As I reviewed the learning resources, I found that many of the suggestions intrinsically included behaviorism as a means of effectively communicating. Behaviorism as described by Dr. Michael Orey has two purposes: reinforcing positive behaviors and punishing negative behaviors as a mean of extinguishing them (Orey, 2001). For both reinforcing effort and homework and practice, behaviorism is expressed primarily through reinforcing positive behaviors. By reinforcing positive behaviors, students are not only successful in the short term, but also learn life long skills for success.
Reinforcing effort from Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works asserted that showing students the correlation between effort and success allows the student to take ownership in their educational journey. By way of charting effort and results, gives the students empirical evidence of the effect of effort on their success. In that way, behaviorism plays a role by reinforcing the results that students see. Ideally, students would see that when they exerted greater results. By having the results illustrating the effect of their efforts.
Similarly, homework and practice (as described) should allow teachers to give immediate, specific feedback on the results. By having students quickly see their results, allows for them to change their process accordingly. Additionally, by having teachers quickly grade homework offers another avenue for communication to occur. Following behaviorism, this interaction can help to reinforce correct responses and alter incorrect responses.
Orey, M. (Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Hi Katie,
ReplyDeleteYou brought up many valid points. The idea behind giving instant feedback stood out in my mind too while I was viewing the weekly resources. It made sense to me as a teacher to also continue to extend my knowledge and fix errors if they occurred within the homework as soon as possible to alleviate further confusion. I am a teacher who ALWAYS returns work within a 1-2 day time frame so that the feedback is instant and students pay attention to the comments and corrections. I can recall in grade school receiving work back weeks after and to me it was obsolete. If I forgot about the assignment, it obviously didn't hold much importance for me to view the comments and corrections from the teacher. It really was a big pet peeve of mine when teachers had due dates yet rarely returned work in a timely fashion in turn. As a teacher, I give the feedback, discuss it with students and when I see any red flags, I initiate discussions and bring it to the whole class' attention. Great insights too about behaviorism and the instructional strategies present. If we continue to reward and recognize, all will work out to benefit students!
Kourtney
Katie,
ReplyDeleteAs I read your about reinforcing effort, I thought about the students who do not see good grades as a reward. The behaviorist thought behind the idea of tracking effort is that students will correlate the effort to the achievement and will be intrinsicly rewarded. But what about those students that do not value good grades? What do we do with them? How can we use these principles and get them to a point that they do value achievment as a reward? I know that I have many students taht would scoff at the idea of tracking effort and the onlyl thing they would get out it is the satisfaction of doing a good job. - Bryan Horn
Katy,
ReplyDeleteI agree that having a quick response time to homework and practice is key. Many teachers that I have worked with in the past have assigned homework in the past without ever following up on it to check whether the student a) did it correctly or b) did it at all. Homework should be meaningful so that students understand the value of actually doing it.
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ReplyDeleteKMcMenamin and WLutke, I definitely agree that regular feedback is a great way of encouraging students to succeed.
ReplyDeleteBryan Horn, I agree that it would be naive to say that grading, even with constant feedback, is not the answer for every student. However, I feel that constant feedback and a behaviorist approach is one of many tools to encourage students to succeed.