Behaviorism is a major part of education and I do not see it going away anytime soon. Teachers will always give students praise when they do something right and will also let students know when they need to correct something (mostly in classroom management situations). Nonetheless, behaviorism is here to stay, and I feel teachers need to facilitate this to help their student reach their full potential.
I am currently going though a master's program, and one of the resources we have is a book that talks a lot about effort from a behaviorists point of view. The book is called "Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works", and there is a chapter all about reinforcing effort. In this chapter the authors bring up a very interesting point that I as a high school math teacher have always seemed to have trouble with. They talk about the awareness students have of their effort in class. One of the biggest battles I have with my students is trying to get them to understand that in order to do math, you have to try math. I have preached this time and time again, and still some students just do not seem to get it. After reading this section on effort, there were quite a few strategies recommended by the author that I could easily put in place that could potentially yield positive results. They recommend having some sort of self evaluation system that students track themselves with as they progress though a unit. Part of what the authors try to make their readers realize is that students need to be aware of their effort in a class, and that their effort is important. This may seem obvious to any adult, but this could be the last thing on some high school students' minds. The authors give examples of some easy rubric systems that allow students to grade their own effort, and then compare the effort results with their test/quiz results. They make this process even easier by recommending it be done using an Excel spreadsheet. I think doing this on the computer would make students more apt to do this, simply because it is on the computer and they typically would prefer to use a computer over paper and pencil. Using Excel also saves time because it calculates things much quicker, and I am always trying to manage time in the classroom, so I think this would help a ton. Getting back to the discussion on the effort itself, I think that by having students track their own effort they will have a more clear vision on how it reflects on their achievement. I have talked with each and everyone of my students about their grade, and have assessed their effort with them and they hear me for the time being. However, me just telling them how I perceive their effort and what I recommend they do to change it does not really stick with a lot of them, in my opinion. I think the students gets a lot more meaning out of this process when they do it on their own, because it forces them to look in the mirror and see if they are really putting forth an honest effort. I think it would be very effective and I am very eager to try something like this in my classroom.
Another topic that the book talks about deal with the assigning of homework. In math, homework is one of the most critical components because it is the time where students get to hone their skills. Being that I teach high school math, I am always trying to put more responsibility on the student. As a result, I usually have students check their own homework, and then I take any questions that students have about the assignment before starting the next lesson. In addition, I do not always grade every homework assignment, and when I do I usually just check for completion of the assignment. Part of the reason for this is due to my belief on effort. I always tell my student that I know who is honestly doing their homework and making their corrections when I grade their tests and quizzes, because they are a reflection on their homework efforts. The other part is the fact that most of my homework in college math classes was not graded, and I am trying to help my students as prepared for the responsibility that college brings as I can. In the same book as mentioned above, the authors talk about how homework should be assigned and used in the classroom. They recommend that feedback should be quick and explicit. Part of what I want to change about my homework procedure in class is how it is corrected. Right now I have students check their own answers with an answer key that I post in class, and then take any questions that students might have. What sometimes happens with this procedure is that not all students care to check their answers and never find out what they know, or they check their answers but do not ask questions because they think they know how to fix it themselves or are too shy or embarrassed to ask. The text does not offer much on how procedures to help with this situation, but again it is unique to my situation and the book was not written specifically for me. However, I have generated some ideas from other colleagues because this is not the first time I am addressing the homework procedure in my class as a concern. One of my ideas to help with this involves peer checking, which would have students passing their paper to a neighbor, or I would simply collect everyone's assignment then pass them back in random order. This would ensure that everybody's assignment got checked thoroughly and that each student would at least be able to see if they are understanding the material or not. To supplement this, I would also like to give student 5-10 minutes to go over their corrected homework in groups to make corrections. This is an easy way to provide immediate feedback and also give them time to fix any mistakes before while the information is relevant. In the end, however, this still circles back to student effort, and I think peer editing would help with this because students will be able to see how much effort their classmates are putting in. This will ultimately help set examples of what it is going to take to be successful, and will also show how poor effort can hold some students back.
References:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
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