| Subject: Re: Assignment #2 |
Author:
Juliana Hopkins
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Date Posted: 02:17:16 06/19/10 Sat
In reply to:
Dr. M-J
's message, "Assignment #2" on 19:25:40 06/11/10 Fri
I am an Exploratory Spanish teacher at a "striving" Memphis City School. It is located within a high-poverty area. Throughout my first-year of teaching, I learned that many students lacked the motivation to advance in their education. Many could not see the importance of applying their knowledge towards futuristic goals. I knew that this was due to their environmental conditions. Although I was less familiar with behaviorist theory, I knew that reinforcement would be a crucial aspect in my quest to ensure mastery of the content.
During the majority of my first-year of teaching, I was observed by a "veteran" foreign language teacher. She provided me with useful feedback and a variety of engaging lesson ideas. One of the initial areas in which she felt I should improve was the amount of time I allotted for each classroom activity. She specifically pointed out that I was giving students too much time to complete the introductory "Bell Work" or "Do Now" assignments. “Bell Work" assignments were to be completed prior to instruction. They are meant to reinforce previous material. Initially, I would wait until every student was finished with these activities before I would move onto the lesson. This posed as a problem because it would frequently interfere with our completion of new material. There was no urgency towards accomplishing these tasks. Consequently, student accountability did not take precedence. After receiving this information from my observation, I decided that I needed to use a "reinforcement schedule" in order to improve "reaction time." I purchased a large timer, with a magnetic back, that I attached onto the whiteboard. It provided students with a visual of time remaining and time elapsed. With this new method, I decided that I would allocate 5 minutes for students to complete their "Bell Work." This limit not only improved my students' reaction, it promoted consistency with sustaining knowledge of previous material. The students knew they only had a certain amount of time to demonstrate their knowledge and they would only get a short amount of time to do so. Once this technique became routine, I was able to lower activity time to 3 minutes. To take this further, the first 5 to complete the assignment would receive a sticker on their paper and 5 extra points. I never anticipated that middle school students could hold receiving a sticker in such high regard. However, because they had "full knowledge of their performance", students were able to step up to the challenge. This increased motivation as well.
Like the experiment conducted in "The Efficacy of Reinforcement Schedules and Knowledge of Results in Effecting Behavioral Change", this was a procedure that "shaped human behavior." When students could conceptualize the final outcome, their application of the knowledge was hastened. Prior to this, I know that I was subconsciously underestimating my students' abilities due to their socioeconomic situations. This proved to be a learning experience for the students as well as myself. In order for students to explore their capabilities, I must provide engaging and challenging platforms for them to do so. Hopefully, this will benefit them in their future endeavors.
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