Behavioral and Social Theories of Learning (Reflection Journal #2)

I laughed a little while reading this chapter when the authors commented on teachers who think, "Why should I reinforce them? They're just doing what they're supposed to do!" because I have definitely felt that way before. It can be frustrating in the class at times when students who have been in school for a few years already seem to not know how to follow school expectations in common areas like the hallway. It feels like they shouldn't need reinforcement because these are the expectations and they should already know them. That is probably because of my upbringing -- my parents did not reward us for following the rules or expectations given to us. We were just expected to do it. I remember one time asking my parents if we could be paid for good grades like a friend of mine was and they said no, because good grades were the expectation. However, as a teacher -- especially as a teacher of primary school students -- I have to remember that my students are very young. They have only been alive for six to eight years, and speaking and walking for less than that. Of course they need reinforcement! 

To that point, this chapter was both encouraging and frustrating. Frustrating because the book discusses studies for effective consequences that my school has explicitly said we are not allowed to use. For example, the P. E. class where students who misbehaved were put in a form of time-out for a few minutes. This consequence nearly eliminated the problem behaviors. We are not able to use time-out from P. E. or recess as a consequence for misbehavior, even if it is a logical consequence for the behavior. This is frustrating because it feels as though our administration is tying our hands and withholding a way to help shape or guide student behaviors, when we have so few consequences we can use that students respond to. 

On the other side, the chapter was encouraging. I have previously learned about Pavlov and Skinner, their studies, and their theories, but it was years ago. I'm not sure I learned about them in the context of use in a classroom. Reading this chapter provided encouragement that I can help students with certain behaviors that are proving challenging for them. I can use my knowledge of these behavioral and social theories to develop effective reinforcements for my students. It is still early in the school year and we are still building a class community and practicing following expectations, but I can be more intentional with these theories as I help shape my students' behavior. 

The vignette at the beginning of the chapter, where Ms. Esteban was having trouble with her students shouting out and was unintentionally reinforcing the behaviors she was hoping to end, was familiar. I have been there! I'm even having some trouble at this moment with some behaviors that I realized while reading this that I am unintentionally reinforcing as well. I have some students who are shouting out just as the students in Ms. Esteban's class were, and I likely respond to them in ways that reinforces the idea that they are allowed to speak whenever they would like. Some of this is because I genuinely don't care if they raise their hands, as long as they are respectful and pay attention to the other students so no one is speaking over another. However, at their age, this is a skill they are only in the beginning stages of learning so I need to reinforce the idea of raising their hands and waiting their turns to speak until they are able to use those higher level conversation skills. Reading this story in conjunction with the chapter has made me think about ways to be more firm and only accept the behaviors that follow the expectations, and to be more aware of how I am responding to my students' behaviors. 

The theme I am noticing between the first chapters and this one is intentionality. To be an intentional teacher means, in part, that I use my knowledge of these behavioral and social theories (as well as the theories of development) in my lesson planning, classroom community building, and interactions with my students. If I know these theories but don't apply that knowledge, I will not be as effective as I could be because I am not being intentional. I need to be intentional in all aspects of teaching, and applying my knowledge of these theories will make me a better teacher. This is something I will need to spend some time with, evaluating my classroom systems, lesson planning, assessments, and actions to better serve my students and be a more effective and intentional educator.