Reflective Journal 2

Reflection Journal 2

Definition

            The reading assignment for this module focused on behavioral and social learning.  Slavin (2018) spoke of classical and operant conditioning, consequences, reinforcers, punishers, shaping, and extinction.  When trying to extinguish a negative behavior, there must be positive reinforcers for the desired behavior and punishers for the undesired behavior.  Over time, the reinforcers for the desired behavior will be phased out.  There are also different types of reinforcers.  An intrinsic reinforcer motivates students to participate or engage in an activity, and an extrinsic reinforcer is given to students to engage in the desired behavior (Slavin, 2018). 

Analysis

            Before discussing consequences, reinforcers, and punishers, Slavin discusses classical and operant conditioning.  With classical conditioning, Pavlov trained his dog to hear a bell and expect food.  Through this study, Pavlov was able to prove that the dog learned to salivate by hearing the bell and expecting food (Slavin, 2018).  While Pavlov’s dog learned to hear a bell and expect food, Skinner taught his rats to press a bar to receive food (Slavin, 2018).  This learned behavior is called operant conditioning.  It is the consequences used to change a person or animal’s behavior (Slavin, 2018).  Slavin (2018) states “behavioral learning theory has its own language to describe how consequences of behavior shape later behavior” (p. 101).  This language included consequences, reinforcers, punishers, shaping, and extinction.

            Consequences can be positive or negative.  If it is a negative consequence, it is a punisher.  If it is a positive consequence, it is a reinforcer.  Reinforcers can be positive, negative, primary, and secondary.  A primary reinforcer is food and water.  There are three types of secondary reinforcers.  They are social, activity, and token (Slavin, 2018).  A social reinforcer is a hug or smile.  An activity reinforcer is playing a game or playing with a toy, and token reinforcers are points or money that can be used to buy another reward.  A positive reinforcer can be a star, sticker, or praise.  A negative reinforcer is release from an undesired task.  For instance, a child does not like doing laundry, and a mother lets the child play video games instead of doing the laundry.  This is a negative reinforcer because the mother encourages the undesired behavior. 

            While there are different types of reinforcers, there are different schedules for reinforcement.  The first is a fixed ratio.  This schedule is allowing a student a reinforcer after completing so many minutes of work or so many problems.  The next is a variable ratio.  This is not a reliable reinforcer for extinction since it is unpredictable and takes too long to receive a reward.  Another is a variable interval.  This reinforcement schedule is unpredictable and is always not available.  The expectation for students is to work at all times to receive a reinforcer.  The last is a fixed interval schedule.  This reinforcement is given at certain times (Slavin, 2018).  With this schedule, the student may not work until closer to time for the positive reinforcer. 

            Like reinforcers, there is more than one type of punisher.  They are presentation and removal.  With a presentation punisher, “a student is scolded” (Slavin, 2018, p. 105).  Removal punishment is when a positive consequence is removed like a time out or loss of a game.  Response cost is another type of removal punishment.  With response cost each minute a student is off task, the student has a minute of detention (Slavin, 2018).  When providing a consequence, the feedback should be immediate.  The purpose of immediate feedback is to connect the behavior to the consequence.  If a student receives a consequence an hour after the behavior, he or she may not understand or remember what they did to get into trouble. 

            Along with consequences and reinforcers, there is shaping.  This is used to teach new behaviors like tying shoestrings (Slavin, 2018).  When teaching a new behavior or skill in the classroom, it is not shown to students one time and then they are expected to do it right the first time.  Extinction is the last step in learning new behaviors.  Extinction is when the undesired behavior no longer exists.  Sometimes when trying to extinguish the negative behaviors, those behaviors are increased.  This is called extinction burst (Slavin, 2018).  If a teacher is trying to extinguish a behavior of interrupting, the student may talk more since the teacher is ignoring the student.  While extinction is not a quick process, it does work. 

Reflection  

            The reading in this module was interesting to me because I work at school that has reinforcers, consequences, and work to extinction of behaviors.  We have a token system in place for all students and reinforcers that are on a fixed and variable schedule.  Because of my experience with reinforcers, I enjoyed the reading.  I found it informative.  While we use fixed and variable scheduled reinforcers at my school, I did not know that there was a specific name for them.  One positive aspect that I liked was the response cost.  Until recently, my school did one minute out of the classroom for one minute of disruption, etc.  I liked that the response cost was minute for minute, but it was after school.  While students still had a consequence, it was after school instead of missing out on the lesson. 

            Even though I already knew about reinforcers, consequences, and extinction, I did not know there were different types of reinforcers.  I never thought of food and water as a reinforcer except for treats.  Also, I never thought of reinforcers as intrinsic and extrinsic.  At my school, we focus on the extrinsic reinforcers, so the thought of someone doing something because they enjoy it did not occur to me on a conscious level.  Hopefully, when we go back to school in the fall, I will be better at giving social reinforcers.  At one point, I had a student who loved comment cards.  During the last year, I was bad about writing him a comment card when he was completing his work because it happened more and more every day.  I hope that next year I will be more diligent about writing the comment cards to the students. 

            This year and reading this chapter made me realize how important class time is for students.  I plan to not use time out or response cost except for extreme circumstances.  When a student loses valuable class time, they miss out on instruction and can fall behind.  The part about extinction is very true.  It does not come quickly, but it is great when we have students who extinguish the behaviors.  I miss the students when it is time for them to go to their home school, but that is our goal for all the students. 

References

Slavin, R. E. (2018). Educational Psychology: Theory and practice. NY, NY: Pearson. Retrieved May 30, 2020.

Reflection Journal #1

Reflective Journal 1

Description

            The reading assignment for this module focused on cognitive development.  Several theories regarding human and cognitive development are discussed and what it looks like in the classroom.  The stages of literacy are discussed and how teachers can promote literacy development by setting up an effective classroom. 

Analysis

            Human development has two main issues.  The first is nature versus nurture.  Slavin (year) states “there remains much debate about the relative influences of genes and environment” (p. 24).  Is one child better at sports than another due to genes or positive influence?  Another issue is continuous versus discontinuous theories.  Continuous theories believe “development occurs in a smooth progression” (Slavin, year, p. 24).  This means that each child would develop skills in the same sequence and gradually.  However, discontinuous theories “focus on inborn factors rather than environmental influences to explain change over time” (Slavin, year, p. 24).  This theory focuses on steps or stages and are sudden changes. 

            With cognitive development, Jean Piaget divided it into four stages.  The first stage is the sensormotor stage that occurs from birth to age 2.  During the sensormotor stage, a child begins with reflexes and ends with a thought process.  At the beginning of the stage, a baby learns how to use reflexes then trial and error.  For instance, a baby bangs or tastes something to see what it is.  At the end of the stage, a child begins thinking about what is needed and plans.  The second stage is the preoperational stage and occurs from age two to seven.  Slavin (year) states “their language and concepts develop at an incredible rate” (p. 27).  During this stage, children start using symbols to represent objects in the world and thinking is centered.  The third stage is concrete operational that occurs during years seven to 11, and the last stage is formal operational.  This stage occurs from year 11 to adulthood.  In the concrete operational stage, children begin to think logically and less centered.  The children realize that other children or people have different thoughts, opinions or feelings.  In the final stage, children begin to think about hypothetical situations and think abstractly. 

            Along with Piaget’s theory of cognitive development, there are implications in the classroom due to his theory.  The first is to focus on thinking not just the end product.  Teacher’s should understand the process of how a student got to an answer.  If a teacher understands the process, he or she can help the student come to the correct answer if the student was incorrect.  The second is to allow students to be active with learning activities.  Slavin (year) states teachers should “provide a rich variety of activities that permit children to act directly on the physical world” (p. 32).  Another implication is to put less of an emphasis on making children think like an adult.  Making children think like an adult can be as bad or worse than not being taught.  The last is to accept differences.  A classroom should not be setup to accommodate a whole group but for small groups. 

            While Piaget believed that development came before learning, Lev Semionovich

Zygotsky believed that learning comes before development.  The first part of development is self-regulation.  Slavin (year) asserts that “self-regulation and independent thinking is learning that action and sounds have a meaning” (p. 33).  The next part is private speech.  This when a child talk to him or herself.  As the child grows, the private speech is no longer spoken aloud.  Zone of proximal development is another part of Vygotsky’s cognitive development.  This is also known as a teachable moment.  This happens in conversation and when a child is ready for the specific topic.  Another part is mediation.  During this part of cognitive development, Vygotsky believed that children learned best from adults, older children, or peers.  Another aspect is scaffolding.  Scaffolding is when a parent or teacher helps the child move from one level to the next.  Slavin (year) states “parents use scaffolding when they teach their children to play a new game or to tie their shoes” (p. 34).  The last aspect is cooperative learning.  Vygotsky believed that children should work together.  By working together, children can help each other learn and hear how other students work on a problem.

            Many aspects of Vygotsky’s theory can be applied to the classroom.  Scaffolding and cooperative learning can be used in any class or lesson.  Mediation could take place during lunch.  An older student could tutor another student during lunch.  As for zone of proximal development, teachable moments can happen during a lesson, lunch, or in the hallways. 

            Finally, there are the stages of literacy.  The components of literacy are oral language, reading, and writing.  Slavin (year) states “oral language development is heavily influenced by the amount and quality of the talking parents do with their children” (p. 38).  Children learn to speak from his or her parents.  Children who have conversations with their parents at a young age are more likely to have a larger vocabulary.  Another aspect of literacy is reading.  Reading is very important for many aspects of life.  Slavin (year) states children often have complex language skills that are critical in reading” (p. 38).  If a student is not a proficient reader, he or she can have a hard time later in life.  The final aspect is writing.  In order to successfully teach reading, the following must be taught phonemic awareness, phonics, comprehension, vocabulary, and fluency.  If a student does not fully grasp all aspects of literacy, there are reading programs that are implemented in place or in addition to reading classes. 

Reflection

            After reading the theories on cognitive development, I believe that Piaget and Vygotsky are correct.  I see aspects in the classroom, how my children and I learn, and how my students learn.  Many years ago, our learning disabilities, disorders, and diseases did not have a name.  Not all children learn the same way.  Piaget believed development was before learning, and Vygotsky believed the opposite.  It could be that both are wrong, and the learning and development go hand in hand depending on the child.  As for continuous and discontinuous theories, I believe both to be true as well.  For my own children I saw continuous and steady growth.  I know children who have learning disabilities or other disorders and learn with a sudden change.   

            As for the implement of theories in a classroom, I believe Piaget and Vygotsky had beneficial ideas.  I love not looking at only the end product but the thinking process from Piaget.  That could have helped me in algebra.  I never could get the correct answer, but my teacher never took the time to help me.  Remembering that, I like to take the time to help my students when they are on the right track but end in the wrong place.  Vygotsky’s idea of scaffolding is very important.  In any class, a teacher may have different levels of learning and thinking.  Scaffolding is the best way to make a lesson perfect for any level of learning. 

            Being a literature teacher, literacy is important to me.  In the past couple of years, I was able to help students see great gains in reading by using a program specifically designed to those who cannot read on grade level.  Most of the students had a beginning reader reading level.  By focusing on phonics, phonemic awareness, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension, I saw students improve their reading level up several grade levels in one year.  I am looking forward to implementing a program for high school students next year.

References

Slavin, R. E. (2018). Educational Psychology: Theory and practice. NY, NY: Pearson. Retrieved May 22, 2020.