Module 3

Chapter 7 illustrates the reasoning behind certain behaviors in a classroom setting. The basis of understanding behavior is influenced by B. F. Skinner’s work with operant conditioning: learning to behave in certain ways as we operate on the environment. Through testing, it is shown that we can manipulate a behavior to have an effect if we propose a certain consequence. Teachers across the world are using conditioning in their classrooms to achieve desired outcomes: learning. The book encourages the use of cueing and prompting in a classroom setting. An example can be shown when your students are working in a group setting. You present the students with a cue (providing a stimulus just before a specific behavior is supposed to take place) and can help encourage this behavior by providing a prompt (additional cue). Doing these steps promote a successful workflow in the classroom because the students will learn how to do a certain behavior. Once the behavior is learned, the teacher can gradually weed out the prompt and simply use the cue. Encouraging positive behaviors and ignoring misbehavior is the next step. The students will learn what is accepted and what is not from this process.

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.

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.

Module 3

In this week's module we covered behavioral views of learning, creating learning environments, and different forms of reinforcement for students.

Chapter 7, "Behavioral View of Learning," discusses some of the most important topics in education: learning. Anita Woolfolk describes learning as an experience that causes a change in a person’s

knowledge or behavior (p. 308). While this is a very general definition it hits a very important point in learning which is the cause. One way to cause learning is through conditioning. Chapter 7 goes into depth about classical and operant conditioning as two views to learning. Classical conditioning as in repeatedly pairing a neutral stimulus with a stimulus that causes an emotional or physiological response. Operant conditioning in regards to learning is the use of punishment and rewards as responses to student behaviors. Using both an Applied Behavioral Analysis and Operant conditioning correctly can cause considerable change in a classroom and create a positive change in a classroom. Along with conditioning Chapter 7 talks about Bandura and his views. Bandura was a firm believer in observational learning where instead of enactive learning, where you are doing and experiencing the consequences of your actions, you simply observe from the outside and learn like that.

Chapter 13 I thought was another essential skill and tool for teachers and that is classroom management. This chapter really goes into the mechanics of the challenges and goals of developing an effective classroom management philosophy. Woolfolk does a great job breaking down the difference between rules, specifics things students can/can't do, and procedures, basically housekeeping and interaction. I enjoyed reading about dealing with disciplinary issues due to the fact that many children (in my opinion) seem to suffer from them in this current era. While observing I feel like the administration at my school has taken away the ability to actually discipline a student for causing serious trouble. It was nice to see that Woolfolk also mentioned culturally diversity for classroom management as we have learned how important of a factor that can be in previous classes.

Last but not least the Jerry Seinfeld SNL skit was a nice treat after all the reading this week. It seems that times haven't changed much since the skit!

Module 3

In chapter 7, we learned a lot of different strategies for changing behavior in the classroom. One of the ways was operant conditioning where people learn to operate in a certain way based on their environment. It heavily weighs on two environmental influences which are antecedents and consequences. The book explains it as a sandwich. first you have the antecedents, then the behavior, and finally the consequence. The book also states that research has shown that behavior can be altered by changing either the antecedents, the consequences, or by changing both. While this is useful knowledge for teachers, as some behavior modification needs to happen if a students behavior begins to effect their learning or the learning of the students around them. The thing that teachers need to remember is that this "trick" if you will, can have powerful consequences. It is a power that needs to not be abused. These tool can be used improperly have a negative effect on the student which can be long lasting.

I found chapter 13 to be very beneficial for me as a new teacher. It covers a lot of information pertaining to classroom management, rules and routines to follow, and overall how to create the best learning environment for the students. I like this one chart on page 492 that discusses the time required by state for a student to be in class, and how much of that time is actually spent learning. I think that is a good point to remember. Our time with the students is so limited that we need to take advantage of every minute we get, and the best way to do that is to efficiently manage our time. 

Module 3

After reading Chapter 7 and watching both video's I have a better understanding of negative reinforcement, positive reinforcement, queing and other sorts of classroom management techniques that are beneficial and not beneficial to students.

On page 268 in Chapter 7 a paragraph stood out to me. "Another variation is to allow students to earn tokens in the classroom and then exchange them for rewards at home. These plans are very successful when parents are willing to cooperate. Usually a note or report form is sent home daily or twice a week. The note indicates the number of points earned in the preceding time period. The points may be exchanged for minutes of television viewing, access to special toys, or private time with parents."

In the classroom that I work in, we use Dojo points. I briefly discussed this in one of my discussion posts. I find the rewarding technique good for students in the 4th grade. I have also seen the parent contribution and involvement and how great it is to see a behavioral technique taught by technology and encouraging parents and teachers to work together. Recently, we have a student that forgot his homework, we messaged his mom on Dojo and she replied back with a picture of his homework finished but he had just forgotten it. He still technically will receive full credit and in the meantime we are fostering a better relationship with parents and their children. We too are sending Dojo points to students and at the end of the day parents can view their child's rewards and or disciplines and we are a message away to discuss as well. It has also eliminated a lot of "calling home" due to the fact that parents are just a click away. Positive reinforcements go along way and it's nice to see the top students who work hard and productively get a pizza party or donuts at the end of the month for great behavior. Those students are proud and set an example. I think Dojo is great and students love it too!

Module 3

This Module included an overview of the behavioral theories and how people believe the affect the education process as well as setting up the physical environment of learning and how it plays a role in the education process.

Chapter 7 focuses on various behavioral theories and how they apply to education, and I found this chapter interesting because I enjoy psychological theory and I find it interesting the various aspects people think affect education in specific ways.I found the sections on reinforcement and punishment to be particularly interesting to me because as a future PE teacher I think it is extremely important to be aware of not only motivational techniques, but to also be aware of the proper technique to use to achieve the desired result. I think the reinforcement model (Woolfolk P. 257) will be useful to be to ensure optimal participation in the PE setting. For example, if we needed to do the state mandated tests or other undesirable activities I could offer a desired activity or sport once testing is completed to reinforce the desired behavior (effort on the testing).

So the flowchart would look as follows: Behavior (Effort on testing) > Reinforce (desirable activity/sport) = strengthened or repeated behavior (effort-ful testing/participation)

Chapter 13 focuses on creating a learning environment and the various forms it may take. And while as a PE educator I have less constructive ability compared to a traditional classroom this information was still useful. I found the part about encouraging engagement useful to myself because in my current rounds as a sub, I have experienced many kids who refuse to put forth any effort in PE, or even straight up refuse to participate and I think this has a lot to do with the culture and stigmas surrounding PE. For example “I had sweating/trying” or “this is stupid” can be replaced by “oh I love this game” if proper motivation techniques are used. I believe that using the reinforcement techniques as well as other behavioral techniques outlined in this chapter as well as developing a curriculum that students will actually enjoy can change the stigma surrounding PE and hopefully encourage participation so my students can reap the benefits of physical activity.

Module 3

In this weeks class, the chapters went over punishing/rewarding our students, discussing classroom conditioning and creating a learning environment. The video we watched also showed us different way of handling punishment in the classroom, even though it is a bit outdated.

I think the way we handle our students by punishing them or rewarding them can go a long way into them succeeding in the classroom. As stated in the article, rewarding the student can have just as much as an effect as punishing them. The reason is because they lost interest in the topic. As teachers, we must know that we have to keep our students engaged at all times so that we can avoid them losing interest in topics that may not stand out as much. Creating a learning environment that is exciting can benefit us. If the student comes in with a negative outlook on the class, or if the classroom doesn't keep them interactive, we must change what we're doing.

My goal in my classroom is have my class under control by keeping them moving consistently, which will be easy in PE. As for punishment, I would like to say hold that individual out from further activities until they thought about what they did wrong, or to discuss with them after class one on one to let them know what they did wrong and how to improve their behavior, but to remain positive with them.