Thursday, May 14, 2009
Reinforcing Effort, Homework and Practice and how it relates to the Behaviorist Learning Theory
As I look at read through the material in 'Using Technology with Classroom Instruction that Works', I gained a lot of insight to the different things you can use with technology to keep students interested! In chapter 8, Reinforcing Effort, I found the Effort Rubric to be very interesting. Although at the Kindergarten level I would have to make it much easier to understand, the concept and ownership for the student was a great idea! I liked the way the teacher can set it up and then each week the students go in and actually grade themselves on the work they have done, all in the computer. I believe that this relates to the Behaviorist Learning Theory because it lets each student own up to their own selves. If they get a bad grade on the rubric then they know that they need to own up to themselves. Basically it is saying that you received the grade you did for the performance you showed in the class. That way they can look at what they got from the rubric and change it to make it better for themselves next time. The Behaviorist Learning Theory seems to be cut and dry, the student is either being reinforced or punished. With the spreadsheet that shows effort, the students that do their work and follow directions will be reinforced and the students that do the minimum or nothing will be punished with the grade that they receive. If a student gets a bad grade, he or she is just punishing themselves and can make it better next time by showing more effort to get that reward!
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Amy,
ReplyDeleteUsing effort rubrics is a little tricky when teaching kindergarten, but it can still be done. Setting a timer for center activities will show students the amount of time you expect for them to stay on-task and busy. Providing students with an example before beginning a project will help students visualize the amount of effort that you expect. You could save student work samples from previous years to show students what you expect. I don't know if your students could create Microsoft Excel graphs, but they could make their own graphs by coloring squares on a large piece of graph paper. Do you think that your students would benefit from using any of these strategies? Do you find that kindergarten students exhibit a lot of effort? I'm interested in your thoughts, as I do not teach kindergarten.
Jennifer
Amy,
ReplyDeleteI think everyone liked the effort rubric this week. Most of the blogs that I've read make mention of this idea. I can't wait to try it out myself.
Good luck with your grant to get Smartboard money. I've been getting really creative with Smartboard presentations, by embedding links into certain characters. This week I used one of the behaviorist practice sites from our resources to give extra practice. My son is in kindergarten, and he loves to come to my classroom and manipulate the characters on the Smartboard.
Daryl
Hello Amy,
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of a rubic! When I did my student teaching the classroom teacher and I came up with a great rubic. Each day the student would earn a sticker for the classes. One for reading, one for math, one for art, etc. At the end of the week the student would take the rubic home to his parents so that they could see his progress. It worked great!
Amy , this comment is about week #4 Construstivism and constructionism.
ReplyDeleteConstructivism or constructionism on Century 21 by Juan Delgado
As a compliment of your thoughts
What is constructivism? A theory of knowledge stating that each individual actively constructs his/her own meaning.
What is constructionism? A theory of learning that states people learn best when they build an external artifact or something that can share with others.
The process of constructionism has four specific mechanism of learning as follow:
Assimilation: Assimilation occurs when external reality is made to fit when one’s current beliefs and understanding. (Scheme)
Accommodation: Accommodation occurs when one’s current believes and understanding (scheme) is altered to fit the external reality.
Equilibration: Is the process of achieving a balance between differences in external reality and one’s current beliefs and understanding. (Scheme).
Scheme: A Scheme is a representation of an n outline of a system or object.
All this mechanism are connected and balance during the learning process.
When a teacher plans a constructionist activity, students are engaged in learning and with the process of “building” using tools and technology.
Assimilation, accommodation, equilibration and scheme are definitely, mechanisms that we all apply when are trying to acquire new knowledge.
Constructionist activities should be include on teachers weekly activities in order to develop students skills about using technology and braking with the daily routine of using pencil and paper.
My thoughts about Constructionism:
I believe in constructionism and proof of that is my students have a mandatory assignment, every marking period; when they need to use technology. Foe example, I have my students construct a project-based or a problem-based, original and creative on a determine topic; the common ones are the projects that consist of creating a power point presentation or simply writing an essay. The time allows for each project can vary from 90 minutes to a week; and student gets involve with the mechanism of learning as: Assimilation, accommodation, equilibrium and scheme. The most productive are the project where students have not a strong scheme. For example, last week, one activity consisted of do research about common alloys; students have idea about stainless steels and brass these students were more confident searching because they have an idea about this alloys, but the reaction was different when students were ask to do research about pewter and amalgam because they have no scheme about them. During this activity students are engage creating something. At times is a real challenge for students to work with Power Point.
My thoughts about Constructivism:
Students are not too familiar with doing invention or analyzing experimental inquiry. This week students are finishing with a project based on problem based, they did choose a topic and need to apply the steps of Scientific Method and write an essay about it. A group student were interested in finding out about peer opinion regarding the use of “uniform” instead of regular “outfit” and the effect on learning. During this activity students are engage constructing they own meaning or knowledge about the situation... At times is a real challenge for students to do data analysis to show experimental results.
Juan Delgado.
What an interesting set of posts. I have had quite a challenging class to say the least this year. I have three children on behavioral contracts. I feel strongly in building on their strengths. Each chill is different and responds to theories of behavior quite differently. I feel it is imperative to catch them being good immediately. When I catch a child being good, he/she gets a punch in his/her punch card. When they receive 20 punches they get a prize from the price drawer which usually are certificates to do special things with me (read aloud, lunch, free time, computer time). They love it. The motivation for this lasts all year!
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