Behavioral change occurs for a reason; students work for things that bring them positive feelings, and for approval from people they admire (Standridge, 2002). This is why the instructional strategy of reinforcing effort works well in the classroom environment. The instructional strategy of reinforcing effort enhances students’ understanding of the relationship between effort and achievement by addressing their attitudes and beliefs about learning (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). To teach this method of reinforcing effort, teachers must stress the importance of effort by having students track their effort and achievement. This can be done easily using spreadsheet software and data collection tools. A powerful way to convince students that effort is truly tied to achievement is to show them data (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007). Student success stories made apparent from online survey data can also be shared with students and serve as positive reinforcement. In addition to using applications of educational technology where data is created with software, educators can also collect, share, and post stories and examples of student achievements on a website instead of, or in addition to, bulletin boards. This type of recognition of effort and success evokes emotion which is a catalyst for learning (Laureate Education, 2008).
The behaviorist learning theory also suggests that, as with all teaching methods, success depends on each student's stimulus and response, and on associations made by each learner (Standridge, 2002). The prospect of allowing students to check out computers just as they check out books would be a great opportunity to those who do not have access to computers at home. If all students have access to computers, using and creating multimedia such as educational games and interactive simulations, as part of homework, seems so exciting to me as a teacher. Can you imagine how much stduents would enjoy this type of homework? This would provide opportunities for students to utilize more ways to practice and reinforce what they learn. The more times and ways you practice, the stronger the synapse and memory (Laureate Education, Inc., 2008). Practicing with multimedia allows students to shape the experience to their individual learning style and increase their level of understanding to mastery (Pitler, Hubbell, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).
Works Cited:
Laureate Education. (2008). Brain Research and Learning. Baltimore, MD.
Laureate Education, Inc. (2008). Understanding the Brain. Baltimore, MD.
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E. R., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works. Denver: Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning (McREL).
Standridge, M. (2002). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved May 9, 2009, from Behaviorism. In M. Orey (Ed.): http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/
About Me
- mpowering
- I am going on my 10th year of teaching. I am currently back in the classroom after serving as an Instructional Technology Resource Teacher (ITRT) for the elementary schools in my district. I love my job and enjoy having a classroom of my own once again.
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I'm so happy that you are very excited about helping your students learn through technology. You also made some great points about how important effort and achievement both are.
ReplyDeleteI really liked your idea of creating a showcase of student work on websites and bulletin boards. I have a "Writing Wall of Fame" bulletin boards and the students are proud of seeing what they earned a blue ribbon for. I have several technology projects my students have created on our class website, but I do not have an area set up to showcase each students' work yet. I saw another Kindergarten teacher's blog site and she had work from each student on it. I really thought this was a great idea. I think an important benefit of this is that the children can see it at home, share with family (even those far away) and parents get a glimpse into their child's classroom without having to physically be there. Too many great ideas, too little time! Maybe I will get to this next year?!
ReplyDeleteElementary children seek positive approval from their teacher. Therefore teachers must use this to their advantage when setting expectations such as homework. By rewarding a child for completing a task they begin to make the relation between doing work and earning a reward. I know that it would benefit my students if I charted their progress and allowed them to keep up with it. They would definitely take ownership in their learning and I would see greater accomplishment amongst my students.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I am honored to have you view my blog. It is so exciting to be able to converse with one of the author's of the major resource for our class involving technology integration.I will be checking out your bookmarked sites and have already viewed McREL's blog which I intend to follow. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteErica, thanks for the comment, I can tell from your blog that you are also invested in combining effort with achievement in your classroom.
ReplyDeleteSarah Stere,I agree that having a website or blog that posts student work is benficial as it serves as a portfolio for your student where you may track progress. In addition, it is another way to show them how proud you are of their accomplishments. I think that postiung student work assists students with seeing the value and worth in what they do, which in turn impacts effort and acheievement.It also opens a whole new realm of audience from across the world. With the web, students can obtain feedback on their work from just about anyone and of course, you as the teacher, can moderate this for the saftey of the student.
Sarah, I agree that rewarding student achievement is not always the best method. I believe by having students track progress they begin intrinsic motivation which is much more related to real life. Afterall, aren't we supposed to be preparing students for "real life"? I would love to have a reward for every task I complete for my job, but that just is not the way the "real world" works. Yet, as a teacher, I would never completely abandon rewarding with extrinsic motivation, but I do feel it can be kept to a minimum or faded.
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