Mr. Gates is a fifth grade math
teacher. He believes in Behaviorism as a learning theory. When Mr. Gates walks
in the hallway with his students, they know their noise level should be at a
one, meaning quiet. If his students have forgotten, he will stop and hold up
one finger. The rest of the students take this visual cue and close their
mouths as they hold up one finger too. When the whole class is quiet, they will
move again.
In his classroom his students love
the “social butterfly corner”. If the students finish their work early, they
can use this as a quiet corner to write letters to each other or read. The best
part is that if they work hard all day and everyone has finished their work, he
changes the noise level allowance from a one to a five and they are allowed to
socialize and talk to their friends.
Some of Mr. Gates students goof off
in class. They love the attention they get when they are reprimanded. Recently,
Mr. Gates has not seemed to notice them goofing off in class. He is not reprimanding
them and they are not getting any attention. They begin to behave better now
because they see no fun in goofing off. Mr. Gates has made their bad behavior
extinct by not giving them the reward (the attention) they were seeking.
I like your cue of holding up a finger because it is so common, but be sure to imagine how this cue was conditioned in the first place (through positive reinforcement of praising students who paired Mr. Gates' raised finger to raising their own?)
ReplyDeleteI imagine the social butterfly corner is something you've experienced? I like it--though it would help if you specifically break down what kind of reward it is, like your last example. Nice job!