Behaviorism in Practice

            No matter if we are willing to admit it or not, all teachers utilize some sort of behaviorist learning theory within their classroom.  Most of the these behaviorist theories employed by teachers are done in an attempt to influence their students behavior in such a way that will create a welcoming and effective learning environment.  In order to establish this conducive learning environment, teachers will utilize a form of operant conditioning in which they reinforce the desirable behaviors of their students, while punishing the undesirable ones as well (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).  Besides reinforcing the actual behavior that students exhibit during class, teachers should also include instructional strategies that reinforces the desired behavior shown by their students.  Two of these instructional strategies that I value within my classroom are reinforcing effort and studying (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

            I teach fifth grade students, and one of the things I stress with them is the development of their work ethic.  Since the work load increases greatly from the fourth to fifth grade in my school district, I feel that developing a good work ethic is vital to for the success of my students as they get older.  Reinforcing their effort is an instructional strategy that I employ in order to place a positive emphasis on the need for developing a good work ethic.  Besides praise, and the occasional reward, I also reinforce the need for a good work ethic through the 'Quote of the Week' that we do.  Each Monday, we will spend a few minutes discussing a different quote.  These quotes usually deal with the importance of making the right choices in life, developing a good character, and stress the importance of working hard in order to achieve whatever goals that you set.  I feel that this kind of reinforcement is important at this age in order to help these students develop a good character.

            Another way I am able to utilize reinforce the effort of my students is through the use of our 'CPS', or 'clicker' system.   Our CPS system is basically a remote answering system that allows my students to 'click' in their answers to multiple choice questions.  By having this kind of technology within my classroom, I am able to perform assessments at any point during my instruction in order to get an idea as to whether or not my students are understanding the lesson.  Since this system allows me to see their answers instantly, I am able to reinforce their effort by providing students with immediate feedback based on their results.  The students also respond well to the instant reinforcement that they receive when the results  for each question are posted.  They cheer each other on when they score well, and show disappointment when they struggle on a concept as well.  While the cheering offers positive reinforcement to the desired behavior of getting the question correct, the disappointment is equally as effective.  When the students do not score well on a question, they are motivated to relearn that particular topic in order to improve their score the next time we do the assessment.

            The second instructional strategy that I emphasize in my classroom is studying, or the process of developing good study skills.  The two subject areas that I teach are science and social studies.  I tend not to give homework to my students since they normally have math and reading / language arts homework each night.  By not giving much homework to my students, tests become very important in determining the grade for each of my students.  For this reason, it becomes vital for my students to develop good study skills.  Since it can be difficult to check whether or not my students have actually studied and increased their mastery of the current content, I rely on short cycle assessments in order to evaluate my students progress and study skills.  While these types of assessments may not offer my students repetitive practice like homework does, they do allow me to measure the progress of my students while giving my students additional practice in topics we may have already covered.  My CPS system also allows me to receive instant results with these assessments as well which then allows me to provide my students with any deserved praise, or additional instruction for areas that they many have struggled on.

            The need for developing a good work ethic while learning good study skills are two important behaviors for fifth graders to develop.  Constant positive reinforcement is needed in order to develop these types of skills within ten and eleven year-olds.  While some fifth graders may struggle to understand the importance of developing these skills at this age, it is very fulfilling to watch those that do thrive.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2010). Program four. Behaviorist learning theory [Web Cast]. Bridging learning theory, instruction and technology. Baltimore, MD:    Author.

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.