Post #9 - QTC

QTC - Lauren Owsley

For the blog post this week, I was really thinking about what one of our classmates said instead of asking questions because it has been on my mind since she said it. One of our classmates, I think it was Becca, said that she did not want to use Behaviorism as much because she did not want to be trained like a dog. I am not a huge believer in behaviorism so it did not offend me or anything like that, but instead in made me question things I have seen in observations in school this semester. I decided to do my own "mini research project" and just think about when teachers used behaviorism, if it was effective, and lastly if it indeed made the children seen obedient like an animal.

The class I am observing in currently is a great example to pick apart for this "mini study". The teacher used a variety of different learning theories when she taught. So when she used behaviorism it was usually in conjunction with or after she had tried another learning theory. The major components I saw for behaviorism were a behavior chart where the children could move their clip up or down depending on good or bad behaviors at different parts of the day as instructed by the teacher, there was also a ticket system for good behavior and so many tickets got you to enter in a drawing to win a book every couple weeks (very cool instead of typical prizes), and lastly there was the "Peanut butter" to which the class would say "Jelly Time".

Once I gather what I thought were behaviorism activities I thought about them all under the umbrella of if it was effective and if it indeed made the children seen obedient like an animal. All three of the ways that the teacher used behaviorism were incredibly effective on the students. Immediate remorse and return to good behavior happened when they were asked to move their clips down and immediate attention was paid once she called out the class slogan to grab their attention. The most effective behaviorism tool was the tickets for good behavior that were entered into a drawing for a new book every couple weeks.

When Becca said that she felt like she would feel like a dog being trained I actually agreed with her, but seeing behaviorism in practice in a real classroom allowed me to understand that there can be huge benefits to making them accountable for their behavior and having rewards (especially at such a young age where internal locus of control is not available yet). None of the students seemed "trained", but more like respectful, motivated, and ready to learn. As a future teacher, it doesn't get better than that!