The main ideas for this chapter are intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is where the activity that is being done by the student is rewarding in itself. Extrinsic motivation is where the student participates/completes the activity knowing that there will be a reward when finished. It is important for your students to be motivated in order to see the results you know they are capable of. However, praise and rewards need to be used in moderation. If you use rewards/praise too often, it is likely that the students will stop doing said activity the second that the reward is taken away. If used sparingly, students will do said activity on the off chance that they might receive a reward. Something useful I would tell a practicing teacher, is to not use reward too often.
One question I had was, is it a good idea to practice rewarding students for behaviors that are expected of them, like sitting in your seat, not speaking out of turn, and raising your hand?
I think motivation connects to behaviorism, because behaviorism describes learning as a change in behavior. Using extrinsic motivation causes a change in behavior, even if only for a short while. And if rewards/praise are used correctly, it could permanently change one's behavior; therefore, promoting learning.
In regards to your question, I believe that if these behaviors are not normally performed by the students then yes it is a good idea. This would be because I think rewarding students for changing their behavior is extremely effective. This could also be done if the students do these things as a group. If everyone in the class is not speaking out of turn that day or everyone raises their hand to talk that day then the entire class can be rewarded for doing this. I think that would also be effective. A time that it would not be a good idea to reward students for these behaviors would be if they already do those activities. For example, if your students already raise their hands to speak then it wouldn't be good to reward them for it because eventually they may begin to do that activity just for the rewards and once the rewards are taken away they will quit doing the activity because they are no longer receiving an award for it.
ReplyDeleteI do not think that it is effective to reward students for behaviors that are expected of them. It is obvious that in the beginning of a teacher/student relationship that teachers must reward students for performing behaviors that they are expected to do. However, once the relationship between teachers and students is positive, students should receive praise for these behaviors like sitting in their desk quietly. Teachers need to praise students based on improvement and effort so that students feel more motivated to continue their efforts and improving rather than just be praised for things that they are expected to do and not make improvements at all.
ReplyDeleteI don't think it is a good idea to reward students for expected behavior because then when the rewards eventually stop the behavior may stop as well. Students should know what expected behavior is and know what they are suppose to do in class everyday. I feel like it would be more effective to punish them if they don't follow the rules.
ReplyDeleteYou bring up the main tension that we had in class! Saying that a behavior is expected assumes the child 1. Understands the expectation and 2. Knows how to perform the expected behavior (and has had practice). So, rewards come into play when these things are being taught. When you're communicating your expectations and allowing students to practice the rules and habits you expect, rewards would be quite appropriate. It's also appropriate to decrease the reward over time. The reward is really only meant to be a scaffold (think Vygotsky) and SHOULD be removed eventually.
ReplyDeleteMany cases, I'm suggesting, of children who don't follow the rules, is because either 1. or 2. above hasn't been met.