Week Three

Chapter 7 was all about how students learn and all the ways that teachers can motivate and reinforce ideas. The chapter starts by talking about Classical Conditioning which was developed by Ivan Pavlov. Pavlov is best known for conditioning dogs to drool when they hear the sound of a tuning fork being struck. The book talks about how emotions are learned behaviors and that learning starts in the classroom. Another interesting point in the chapter was about Operant Conditioning which was developed by B.F.Skinner. "Skinner began with the belief that the principles of classical conditioning account for only a small portion of learned behaviors."(Woolfolk, pg. 256) Skinner said that learned behaviors can be changed by changing the consequences or antecedents.
I found interesting that I had forgotten is that reinforcement is a consequence that helps the desired behavior improve.

The book then talks about cueing and prompting. By incorporating these into classroom teachers can help students during the class. I never thought that by reminding students to remember or do something can lead to students tuning out and getting upset. By reminding students with cueing the teacher corrects the problem before it happens. I never thought about how reminding students after the fact over doesn't really solve the problem but by providing a cue before it gives students a chance to remember what they are supposed to be doing and lets them correct themselves. This way if a student does what the teacher wanted that behavior can be reinforced, leading to better habits by the students.