Reinforcing Effort

Our overwhelming concern for our students usually begins with their visible health and then extends to the interaction when working with others, and finally to their ability to understand basic to complex skills. Their behavior triggers a warning sign if they display irregular patterns of interaction and performance. For these reasons, we tend to go on the alert and inquire why, yet trying to anticipate such behavioral shifts would be hard to predicate. Instead, we need to be proactive in preparing our students for future problems by helping them understand the connection between effort and achievement. This can be accomplished by reinforcing behaviors that utilize simple tools of technology to help students visualize their effort and deepen understanding through homework and practice.

Students being so critical of themselves and others over time affect his or her performance and their effort to acquire skills essential for the future. With a simple of understanding of B.F. Skinner’s Operant Conditioning, teachers can reinforce positive behaviors that are not just for classroom management. Connected with basic software like word processing and spreadsheets teachers can help students make the connection between effort and achievement (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 162). I have used spreadsheets for other applications, but did not consider how it could make a visual chart of their performance for students to correlate. The students alone would not be able to understand the correlation without the teacher setting an effort rubric to record their actions based on certain expectations (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007).

Combined with homework and practice, the charts reinforce success by “multiple exposure to material [that] help students deepen their understanding of content and become proficient with skills” (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 188). In fact, it is the practice, motivated by the reward of achievement through their effort that enriches the basic, classroom learned, elements to a better conceptual understanding. For example, word processing allows a beginning student to focus his research by using the tools with application such as encyclopedias and thesaurus instead of overwhelming Internet search engines results. On the other hand, Web based resources can augment learning as well which can be monitored and even reward the student, further reinforcing their effort and “concepts learned after a unit is over” (Pitler, Hubbel, Kuhn, & Malenoski, 2007, p. 196).

To sum up, recognizing our students potential is not enough to magically make them aware of the connection between their hard work and the achievement that results. Thus, utilizing behaviorist theory of operant conditioning combined with instructional strategies that take advantage of technology already in the classroom to promote students achievement through effort ensuing a deeper understanding of basic to complex skills.

Links I found interesting:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augmented_learning

http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11466

Reference:

Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.

Klopfer, E. (2008). Augmented learning: research and design of mobile educational games. The MIT Press.