What's so bad about Behaviorism?

Behaviorism has really gotten a negative story in the past few years of collective learning and shared governance of the classroom. Students often feel that they are entitled to the incorrect behavior because it is more fun and/or because they choose to act in an way that gains attention for them. However, in actual practice, positive and negative consequences are part of the process. Dr. Orey discussed in the video that teachers are incorporating behaviorists techniques on a daily basis. As more positive techniques are incorporated in the class, students should continue to desire to work hard and to be motivated because they will be rewarded for their good behavior.

Since I teach in middle school, my students do not have the privilege of deciding which class they should be in the following year. Currently I have several techniques that might be good resources, but middle school students being middle school students, they might react differently to different tasks on different days. I had never thought of utilizing a rubric in which students rate their effort as discussed by Pifler, Hubbell, Kuhn, and Malenoski, I thought was an excellent way to encourage positive rewards for increased behavior. Since students are making this decision individually, that also means I feel that their decision should also impact their opportunities. This might include but isn't limited to having students research on the computer, to compare their work/effort to their other students in the class. Currently, in another room on my team, there are currently lots of behavior issues in the classroom. Since the negative rewards are not working, to the point that some students have been put on a behavior contract at the school level, this rewards instead for the positive based on the amount of effort that that was put into the day. Students are rewarded for completing the page, not punished, this is one of many examples of evidence that I can submit.

I also thought it was very informative that they included so many different strategies, many of which I would not have considered Behaviorist theories prior to our conversation this afternoon. I will follow up with your child, and will be ensuring that the connections classes have all been informed as well. There is increased pressure (as discussed by my teammate). I do agree the more engaged in the activity, the less likely the students were doing their final activities at the last minute. I also feel that by doing this, we will see continued improvement as the class goes on - starting tomorrow.