Social Cognitive Theory Post 2

                The bobo doll experiment was an experiment that showed the effects of modeling. This relates to a classroom setting because modeling occurs in a variety of ways in the classroom. The teacher is an important model for the students and everything that she says or does is constantly noticed by her students. It is imperative that a teacher be a positive and appropriate model for the students since they are most likely to imitate their teachers.

                A model is most effective when a student is able to fully resemble whatever the model has done. For example, the model in the bobo doll experiment hit, kicked, and threw the bobo doll. The child who saw the video then did the same thing when left alone with the doll. In this scenario, the model was effective because the child replicated what he saw; however, the model was not a good influence on the child. If the model had done something positive with the bobo doll and the child had imitated that, then that would also be considered an effective and a good model.

                In my classroom, a model can be another student or another adult who is present in the class. A student displaying good behavior can be a model to the other students. Another adult besides me will also be considered a model because children look up to adults and if the adult is doing something in the classroom then that is being absorbed by the students.

                Society and culture play an important role in learning. Depending on the classroom, I may have students who come from various socioeconomic backgrounds or cultural backgrounds. This can affect the type of learning that will occur in my classroom. Some students may need to see things in a different cultural perspective in order to learn something.  Students from different cultural backgrounds can teach each other easier ways to learn something and be models in that sense. Also, the fact that I am an Asian and a female will also affect the way my students will perceive me and my teaching. Some stereotypes are associated with my makeup, which I may or may not fulfill in the classroom.

                After reading about self-efficacy in the last module, I think I would want to make that an important aspect of my classroom. I want students to be able to want to come to school and work hard. In order to improve self-efficacy, I would see which areas the students are struggling in and manage their progress. Once students show some sort of improvement, their work will receive a star or some sort of recognition to reward the student for trying hard. This will motivate them to continue to do well in their classes so they can get more recognition. I will be a model in my classroom by saying how much I love certain subjects or how I am improving my skills in another subject. By seeing my strengths and weaknesses, the students will know that they don’t have to be perfect at everything, but that there is always room to get better.