PLE #8 Ch 9

Consider your CSEL intervention case study. Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case? What are they?

There are many tools from a behaviorist view that I could use with Lisa to both encourage productive behaviors or to discourse undesirable behaviors. Before I put my students in their groups, it is important to discuss the correct ways to behave when doing group activities. Making a list on the board and brainstorming ideas about how to treat each other would be a good way for Lisa to see what is expected of her. Once everyone knows the type of behavior that is expected in the classroom, the students will go to their groups.

I will pay attention to Lisa's group and whenever she behaves, doesn't get angry at others when she doesn't get her way, and contributes to the activity, I will praise her and will point out what she is doing that I like. For instance, if she doesn't interrupt a classmate, I will say "Lisa, I like how you are listening to John." This way, Lisa will know the behavior that is attached to the praise.

If this is ineffective, I can meet with her one on one and design a contingency contract. We will discuss the behavior that is inappropriate and decide on what behaviors will be appropriate. We will also discuss reinforcers for the good behavior. For instance, if Lisa can get through the group activity without talking out of turn and without getting angry when she doesn't get her away, if she contributes and helps prepare for the class presentation, she will receive a sticker that she can put on her behavior chart that I will design. If she reaches 10 stickers for positive behavior, she will get a larger reward (such as getting extra time on the computer). Hopefully this reinforcement will help Lisa behave appropriately. Eventually, I would like to take away the reinforcers and hope that Lisa can behave this way on her own.

I could also make this a class-wide token system, and if all of the groups work together and behave, the class will receive points. Every group has to behave in order for the class to receive points. This way, everyone will help each other, and hopefully Lisa will be reinforced as well to behave. Once the class reaches a certain amount of points, they will have a pizza party.

From a cognitive viewpoint, I've been having a hard time trying to think of how I would go about dealing with Lisa. Thinking about Piaget's stages, Lisa is at concrete-operational, meaning that she should be able to realize that other people have viewpoints and their own way of thinking. Perhaps I could use this to show her that everyone wants to have a certain role in the group and that we all need to take turns?

An important aspect of constructivism is that students reflect and talk about their activities. They also set their own goals. Lisa can construct her own ideas about what a good student looks like and how a student should behave during group work. She can construct her own goals and ways she can meet these goals. 

I feel like a cognitive viewpoint has the most deficits because it doesn't really apply to behavior--so if a child is misbehaving, it is hard to figure out how to deal with the child just based on cognition. Behaviorism is a great way to deal with Lisa because, obviously, we are dealing with her behavior and can use conditioning and reinforcement to get her to behave appropriately.

I think constructivism would be the best way to go about classroom management in my classroom because it involves both behavior and learning. Students need to know why they are behaving a certain way and need to be involved in ways they can change their behavior. Having students involved in the process helps them learn more. If Lisa can construct goals that she wants to attain, she will be more likely to follow through because she played a part in creating them. Also, with constructivism, I can look at her background knowledge to see if there are reasons why she is misbehaving during group time (perhaps her parents don't give her enough attention at home so she acts out in school, or she could be used to getting her own way at home and thinks the same should happen in school.)

All of the theories have positive aspects, but I think constructivism is the most effective in the classroom.  

I liked this article because it talks about both constructivism and behaviorism, comparing them, and discusses real-life examples in the classroom based on a video of preschoolers.