It is important as teachers to not highlight a misbehavior because if we do we may see more and more occurrences. It is essential that this encouragement is significant and remains constant in the classroom. If manipulated, its effect can diminish. These lessons can quickly change in our growing classrooms. As teachers it is important that we do not rely on these methods because every student is different and will respond in ways that a researcher/text cannot explain. Some children have severe behavior issues and positive and negative reinforcement may not serve as a resource that can be beneficial. Understanding these challenges is the first step in becoming expert teachers and how we will handle them is the next step. Whichever strategy we use, the main goal should be success for the student in question. Throughout the process it is important to monitor the results. If you see a strategy failing, it may be time to step back and readjust to the situation. While manipulating behavior of a classroom, us teachers must focus on the greater good and always have a clear understanding of what is best and if our strategies are ethical.
Chapter 13 stood out to me as “this is really becoming true” as my pathway to becoming a teacher continues. In the previous chapters I noticed a tone of “this is how it is” and “research suggests” but this chapter proposed that all classrooms are different and as teachers we need to focus on this. Having an environmental with such different subjects can be unpredictable and a textbook is not going to teach you the end-all-be-all solution. Teachers need to create environments that are beneficial to both parties and for the specific environment to encourage dual-party learning. There are arising issues that never existed before such as cyber-bullying and as teachers it is our jobs to remain professionals and search for solutions. We need to use all of our resources we have learned and perform the best output. The chapter revisits cultural responsive management and this is a topic I am learning more and more about in this program. Having a diverse classroom should not reflect downfalls, it should promote successes. America is a melting-pot and us humans need to work together to have the best outcome. In a classroom, a student should not be mistreated based on their culture and teachers need to incorporate practices that create warm environments for collaboration, communication, creativity, and critical thinking.
I agree that chapter 13 really captured my attention. It was one of the first times where we really discussed one of the biggest portions of our teaching careers some day. I hadn't before though about how much the environment of the class room can impact the learning of the students. It is important to remember that there is no one type of child and that every classroom we walk in to will be filled with different types of learns, and we as teachers need to be able to adapt and overcome those differences in order to have a meaningful effect on their lives and educational careers.
ReplyDeleteJoe, like you and Kaitlyn I found myself wrapped up in chapter 13 because before reading that I never would have thought about the physical environment of the classroom being a factor in the learning process. While I may not have as much control over my classroom being a PE teacher, I still will strive to create a motivating and welcoming environments for my students.
ReplyDeleteJoe, I think you make some very good points about chapter 7. Conditioning to promote good behaviors and ignore bad behaviors is very important in a classroom. If a teacher begins to allow misbehavior then all hope is lost for that classroom and to regain control can be very difficult. Like you mentioned I think proper manipulation can create a fun positive learning environment while still maintaining student to teacher respect.
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