Behaviorism Post 2 - Module 9

When observing Mr. Gates in his 2nd grade classroom we can tell that he has chosen behaviorism as a way to think about his teaching. This is because of a few things I have seen him do in his classroom. One of them being a reward system for when the students do something good in the classroom. This reward system is like a classroom store. The kids earn money (i.e. Monopoly money) to buy prizes by doing good things in the classroom. For example, when a child sits quietly in his seat waiting for the teacher to begin class for the day that student may get a dollar for this good action. This is a way to reinforce good behaviors that occur in the classroom. Mr. Gates also may reward the students as a class by giving them time to play games, color, read, etc. when they have all done well in class. This would be in accordance with the Premack Principle. I also noticed that Mr. Gates used positive punishment in his classroom. An example of this would be that the students know if they misbehave more than two times in a day Mr. Gates may call their parents and inform them of this misbehavior. So, if they do not misbehave in the classroom then they will not receive a call to their parents.