When I think of behaviorist learning theory, I think of learning by doing. One strategy that I read about was reinforcing effort. I used to teach middle school math and I now currently teach middle school students, with the luck that I am only teaching them math this year as well. Thinking of my current students while reading and actually trying to see what may or may not work for these intermediate students, I started to find ideas that I would like to try with my students. My school and I are very driven by data and when I found the idea of creating a rubric for the students to reflect on their efforts in school as a whole I became very excited. Using a rubric where the student is to grade his or her self based on their personal thoughts of progress is great, especially at this age because they are young enough to still give their honest opinion. By reflecting on how they are doing in school they will then see what needs to be changed to improve on their scores. In my school we have a rubric for SSR and they follow it and grade their reading time by circling a 1, 2, 3 or 4 every day after they read.
Creating a spreadsheet was another idea that I saw and have used in the past to share data with the students. This is useful when "students can clearly see the relation between their effort and grades they earned" (pg 159). I see both positive and negative parts to sharting data on a spreadsheet, but maybe privately sharing with each student their own personal data might be more effective in positive results later.
One main issue I always have is homework. Today's parents have no clue what or how to solve the math that their child goes home with. Parents need to see that doing your child's homework or project does not help them when the test rolls around, but it hurts them. The students are the ones that have to have the behaviorism to see that doing their homework will help them get good grades. The parent only takes this away. Another thing that sometimes parents lack on is support for the child to at least complete their assignments. I hate when I go to check completion and the child looks at me and tries to start to talk about an excuse or reason why it's not done. I feel like they took more time trying to think of something to say then it would have to complete the original assignment. Homework is assigned for addtional practice on the new skills learned. For more practice, in the actual classroom, we work on drill and practice. The students use wipe off slates to place their answer and work on it and show me for a quick assessment. Eventually, they will have to take a timed assessment that will be graded and this is prepping them to be ready for quick responses.
Finally, the book I was reading shared a few resources, two of which I love using: www.BrainPop.com and www.ExploreLearning.com. Both of these websites are fantastic! I would however like to add to this list by a new favorite: www.mathplayground.com. This site shares good videos, games and practice that families could view at home for a quick mini lesson.
Pitler H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD
I too teach math, but at the high school level. I think the use of a rubric would work great at the middle school level. This age group is just starting to feel the independence and they need to start learning to take a little more responsibility for their own work. By using a rubric, they can monitor these themselves. This is important to start young and for the students to see the relationship between their effort and their grades is important. I too have big issue with doing homework. Students tend not to do it because it is not always collected and graded. We cannot possibly collect every single night’s homework. I try to give incentives for completing the homework. These incentives include bonus points which they can receive for various things. Once they accumulate ten bonus points, they turn them in for a one hundred averaged into their grade. I do not give points out for every night’s homework, however. I have found that it does help a little bit. Like you said, the students need to practice their skills. Without homework and practice, they cannot be success in math.
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