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2010 EDLD 655 Watch 1, Day 1: Empiricist/Behaviorist
2010: Hear teachers and educational leaders discuss observations of learning theories at work. To post, just click on "Post a Comment" below and a screen will come up for typing.
In addition to describing your observation, here is a discussion question you can respond to: What surprised you about your observations? OR you can respond to another student's post. Thanks for participating! Email me if you have questions. Regards --Kathleen
ReplyDeletejust a test
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ReplyDeleteDOH! Darn technology getting the best of me here! Let me try posting again!
ReplyDeleteWhile watching a group receiving direct instruction reading curriculum, I observed what I think of when I think of behaviorist theory. In this program, teachers prompt students for response by using the following cuing procedure: They state the answer (i.e. “The word is speedometer”), then ask the students to repeat the answer (“Word number five is…”), provide think time for the students (“Get ready!”) and then cue for response (a signal such as a snap of the fingers or a tap of a pencil). Then, students respond with the word they were provided with at the beginning of the cuing procedure. On signal, students will respond to whatever the question is – repeating a word or sentence, filling in a blank in the sentence, responding to closed-ended questions, etc. They are like the dog who drools on command. They parrot on command.
ReplyDeleteI should note that this program, while stripped down to this most rudimentary level in observing behaviorist theory in action, students demonstrate a great deal of mastery as a result of participating in this program. Additionally, to go along with this comment, I also want to say that we have seen a transfer of skills in other content areas, local assessments and in day-to-day activities, even though this program structures student response in this way. Students performing well in class (in cued responses, individual reading opportunities, independent written work and teacher-solicited inquiry regarding their skills and knowledge) also demonstrate skills in these other areas, at what I would say, obviously very unofficially since I don’t have any correlative statistics to support this, is a significantly positive rate.
I don't know that I was surprised, per say, about my observations, other than the fact I was able to identify the behavior so quickly. I stepped out of my office thinking this might be a daunting task - would I recognize it when I saw it in action? I think I did! :)
By the way, does anyone know any tricks to get to the You Tube content from their offices (and past all those pesky web filters)? I would prefer to read the material and see the video at work right before I go out, but keep getting blocked by those filters!
ReplyDeleteMy observation is also related to reading instruction. First-grade students were practicing reading sound-spellings for long vowels first in isolation then in the context of words. The teacher was using a template for instruction that is grounded in direct instruction.
ReplyDeleteThe teacher modeled the procedure for reading the sound-spellings and words. Then the students elicited choral responses to a signal provided by the teacher.
This is a pretty basic example of behaviorist theory because the teacher clearly had established the condition for the response, and the students didn't miss a beat in responding.
In respone to the previous posting, I have to agree that this type of instruction is pretty effective in teaching the basics.
There was a high level of success and the students had no trouble transferring the sound-spellings in isolation to reading real words containing those same sound-spellings.
One idea I keep going back to is the idea of the nesting of the learning theories. I had never considered that before, and it makes sense that each theory has its place in effective instruction.
test
ReplyDeleteMy observation took place in a college mathematics (dual enrollment) class in our local high school. The instructor was taking the students through some practice exercises using synthetic division of polynomials. I did not enter at the beginning of the lesson but just shortly after it started. I got the distinct impression that it was not the first time the concept had been introduced. The teacher asked questions that required only a short one-word response. For many questions there was no response. It clearly felt like the students were just trying to mimic what they had seen the teacher do previously. I don’t believe that they had any real understanding of the process and why they were using it. I understand that this is a rather abstract algebraic concept but the simplest deviations from the learned process (i.e. missing term, reverse order of terms, remainders, etc.) was met with confusion and misunderstanding. It was easy for me to recognize the situation as I have taught this level of mathematics before. As I reflected on my teaching methods, it was clear that I was teaching a strict behaviorist style. I expected students to memorize the process and its deviations without taking time for a real understanding of the underlying causes.
ReplyDeleteThe part of my reflection that surprises me is that I equated memorization with authentic learning. Perhaps this stems from my own educational experience as a child. Perhaps it is a direct correlation with the number of standards and/or instructional topics that are to be covered. Too many standards with too little time necessitates using the most efficient (but not most effective) instructional strategies. Large class sizes also push teachers into “teaching to the whole group” rather than to “individual students”. Efficiency, not effectiveness, is demanded by the current educational system. It is the system that needs to be reformed, not just the instructional strategies of our teachers.
My observation took place in a 4/5 blended music class with about 30 kids. This was a great place to see the behaviorist approach in action. The class warm-up activity was practicing scales using Curwen hand motions - the students respond to different motions of the hands. The lesson then progressed to work with xylophones, student action being dictated by either verbal or hand cues. The class ended with a song, with the teacher again using hand signals to reinforce tone and lyrics. It struck me that in a subject like music (or foreign languages), where practice makes perfect, that the behaviorist appraoch may be much more evident than in other subjects that don't require the day-by-day drilling.
ReplyDeleteIn response to the question of what surprised me the most, I guess I would have to say how evident and plentiful the behaviorist techniques were. There were numerous examples within the 30-minute period. But like I stated earlier, certain subjects lend themselves to certain learning techniques.
Today, as I dropped my 29 students off at the gym I decided to hang around and do my observation. The teacher began giving instructions to the students on creating an obstacle course. I was watching the students and then realized that the teacher had stopped talking and some students began looking around at the students who were standing at the back. One student was talking and he stopped when he realized the teacher was waiting quietly up front and students were all looking at him. This occurred twice and I realized that the teacher had taught them that she will not give directions if students are talking. This illustrated to me the Empiricist/Behaviorist behavior and that the students responded to the silence of the teacher. That was their cue that someone was off task and that the person needed to be quiet. I feel that this behavior is valid and can be used in the classroom to some extent, but at the same time we need to look for other methods and behaviors because students are different and they do not all learn the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree with marianne, in her reading observation that this behavior is clearly effective and I have used it also in teaching the basics with my lower end students. This demonstrates that even though I agree that this type of behavior is not what we would like to see all day in the classroom, it does have its place and purpose
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ReplyDeleteI like your observation in the music class and I guess your closing reinforces what I believe; certain subjects lend themselves to different learning techniques. What might work for one student might be different for another and that is why I feel that differentiated instruction is vital in the classroom. We all learn differently.
I observed a kindergarten class engaged in an Early Reading Intervention (ERI) lesson. Instruction was given by one teacher or educational assistant per 4-5 students. The lesson was on the initial letter/sound of words. The teacher would lay "letter" and the students would identify it, "sound" and they said the sound, followed by the teacher saying a word that started with that sound and asking "What word?" with students repeating the word.
ReplyDeleteI was surprised at how much practice each student had in a short amount of time, how quick the pace was, and how on-task the students were. I am amazed at how much the students appear to have mastered this year with this program compared to last year. Progress monitoring data is impressive. I look forward to the results of our mid-year universal screening next week. That will tell me just how much the students have gained from the beginning of the year and compared to last year.
I observed my cooperating teacher in her math class today to look for an example of a behaviorist approach to learning. I saw one right away by viewing their daily start to class. The students walk in the door and collect a blue square of paper upon which they do their 'problems of the day' or 'POD'. This consists of about three math problems that are from the last night's homework or from the previous test. The students know right away that when they walk in the door to math, they are to pick up a blue sheet, fill the problems out, and then turn them in about 10 mins. after the start of class, or when the teacher calls for "PODs in." Every student in the classroom follows this response from the stimulus of walking in the door to turning their PODs in.
ReplyDeleteI see this as behaviorism, as it is a conditioned response by the students to complete and turn in the PODs as this activity is expected each and every day. This is shown by the fact that students are not told to collect the blue paper...they just know to as it is a conditioned response to the stimulus of the bell ringing for the start of math class.
I was surprised by the fact that every student in the class does this everyday, regardless of their behavioral status in the class. Even the students that are known to act up or need extra attention always come right in, get the paper, complete the POD, and turn them in immediately upon request. I also see these PODs as a great way to set the management and motivation tones of the class. The students seem to like the routine, and on rare days when school assemblies take them away, they really seem to need more management and motivation alike.
I never taught it explicitly, but my entire student body responds in unison to my greeting, "Good morning, Sunrise" at the beginning of our weekly assemblies. I never came up with anything clever and just said the same thing each week. I did and still do teach, reteach, and reinforce expectations for assembly behavior. Now all I have to do to get our assembly started is greet my students in my corny, sweet, elementary way. They greet me, sit, are basically silent (for 400 students), and wait for me to begin.
ReplyDeleteAfter watching our video for today, I was thinking that if I changed my behavior such as not waiting for quiet to begin or not restating one or more expectations, the students might greet me and go on talking.
I guess my surprise was doing this observation activity and realizing that we had successfully conditioned the students to behave the way we want them to behave at assemblies.
While I observed a few speech therapy sessions today I noticed students following learned cues from the teacher and the environment to correct their speech sound production. Having been a speech therapist, I am all to familiar with the phenomenon of student's speech improving while in the speech room, then instant regression once they leave the room. I observed it again today- mostly accurate speech sound production in the speech room, then I saw the student in another context and poof! forgot all about speech sound articulation- slushy, imprecise speech, difficult to understand.
ReplyDeleteThe cues from the teacher and the student response were the tell tale give-aways of a behavioral approach to therapy.
My observations are simply what occurs when I enter a classroom unannounced (assistant principal). They're very typical of the reaction students give, and although I don't like when it happens, I am conditioned to expect it and accept it.
ReplyDelete1. Entering a special education classroom to speak briefly with the teacher, I'm immediately greeted with a student proclaiming, "I didn't do it." It isn't novel, but it is disruptive to the rest of the class.
2. Seeking information during an investigation, I call a student into the hall in the last couple of minutes of the class, and a group of students pronounce in unison, "Ohhhh." Event of this type make me feel like I'm part of a spectator sport.
Malcom
I observed a group of students who are part of the RTI process receiving reading instruction in the Resource Room. Like the other posts about direct instruction, students responded on cues and repeated words when cued i.e. 'the word is bite, what is the word?' I also noticed the procedures that the teacher had clearly taught. For example, when a student didn't know the word, the teacher directed the student to 'touch it and say the sounds.' The student responded, clearly knew this routine and expectation - and was successful in sounding out the word. One of the things I noted (and was both surprised and pleased) was that when the teacher cued the students about behavior or procedures (how do we hold our pencil, what should you be doing) students responded with the correct behavior. I was also impressed with how much progress these students have made in reading. Jennifer
ReplyDeleteI chose an easy one: passing time between classes in a high school. Student traffic is conditioned by herding patterns. Herding patterns are formed by routines that are stimulated by the bell tones that notify students of the beginning and end of class (and lunch!). A distinct change in behavior occurs after the warning bell: the end of a conversation or the peering around to see if adults are coming to shoo students to class, or the ideal move toward the next classroom for more learning. It's definitely procedural but it's conditioned. I'm not sure how rewarded the behavior is, and noncompliant behavior is managed both by positive reinforcement from peers and adults. Tardy behavior is difficult to extinguish in toto.
ReplyDeleteToday, I was looking for an opportunity where the Cognitivist/Constructivist behavior was very visible and I finally found that opportunity this afternoon with my 5th graders in Math. We are preparing for our OAKS testing and I one their practice problems was related to Family Facts. I really thought it was a no brainer and all the kids would get that item correct. Unfortunately that did not happen and I seized the moment to use modeling, prior knowledge, and meaningful learning to help them remember what Family Facts are all about. I used several students for role playing of mother, father, children. When asked what that represented they replied "A family." I then changed the order, several different times of each member of the family and asked, "If it was the same family standing there or a different family?" All of a sudden you could see the light going off and there faces showing signs of understanding exactly what is meant by Family Facts and there was no need to really solve the problem (If 25 x 7 = 175, then what does 175 ./. by 25 equal? a. 175 b. 25 c. 7 or d. 5.) I had seen most students trying to work out the problem when after the demo of family they realized there was no need to do the computation! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteDay one observation:
ReplyDeleteI observed in an Early Intervention / Early Childhood Special Education classroom housed at Linn Benton Lincoln ESD. It provides special education services to children from ages 3 to 5 who are demonstrating a significant developmental delay in one or more areas and/or meet disability eligibility criteria as outlined in IDEA. There is a morning class of 6 students with delayed language aquistion and an afternoon class of 10 students, two blind, and the others with more significant developmental delays and disabilities. The room is set up with multiple learning centers (art, gym, kitchen, sensory, story) and the walls are covered with visual (pictorial) aids for students to learn from and be directed by. Each grouping of students spends 10-15 minutes at a center with one of the three aids or the lead teacher.
Research supports the use of the Empiricist/Behaviorists teaching strategies for students with learning or physical disabilities where direct instruction is often necessary and in which a great deal of practice and review of new learning can take place. The activity I observed, a morning and afternoon routine, was with the AM group. The teacher and students were together in story center where morning instruction begins. Students gathered around colored disks on the floor with their laminated name placed on top of the disk they were to eventually sit on. Before a student could sit down he/she had to grab their name, walk over to a name board with their name on one side, and place the name from the disk next to their name on the board. They could then go sit down on their disk. The activity is completed once all students have stuck their name on the laminated velcro board.
Once all 6 students completed the activity they sat down and the lead teacher started a song. " Hello __________ (name of student) how are you? Who is sitting next to you? The student looks and then says the name of the person next to him/her. The teacher then starts the song again with the name of that student. The song goes on until each one has named the person next to him/her. The final student names the student across from him/her. The next activity is with the calendar where they all identify the day and all sing a short song about the day. The teacher ends the activity by briefly telling them about the rest of their day. The ratio of adult to child for this activity was 2 to 6.
Dennis Schultz
I observed training sessions for football, baseball, softball, and soccer. I was looking for change in the student-athletes behavior according to the specific sport and coach. All of the athletes have been conditioned to a specific routine in entering the Casanova Center Weight Room. Food is thrown away or hidden, cell phones and personal items are stored, workout cards are searched for and taken up to the mezzanine, shoes and clothes are in specific fashion, and they all crowd the railing overlooking the gym. Depending on the sport, some coaches just have to enter the gym for behavior to change for the warmup to start. Other sports coaches give verbal commands, claps, or use a whistle that the student-athletes respond to. When athletes accidentally drop their weights on the floor, the whole gym immediately starts to clap and look around for the unlucky athlete. The stimulus of different sounds to weight clanging, coaches yelling, or non-verbal clues has conditioned our athletes responses in various specific behaviors. I was surprised to notice that athletes tense up or quiet down accordingly to which coach is around them and at what distance.
ReplyDeleteI feel like my observations to routines in training sessions were similar to David's observations regarding between classes and to the bell. I think there are a lot of conditioned responses in both examples. I'm guessing there would be different behaviors with teachers, janitors, or principals walking through the hall by students. I think this is similar to a surrounding environment with an intern or graduate assistant than with a head coach.
ReplyDeleteConditioned Response
ReplyDeleteI really struggled at first, not to find conditioned response behaviors - like David, I thought about daily unthinking behaviors, e.g. students line up at the end of the period, waiting for the bell - but to identify what conditioned responses looks like in the classroom learning environment. It was easy once I got into a class! I chose to visit a German language classroom and saw lots of examples of conditioned response! Conjugating verbs as a choral response. Everyone knows the order: I, you, we, they, he, she... The patterned call of the teacher and response from students, the limit to content in order for students to learn a concept by observing and then trying out the pattern, e.g. "What's (student's name) favorite subject?" " Her favorite subject is math", until each student had spoken.
The teacher then introduced the concept of sequencing (i.e. first, then. thereafter, finally) by giving examples in German, explaining at least partially in English, doing a call and response practice, then using a student's class schedule to model the concept in German. Students then practiced the concept in pairs, describing their schedules to their partners. One student needed to refer back to the examples on the whiteboard. Students then applied the concept to put textbook sentences in the correct sequence. So, very direct instruction, practice and then application in a textbook assignment.
I had expected the behaviors the teacher used to get students responding and processing the concept. The thing that surprised me was the conditioned responses initiated by the students, perhaps my realization that students' questions are in a way a conditioned behavior. I don't know if this makes sense, but here is an example: a student asked the teacher, "So we say...?" to check his understanding of the concept. I can't imagine the number of times students use that sentence starter in a language class to confirm comprehension.
My observation (from a behaviorist lense) occurred during a budget reduction strategies meeting of special education administrators. The budget department had provided instructions with s series of procedures for reducing the current budget for the department by 5% and 10%. The instructions required that each budget item (for example: materials, itinerate staff, professional development, etc) be considered discretely, in sequence (through the cost centers), increasingly complex and multiple steps.
ReplyDeleteWatching the administrators attempt to follow the directions gave some insight into the learning that was occurring. If knowledge is viewed as an organized accumulation of stimulus-response associations that serve as the skill components, then the administrators acquired the associations and skills (Thordike, 1931) in completing the directions and meeting the outcome requirements of the budget reduction strategy for 5%. They followed the procedures, gained skills by following the steps required in sequence, and acquired the more complex associations required to complete the 10% reduction. These acquired associations and skills was rewarded by the completion of the task that – from another lense – was meaningless.
What surprised you about your observations?
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My observation was very focused as a result of the work before hand with the support video, answers to the two questions and other material I read before the observation.
I knew what I was looking for and I knew where to find it and what to expect.
A useful exercise.
I find the work in science classes, especially in training in the scientific method, is as constructivist as it gets. It's training in a paradigm, driven in a metacognitive structure. What's pleasing as an observer is watching students work within the framework that facilitates reflection and sense-making. Science teachers in the building are training and function intuitively within the scientific method. They model, coach, and reinforce the use of vocabulary that becomes the language of learning. It's a beautiful thing. I'm look for the transfer of such thinking to problem-solving in other content areas. Today, though, it's science, and science wins the day.
ReplyDeleteI observed in the hallway of the elementary school. We have a pre-school in our building and the teacher has taught the students to respond a very specific way when she lines the students up after using the restroom. She sings a song and at each specific phrase of the song they are conditioned to respond with a certain phrase or action. The students know exactly what is expected and do it.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that many people discussed DI, when discussing this with teachers they either seem to love it or hate it. It seems to me to be classical behaviorist methodology. Although many teachers do not like the method it kind of suprised me that almost every class I observed used the method at least a little.
ReplyDeleteBoy, what a process to get to this point. I observed a 5th grade band class where students were condition to respond to the instructor's smallest gestures. The teacher would move to a certain position on top of the platform and students were ready with their instruments. There were many examples during the 50 minute observation. What surprised me was how these first year band students had been conditioned to behave in a manner contray to other settings.
ReplyDeleteMy observation comes from a middle school math classroom in which they were studying prealgebra. When I think about math classes I often think of behaviorist learning theory because math is a lot of drill and practice. This class was a lower level 8th grade class and so the teacher had created a worksheet to help the kids with solving equations with an unknown variable. The worksheets were set up as reminders that if we see this then we do this and so on until the we get our answer. By doing this the teacher was teaching them to recognize cues and then react with the appropriate response.
ReplyDeleteThe thing that surprised me was that I thought that whatever I I saw in the lesson as behaviorist theory I wouldn't like. But this was great for what these kids needed because they to often get overwhelmed and can't complete the work but this guided them through it step by step and allowed them to finish their work.
The assembly begs a certain behavior structure. By this point in the year, students recognize the expectations and determine the relationship between those expectations and their own interests. This assembly is loaded witb additional socio-cultural obligations: respect for Martin Luther King, for members of the NAACP, for the city's police chief (guest speaker), and for the notion of paying attention to the legacy of struggles of race. The students were remarkably well-mannered. They attended to the cues and operated within the bounds of modeled behavior.
ReplyDeleteI can relate to Malcom's experience. I have served as an assistant principal at the middle school level and as an elementary Principal. My presence in the classroom or common areas cause consistent reactions, but they are very different in elementary and secondary (middle school).
ReplyDeleteAs a middle school administrator, there was more fear and concern when I walked into a classroom. Kids would react in a curious way. I was the person in charge of discipline and kids connected me with consequences, regardless of the positive time I spent with them.
When I walk into an elementary classroom or cafeteria, I am instantly greeted with hugs and children saying my name in hopes I pay attention to them. They make me feel like a movie star :) I am doing nothing different when entering a room, but the reaction is very different because of the group dynamics.
My observation for this assignment took place in a second grade classroom. Upon entering the room, the teacher announced my presence. In a choral response, the students greeted me with "Hello guest. How are you? Come on in and stay a few."
The teacher was delivering spelling instruction on the document camera. She would ask the students to attempt to spell a word on paper. It was apparent she had a clear routine when kids knew what to do after each procedure.
When the students were finished spelling the word, the students would hold their fist up in the air.
When the teachers said "Spell it." the students would respond by counting the letters on their fingers while segmenting the word in a choral fashion. This routine was done smoothly and successfully.
What surprised me about the observation? Not much. Primary kids respond well to direct instruction because it allows for structure and predictability for kids.
I observed the Speech Pathologist in a lesson with an elementary student with autism. She used a form of pivotal response training which involved very specific modeling and repeating of sounds paired with a reinforcer (“good job”) following each correct response. A series of correct responses earned a larger reinforcer (twisting a wind-up toy). The SLP also used direct instruction in putting 3 cards with words in front of the student, telling her the name of each, then asking her to select a specific card. This was repeated in rapid succession with a reinforce after each correct answer. The lesson was designed to develop specific skills. Additional steps will be needed to generalize these skills to other settings.
ReplyDeleteI appreciated Gower's comment about not expecting to like anything behaviorist and being surprised that what he saw was what the students needed. As a special educator, I frequently use teaching methodology that is behaviorist, but I would not want that to be the only thing use. I thing that supports the "nesting theory" discussed in class.
ReplyDeleteI was tied up in a meeting most of the day. However I did get out to lunch duty of all things. I observed the reaction of our custodian as the office called his name over the radio, he answered and was definitely anticipating having to do a task that he did not want to do. I don't no if it was the tone in the receptionists voice or if that is his usual response, I had not seen it before.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Gower and the observation in the 8th grade math class. I can see how this would teach the students the algorithm. My concern would be that problems in real life don't come on a worksheet and students need to understand why the step works not just do the step in the algorithm. I don't think that this is a good method for learning higher order skills.
ReplyDeleteMy observation occurred in my own science class. I was observing the 7th grade students. First, I have established a routine for students to do for the opener. Students rush into the door, sit down at their seats, open their composition book, and then write down the opening question into their composition book, and then respond. They do it everyday. When I tell then to share, they all share with their partner what they had written. I never really thought about it before, but the routine is behaviorist. The thinking, however, is high level as I was asking them to give evidence for or against the overkill theory for the Pleistocene extinction. So while the behavior was procedural, the learning was not. The other instance that occurred was when the intercom came on at 9:20. All the students immediately dropped what they were doing, stood up, looked at the flag and began to recite the pledge of allegiance. They are much faster at responding to it than I am! And it only occurs on Monday. I think if the office ever mistakenly called me over the intercom at that time, they would all be greeted by the pledge emanating from my room. The last observation was when I wanted the students to get quiet, I flicked the lights and they all stopped talking at once.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprised me about my observations was that I never really looked at those routines through the behaviorist lens before. I just knew that I needed to start class in an orderly way, or get students attention quickly when they are all spread out over my large room. The routines that we use have to be practiced in the beginning of the year. Now I do not even have to be in the room when class begins and the students know what to do.
I think that the behaviorist techniques have a lot of value if you want to establish routines in your classroom.
I observed a chemistry class, where the teacher had a ring bell that he rang when some students where distracted. Immediately after he took his sitting behavior chart and cut behavioral points. For me that example models the stimulus response conditioning.
ReplyDeleteMy observation took place in a 1st grade reading classroom. The instructor was teaching a general ed curriculum, but was using an explicit teaching method that included prompts, group responses and pre-taught skills. These first graders were clearly conditioned to respond. These particular students are behind in their reading abilities and this methodology has shown an increased with their progress monitoring data.
ReplyDeleteThis methodology was not surprising due to the amount of effort the school has exhibited to raise reading scores. Among the district staff members there is a small cultural conflict developing between the accountability of raising scores and teaching methodology. Stay tone, this conflict is not going away soon.
It is difficult to "observe" behaviorist tendencies online; however, there are three components of our programs that upon reflection seem to increase a behavioral response. The first of these is that in our learning management system (LMS), when a webmail initially appears in your inbox, the webmail icon beats red. It drives me crazy, so I will open my webmail just to get rid of the beating heart (althought it's not a heart, it's a mailbox) on the top left of my screen! The second is the way that our escalation system is set up so that if a student falls into alarm or approaching alarm status, the smiley face next to their name turns to concerned (approaching alarm) and finally to upset (alarm) on their homepage in the LMS. The last is the sound of an instant message (IM) coming from someone. The minute I hear the IM ding, I get to my computer (even if I'm in another room). If I am in the middle of a conversation and I hear the IM ding, I am completely distracted until I can check my IM.
ReplyDeleteFor my observation, I went into a classroom for students in Special Education. The class is called "Reading Forensics" and is geared for students who are eligible for Special Education with a Learning Disability in Reading and Writing. There was eight students (9th and 10th grade mix) with one Special Education teacher and one Instructional Assistant. The teacher was using a direct-instruction curriculum, REWARDS, by Anita Archer. When implemented with fidelity, this program is known to be effective. Like similar direct-instruction programs, when the teacher gives a prompt the students are to answer, etc.
ReplyDeleteWhen I observed this class, it was evident that the students knew when to respond and how to participate in the lesson. So the teacher would half-heartedly give the verbal prompt (the stimulus), expect the students to respond (the reaction), and then move to the next example. The result was that the teacher and students alike were marginally involved in the lesson and went through motions because they knew the behavior they were supposed to present.
Clearly, I was not very impressed with the lesson. But I think this was a good example of how a stimulus can elicit the desired reaction.
What surprised me about this lesson is the lack of effort of the teacher and students and how they continued to go through the motions of the activity because that's what was familiar to them.
I liked David's example of the school assembly. I am consistently surprised that 3,000 students in my high school can gather in the gym for an assembly and when the National Anthem begins, they all stand, take their hats off and are quiet (for the most part) for the song. WOW!
ReplyDeleteMy morning observation is the classic Pavlovian response of my cats to the sound of my opening their can of the day's catfood. Regardless of where they are hiding, they take their places at their individual bowls for this morning ritual.
ReplyDeleteMy afternoon observation also has to do with food, but the office ritual of lunch. In an academic setting where everyone is a free agent it is still noticeable that everyone responds more to the smell of the first micro waved morsel...than to the clock...and the lunch bags and boxes come out.
My final observation of today was the professional behavior of my colleagues in the weekly meeting we call the "huddle." The huddle is a catch all meeting for the Finance and Administrative leadership team. My job is to produce the agenda and orchestrate followup on action items. What is behviorist/empiricist about this meeting is the fixed format it follows as well as the unchanging seating positions of the participants and the reluctances my colleagues demonstrate for talking about subjects outside their job titles and expertise. This, is the case even though the VP in charge asks for feedback. Tradition, deference and a respect for position I believe are the three conditions that control behavior in this setting.
To celebrate this assignment, I had a fire drill today! I thought ahead of time what behaviors I see during such drills and tried to switch things up to see how the conditioned responses of students and staff might change. We spend a lot of time practicing conditioned responses during emergency drills, for safety. But, how might an unconditioned response take over if the situation changes?
ReplyDeleteTypically, teachers know when the drill will be and students are lined up at the classroom door before I even pull it. Their conditioned responses tell them to walk in a straight line to their designated spot on the field, take roll... etc, etc...
Today, I called the alarm company myself and pulled the alarm with no other notification. As a result, several teachers forgot their emergency backpacks, kids were much more restless during evacuation, and the front office staff had to run back in for one of the radios! It was a good practice for the "real thing."
This showed me that I have trained the school to be conditioned to my announcement of a drill, not the fire alarm, itself. The fire alarm (with no notification) solicited different unconditioned responses. This was a valuable exercise!
What surprised you about your observations?
ReplyDeleteI was surprised about how many different unconditioned responses I observed as a result of having this "unannounced" drill. It showed me just how conditioned the staff/students were to the typical "drill scenario."
I observed a classroom where the teacher started the day with a quick write exercise. Students entered the classroom and quietly took their places. They got materials out and began writing with nothing more than the phrase, "Quickwrite: In what ways did Jack learn from his previous experience as he faced the obstacles in Chapter 9?"
ReplyDeleteI was intrigued by the level of compliance with the written task. Clearly, the behavior had been instructed many times in the past to gain this level of engagement. One student did not have his materials, and asked to leave the room. He returned, and got right to work. The writing task set up the rest of the lesson as students looked to their written pieces and eagerly began to share.
since not on-site at the moment, i am "watching" my three evening classes (teacher, colleagues and myself).
ReplyDeleteday 1 is our class...and i observed specifically behaviors that I believe were emipricist/behaviorist...that is, in my 'perception'
We had three reciprocal teachings today. We are all leaders and have spoke in public many times to many audiences, but even though capable, it does cause anxiety.
communication is going on besides the words spoken and heard. from my understanding, behaviorist theory applies not only to natural, instinctual behaviors, but also secondary, ego-satisfying behaviors. here is how it applies:
the speakers all used hand gestures while speaking. this is a very inviting behavior. the speakers maintained eye contact more with the audience, less on their paper. smiles were offered, some jokes were intermixed, and free dialogue afterwards allows(ed) the speaker to satisfy their need of making a solid presentation and engaging the audience.
for the audience, we returned eye contact, nodded our heads, smiled...all easing the speaker. we were quiet, did not stir much or type on laptops.
...in short, we were respectful. either out of conditioned politeness, empathy, or for our own egos in hope of return treatment on this difficult taks when its our turn.
lastly...we have to do the teaching as part of our grade...so for the teacher, a small carrot to encourage participation and also for assessment.
~lxw~
since not on-site at the moment, i am "watching" my three evening classes (teacher, colleagues and myself).
ReplyDeleteday 1 is our class...and i observed specifically behaviors that I believe were emipricist/behaviorist...that is, in my 'perception'
We had three reciprocal teachings today. We are all leaders and have spoke in public many times to many audiences, but even though capable, it does cause anxiety.
communication is going on besides the words spoken and heard. from my understanding, behaviorist theory applies not only to natural, instinctual behaviors, but also secondary, ego-satisfying behaviors. here is how it applies:
the speakers all used hand gestures while speaking. this is a very inviting behavior. the speakers maintained eye contact more with the audience, less on their paper. smiles were offered, some jokes were intermixed, and free dialogue afterwards allows(ed) the speaker to satisfy their need of making a solid presentation and engaging the audience.
for the audience, we returned eye contact, nodded our heads, smiled...all easing the speaker. we were quiet, did not stir much or type on laptops.
...in short, we were respectful. either out of conditioned politeness, empathy, or for our own egos in hope of return treatment on this difficult taks when its our turn.
lastly...we have to do the teaching as part of our grade...so for the teacher, a small carrot to encourage participation and also for assessment.
may be a duplicate...learning this tech stuff too.
ReplyDeletesince not on-site at the moment, i am "watching" my three evening classes (teacher, colleagues and myself).
day 1 is our class...and i observed specifically behaviors that I believe were emipricist/behaviorist...that is, in my 'perception'
We had three reciprocal teachings today. We are all leaders and have spoke in public many times to many audiences, but even though capable, it does cause anxiety.
communication is going on besides the words spoken and heard. from my understanding, behaviorist theory applies not only to natural, instinctual behaviors, but also secondary, ego-satisfying behaviors. here is how it applies:
the speakers all used hand gestures while speaking. this is a very inviting behavior. the speakers maintained eye contact more with the audience, less on their paper. smiles were offered, some jokes were intermixed, and free dialogue afterwards allows(ed) the speaker to satisfy their need of making a solid presentation and engaging the audience.
for the audience, we returned eye contact, nodded our heads, smiled...all easing the speaker. we were quiet, did not stir much or type on laptops.
...in short, we were respectful. either out of conditioned politeness, empathy, or for our own egos in hope of return treatment on this difficult taks when its our turn.
lastly...we have to do the teaching as part of our grade...so for the teacher, a small carrot to encourage participation and also for assessment.
~lxw~
just the awareness that as I was watching the speaker look for clues from the audience, including myself, i realized that we to, as audience members, were also participating in a positive (some can negatively by being loud or not paying attention) reciprocal game of a calm, safe environment...ideal for teaching.
ReplyDeleteWe modeled how we'd like our own students to act.