Behaviorist views & 21st Century Teaching

(Lab 3 is face-to-face)

Plan for Lab (in class)

1) Warm up activity/ies

2) Main lab activity

3) Optional 15 minute Behaviorism 101

4) Reflection #2 (homework)

Where to find lab work Links to each activity appear within each lab block.

You have completed your lab when all the activities have been completed thoughtfully.

If you find yourself just filling out stuff for me, you are probably off track. These activities are designed to promote your meaning making, questioning, connections and extensions.

You will find a tick box beside each activity so you can keep track of your progress (behavioral self-management)

When are they due? Due dates negotiated between each lab

instructor and lab group

Labs are a central part of the design of this course. They are worth most of the marks in the course because we see them as creating opportunities for you to chew on ideas and grapple with discrepancies

How are they marked? Labs will be graded not as separate items but as a collection of activities

designed to anchor that week’s learning. This is a general idea of what distinguishes levels of work

Incomplete or unsatisfactory

Very GoodB+

ExcellentA-

OutstandingA

Exceptional A+

Absent, late or did not complete all lab activities

Or Minimal effort/thought-Activities were not completed fully

Attended All work completedwith some obvious thought

+ Contributed to small or large group work+ On task throughout+Ideas grounded in readings, course concepts+ not just parroting back

+ Played a major roll in small group & large group discussions.+challenging yourself+ taking some risks+ Mastery of course concepts

+ Clearly making deep and thoughtful connections+ Beyond expectations+ extended readings and integration

Observation#2

1. Looking for examples of places where engagement and behavior are encouraged versus discouraged in classroom contexts

2. Trying to distinguish between reinforcement and punishment in 21st century schooling

3. If you are not in a Wed cohort, you can observe any instructional context. If you are stuck, chat with your lab instructor about options

Warm up

Volunteer to leave the room

Hot or cold game

Choose a simple behavior (be kind, it could be you next)

Activity 2: What is learned?While working on a group project, Maki gets frustrated with her group for not listening to her suggestions, she scrunches up the work they were doing and throws it to the ground. Her group moves to another room and decide to work without her.

① What is Maki’s behavior?② What is the consequence of

the behavior?③ Is it +ve or –ve?④ Is is pleasant or unpleasant?⑤ Does it increase or decrease

likelihood of Maki destroying group work in the future?

⑥ Is it punishment or reinforcement?

And the point is…Punishments and reinforcements are part of

everyday life

They exist in every classroom (intended or not)

The challenge for teachers is to figure out (and help students figure out) the contingency so they can understand the learning and change (or redirect) the action in future

We gave to understand these contingencies from the perspective of the individual to help find the hook for a particular student

Main Lab Activity① Small groups (4 or 5)

② Think about the 21st century classroom What are all the ways engagement/action is

encouraged in those classrooms (by teachers, students, situations)

What are all the ways engagement/action are discouraged in those classrooms (by teachers, students, situations)

Hint, Dean gave lots of examples of this in the plenary (Reynolds people)

Main Lab Activity③ Reconstruct the contingency table you used

for your observation. Come up with creative examples that you value or believe in, rather than providing examples that you think are inconsistent with 21st century classrooms and who you want to be as a teacher

④ Brainstorm what you need to know about your students in order to support engagement and discourage disengagement. What is one way you could develop that knowledge early in the year?

Report back & share

③ In lab share and discuss your examples with the other groups

Weekly Reflection-Homework

PART 2: Plan for your learning in ED-D401 this coming week

This activity prompts you to set some learning goals for yourself thinking forward to next week, the topic, and readings

The goal is to support you to take some control of your own learning in our course.

Figuring out what you want to get out of each week’s topic is a useful way to direct your attention and energies.

Is the lab complete?

School Observation

Group activity

Reflection #2 (homework)

Behaviorism 101 Mini lecture with some tricks and tips

Optional in last 15 minutes of class

Sarah has worked extensively with children and adolescents in behavior modification. She has a tremendous amount of knowledge about the use of behaviorism with children who have behavioral challenges in the classroom

Behaviorism in 21st century classrooms (Example 1)

Teacher says to the French immersion class [who are not using French in class]. Lets just speak English all year that way I don’t’ have to nag “Parlez francais” all year and you don’t have to do it. Next year you can speak French. The class thinks about it and starts to freak out because they want to be ready for the next grade and they don’t want to lose their French. The teachers puts it back in their hands “Well if you want to speak French, what are you going to do about it. You need to figure out a way to make this happen”. The class proposes a solution. Lets have a system where we get to give each other coupons when we hear someone speak French. Maybe we can earn something fun if we have enough coupons. In this example, the teacher turns it over to the students. She doesn’t ever administer rewards. They create and implement the system together so they can move toward a shared goal (speaking French), that they decided was important to them on as a group (it is their goal, not the teachers).Thanks to Jeanne (Grade 6 teacher for this one)

Behaviorism in life (Example 2)

0 An example from boot camp this week: We did a group competition. Everyone was in plank position, each person did 5 push ups, then resumed plank until the last person finished. The coach said “Last team to finish gives me 3 burpies”. Someone said, in confusion (believe me it wasn’t me), “can I just make sure I heard that, did you see the team that loses does the 3 burpies….aren’t the 3 burpies the reward for winning?”….Aha, individual differences. This is a workout class, people are there to push themselves. Pushing themselves is the reward. I on the other hand was just trying to survive the damn hour, 3 burpies at the end of the competition and the end of the class, sure seemed like a punishment to me! The function of the thing that is added or removed is determined by the individual’s interpretation, not by the person who adds or removes something.

Allyson’s bootcamp examples continue