades. So, although I am not directly administering the punishment, there is a presentation punishment going on. The student’s unfocused, off-task behavior decreases when he sees that it is leading to an undesired bad grade. Of course, this only works if the student cares about his grade.

I don’t understand how self-efficacy is related to the students’ misbehavior. I don’t doubt that most students think they have the ability to behave appropriately. They just don’t want to.

As for self-regulation, maybe I could encourage the disruptive students to do a little self-monitoring. Maybe they just aren’t aware of how disruptive they are being to others.