Read Chapter 2 of your textbook. It covers the behaviorist, cognitivist and constructivist theories. Think back to your K-12 days as a student – select one of the teachers you had in the area you plan to teach in the future. (Example – if you are going to be a middle school teacher, select one of your previous middle school teachers; if you are going to be a high school math teacher, select one of your previous high school math teachers)
Which of these theories did that teacher use? Give an example of a class experience that demonstrates the teacher using that theory. Will you use this theory in your classroom? Why or why not? Provide criteria/support for your choice.
Post your response here on the class blog page by 5:00 pm, Thursday, January 26, 2012. Respond to one of your classmates' responses on the class bog page by 11:59 pm, Tuesday, January 31, 2012. You must log into your blogger.com account in order to post your response as a comment here on the class blog page.
The teacher I chose, was my high school history teacher, Mr. Eric Brickwood. The theory I felt Mr. Brickwood used was the behaviorist perspective. I say this due to his appraisal of the student's behavior and work ethic. If you were to do well on a test usually you were reward by either being excused from an assignment, or since his wife worked at Mary Ann donuts, he would bring donuts for us. Or if we did an outstanding job with a project Mr. Brickwood would award us with extra credit points or a special lunch.
ReplyDeleteWithin my classroom, I plan on using the behaviorist perspective. I say this because I feel it actually helps students to become more motivated to to do well with their work. If students who usually just slide on by with the bare essentials, see other students succeeding and being rewarded for it, its is to be thought that the students who are just sliding on by will want to improve as well. Although this may not always be the case, a teacher can always hope. Also I want students within my classroom to succeed, just like any teacher would want, and I believe that when a student does well they should be rewarded for that.
I agree with you that behaviorist perspective is a good way to encourage your students to study well. I think most student like this way of learning and it may works with Elementary schools.
DeleteI chose my teacher Mrs. Amal She was my psychology teacher in my high school. The theory that Mrs. Amal used was Cognitivist perspective. Every time when she explained psychology theories, she asked us to give examples in our life that related to theory. I remembered on time she asked us to think about words that have same litters in the middle such as foot, tool and soon. That was very hard because our minds didn’t used to think about those words.
ReplyDeleteIn the future, I will use her way in teaching. By using cognitivist perspective students will use mental activities to solve prompts, so that will help them understand the lessons more and make it easy for them to remember it.
I think the way your teacher used that perspective was very interesting and I agree that it makes students understand lessons easier. I will probably use similar methods while I teach.
DeleteMy high school Spanish four teacher taught class using the behaviorist theory. She rewarded her students for getting a ninety or above on tests by putting stickers on their homework. She also gave the opportunity to earn these stickers through in class activities. These stickers could then be turned in as extra credit points for the next test or quiz. On contrast to that if you did not do your homework or if you lost the in class activities the class was punished. Either there was an additional quiz the class had to take or the class was given less time to complete their next test. I personally will use this technique in my classroom because I found that it was very beneficial. The possibility of extra credit motivated the class to work hard both in class as well as out of class. The punishments as well pushed the class to perform their best. I could randomly select days to collect homework, and those students who completed the homework that night would receive extra credit. This would give the students an incentive to do their homework.
ReplyDeleteI really like what your teacher did, the only thing that I really question is that someone like me who is a very slow test taker, why would that be fair to me if someone lost their homework and I had less time to finish the test because of someone else's fault.
DeleteI choose my Middle school math teacher. He used more the of the Behaviorist theory. If the whole entire class got above an B on a test he would let the class have an entire free day, where we could watch a movie of choice or play games. If you got an A on the test you were excused from one homework assigement. He also handed out extra credit if you did really well on a project or came to him for help if you were not understanding what we were learning at that time, but you couldn't get extra credit unless you had an C or lower. I would most likely use this theory in the classroom because students respond to you giving out an no homework pass and that way the try their best on the test or homework so they can get out of homework, or even get extra credit. We like to be rewarded, so that makes us all work harder in the end to get that reward.
ReplyDeleteI really like a lot of things your teacher did with his students. Having free days because EVERYONE got at least a B on the test is showing that ALL of the students were putting the time and effort in. Therefore, they should be rewarded for their hard efforts! The only thing I don't fully agree on is the no extra credit policy if you have a C or lower. That seems a little harsh, but all teachers are different!
DeleteI choose my First grade teacher. She used a Behaviorist Perspective. If you followed directions, she would give a star next to your name. If you got 5 stars you would a get a prize at the end of the week. She would also give stars for good behavior and if the class got complimented on our behavior in the hallways or at specials. If the whole class behaved for a whole week, at the end of the month we would a have pizza party. I would use this method because it lets kids know that they are doing good and doing what they are supposed to do. Rewards to young kids shows them that they are doing the right thing and shows the other kids what to do or how to act.
ReplyDeleteMy kindergarten teacher did the same things. She rewarded us for good attendance and good behavior. It a good perspective to use for early childhood education.
DeleteI chose my 9th grade English teacher, who used the constructivist perspective in her work. She would often frame questions about the works we read through our own experiences, and she was fascinated by the many different ways we interpreted the stories we all read as a class. I believe will use this foundation, because it is most accepting of the fact that everyone thinks and learns in different ways and allows for the most creativity in my approach
ReplyDeleteMy English teacher during my senior year of high school used the constructivist theory in her approach to teaching. She did this by using an activity which she called a “fish bowl discussion.” In this activity, four or five students were chosen to discuss a part of the play which we were reading in class. These students were provided with some prompts to begin the discussion, but were expected to branch out and explore different topics which were of interest to them in the reading. Though the teacher would comment on some things, and ask questions, for the most part, the students were expected to lead the discussion. In this way, the teacher became a facilitator rather than simply a teacher. Students were then able to take learning into their own hands and shape it in their own ways.
ReplyDeleteIn the future, I think that I will use the constructivist theory in my own classroom. I think that it is important for students to take learning into their own hands because I think that they can gain more from the learning experience in this way. I think that many high school classrooms focus too much on the lecture format and therefore do not prepare students adequately for college classes in which they will regularly be expected to engage in classroom discussion. If I encourage my students to think more for themselves rather than telling them what and how they should think, I will feel as if I have done my job in preparing them not only to think critically in the classroom but to think critically in their daily lives.
There was a math teacher in my middle school, Mr. Netcher, who I believe followed the Behaviorist Perspective. For one whole year he gave out candy after he passed back tests. He would give "Smarties" to people that got an A on the test, and he would give "Dum-Dum" suckers to people that got below an A. Looking back this can be looked at as insulting but at the time the students did not seem to be offended, they were mostly just happy they got candy. I am sure this was not done to insult any of the children. I do believe I will use this perspective while teaching, although not in the same way that he did. Things are different now then they were ten years ago, so that probably would not go over well. I do plan on implementing some sort of reward program in my classroom, such as if a student has/maintains one of the top five grades in the class for the entire year they will be exempt from the final exam. I had a teacher in high schoool do this and it proved to be a huge motivation. Rewarding someone, regardless of age, helps the learning process. In the same sense, negative rewards (or punishments) also help teach people.
ReplyDeleteI choose my ninth grade math teacher Mr. Thomas Williams. When I was one of his students, Mr. Williams used the behaviorist perspective. He would always give us two easy bonus questions on all his test if we came to class with the right frame of mind to learn the material and behave. These bonus questions were always very simple, he pretty much gave us two points on every test! When I become a high school math teacher, I would also use the behaviorist perspective because when teaching a class, you sometimes have to encourage kids to behave and want to learn tough material. I would implement something very similar to Mr. Williams' behaviorist perspective because Mr. Williams was a great teacher who everyone liked and the class behaved well!!!
ReplyDeleteI am also going to be a high school math teacher. I completely agree on using the behaviorist perspective in the classroom. I think it will really motivate the students and make them more open to learn just as you said.
DeleteMy high school BritLit teacher Mrs. Rode used Behaviorist Perspective. She would evaluate our behavior throughout the entire semester and would give us credit for the final exam depending on if we were participating, texting or not texting during class, or simply behaving appropriatly. I would definitely use this theory and technique in my classroom because it reminds the students that their behavior in class effects their final grade, and if these points were high, there was a good chance she would round your grade up if it was close to a higher letter grade. These types of things motivate the student to do well and pay attention in class and really learn the material. It definitely worked for me when I was sitting her class. I would think to myself how tough this class was and with it already being hard, I dont want to screw myself by sending a stupid text message.
ReplyDeleteI chose my kindergarten teacher, she used the Behaviorist Perspective. She would reward students for having good attendance and good behavior. Everyday we would get a sticker for being in class on time and at the end of the month we would get a prize or candy. I believe I will uses this perspective when I become a teacher because it is an effective way to keep control of the class.
ReplyDeleteMy high school history teacher did the same thing and it worked for us too. I think this perspective will work for students of all ages and I too intend to use it.
DeleteI decided on my high school government class which dealt with a constructivist perspective for the class. Constructivism deals with students using their own ideas and lead the class discussion where the teacher is there only as a guiding light. For my high school government class each day there was a chapter to read about, and each day a different group of students would come up with different questions about the chapter that would drive the discussion. I enjoyed this method because it allowed us to have more interaction in the classroom as well as the choice of what we were going to discuss about the chapter. I feel this helped the learning process because students like me would come up with the questions, and normally they were questions you were wondering yourself. I will use this technique myself because as we get older , we may become somewhat out of touch with what student interests are. Also with students driving the discussion we as teachers can see exactly what the students know, as opposed to setting up a rigid and unwavering cirriculum.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite teachers in high school was Mr. Pira. He used the behaviorist perspective alot when he taught. One example of this is to review for tests we would play jeopardy. He would split the class into teams and then ask each team different questions. Whenever a team would answer a question right he would praise them. If you answered wrong he would not yell but you could just sense that he was disappointed which was even worse because no one wanted to let him down. Which ever team won the game he would reward with bonus points for the test or candy bars. Everyone always strived to impress him and worker hard in his class. When I get to teach a class of my own it is very likely that will imply similar strategies to achieve maximum participation from my class. The whole class would would be eager to participate during his jeopardy games in hope for his verbal praise or his reward of bonus points. If using rewards will maximize class participation then
ReplyDeleteI will be sure to be a behaviorist perspective teacher.
I think your perspective is good and works for middle school and up. I think that it is good way for students to get involved in and your reasons are good to back up your statement.
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