Psychology and Classroom Management Module 3

                I found the Classical Conditioning video interesting.  I have seen this happen in animals before.  My aunt and uncle had a huge dog that would jump onto the counters. They bought a bell to use in order to get him to stop jumping. At first, he would not respond to just the bell alone.  They then would ring then bell while telling him to get off of the counter. They worked on this for awhile, while still having to yell at the same time. After a while of does this, they tried just ringing the bell instead of yelling at the same time and it worked. Their dog knew that the bell meant that he needed to not jump on the counter.  I was curious to see how classical conditioning worked in the real world, so I watched another suggested YouTube video titled Classical Conditioning by Professor Sara House. Professor House talked about how during finals week at her school campus there were often ice storms, which caused branches to fall and hit the students on their head. The students would respond to the branches falling by shielding their heads. She also stated that normally before the branches come crashing down, there would be a crackling sound first. After a few times, Professor House would hear a crackling sound and automatically shield her head without even thinking about it. She had been classically conditioned to respond to a crackling sound that she wouldn’t normally have responded to. I found this example interesting, because it made it easier to understand real life human examples of classical conditioning.  I am going to make an effort to pay attention more to see if I get classically conditioned in any situation, because I find the whole concept very interesting.

                Positive reinforcement is defined as strengthening behavior by presenting a desired stimulus after the behavior (p. 251).  Positive reinforcement occurs only when the behavior produces a new stimuli (p. 251).  I find positive reinforcement interesting, because it can help change behavior which can be beneficial in the classroom.  By using positive reinforcement students will be more motivated to change their behavior.  My sister is currently receiving her Master’s degree in Psychology and she works as an Autism Support Staff worker where she tutors students with Autism at their homes. She talks about her use of positive reinforcement with the children that she works with a lot.  It is a big part of helping her students, and even students that she works with who are on the high spectrum of Autism understand and respond to her use of positive reinforcement.  I was nervous at first when completing the activity for positive reinforcement, because there was so much information, but I ended up completing it with only one incorrect answer.  I know that positive reinforcement will be something that will be useful to use as a teacher and in the future when I have my own children.

                Chapter 13 (p.477) talks about the importance of having establishing classroom routines. This is a large part of classroom management, because by having a routine students are aware of the policies of the classroom, there is less confusion and chaos and teachers spend more class time teaching the students rather than telling the students what they should be doing.  I think that establishing your own classroom routines from the very first day of class is key in classroom management. By starting out class with routines, students will quickly learn what is expected of them and there will be less problems with classroom management.  Students need to be in a structured learning environment, so that they can learn without the chaos of an organized classroom and teacher.  Routines help the students by keeping them on task and organized, but they also help the teacher by keep the teacher organized and having the ability to dedicate more class time to teaching.  I liked how the routines included everything from the upkeep of desks, participation and communication. I remember many of my classes growing up having routines for turning in homework, lining up when coming into the classroom or school, writing assignment down on the board and then in our assignment notebooks and completing bell work to start the day and avoid morning chaos.  I think that by having these routines early in my career as a student made it easier to know what was expected of me and how to act in the classroom.

                Teaching is not just about going to a board, reading and handing out homework.  Teaching involves a well-structured class and organization.  There is psychology involved in teaching students and knowing how to teach and reinforce good behavior.  To be a successful teacher, we need to go beyond the books and board and really get to know our students and know to how teach them how to behave, become organized, reward positive behavior and use positive reinforcements to correct behavior.