Week Two

     No one appreciates fundamental understanding of behavioral and social theories of learning more than a struggling Pre-K teacher! That is where I found myself my second year of teaching. I wish I had read this particular chapter in 2014 when I was searching for behavior interventions for several students. Frustration and ineffectiveness were my middle name. 

    An understanding of reinforcements and punishments would have helped me in my most challenging year of teaching. My biggest weakness, after years of experience and reflection, was giving up too soon on a reinforcement and not recognizing that removal of the student from the environment was actually a reinforcement. If I had only known how extinction bursts worked, I would have been very successful in overcoming behavioral challenges. As soon as the extinction burst would begin, I would discontinue the reinforcement because the behaviors were so detrimental to the learning environment of the classroom. I was focused on the immediacy rather than the long term positive outcome. I would become so convinced of my ineffectiveness that I would call for the student to be removed. During the time out of the room, the student would receive the one-on-one attention I could not give due to a classroom of 22 four-year-old students. The student would receive candy, devices to play games on in the office, and sometimes take out from a restaurant. I was creating my own demise. Of course the punishment of removal as I looked at it was a major reinforcement of the undesired, disruptive behaviors. 

    Another major weakness was that, in my inexperience, I had no clear picture in my mind of how my classroom should look and run. That led to difficulty in communicating opportunities for students to clearly understand my expectations, discriminate about acceptable or desired behavior, or to generalize from one activity or environment to the next. My students would understand that I wanted them to help me clean after small groups but would trash one area and move to another during free play work time. If I explained at the beginning of each free play time that as they finish one activity, students must clean up then would be free to choose another activity and set reinforcements for that behavior, it would have been a clear, reinforced expectation with simple maintenance. 

    I am thankful for strong administration who refused to allow me to be comfortable in my own failure as much as I was intrinsically motivated to improve my classroom management. My work pays dividends daily in my professional life as I skillfully manage behaviors at any age (moving seamlessly from first to sixth grade this year). My students are commonly capable of generalizing my clear expectations even to the extent that they peer mentor other students about my expectations for them in other settings. I think my students feel safe and secure knowing what I expect and that I will reinforce desired behaviors at decreasing intervals but will maintain the same high standards to ensure our learning environment. I would argue that behavioral theories of learning are some of the most vital to the success of any classsroom environment.