Classroom Behavior Analysis

Challenging inappropriate behaviour posed by children nowadays is one of the most daunting issued faced by teachers. Few matters affect teachers more directly and persistently than managing classroom behaviour (Jim Docking, 2000). Being able to manage a classroom I found is one of the most fundamental aspects in being able to teach today. Through this critique I will investigate the different studies relating to behaviour management within a classroom, looking pacifically at several behavioural issues within a classroom and where they stem from, as well as looking into studies based on the praise system and how it is used in schools. I want to look at fundamental theorists and give a brief insight into their studies through my own experience and research I have looked into.

Psychology has revealed how the learning perspective is concerned with the environment and experiences leading to effects on a person’s actions. Within this perspective, behaviorists focus on the environmental rewards and punishers that maintain or discourage specific behaviors. B.F. Skinner once stated, I am sometimes asked, ‘Do you think of yourself as you think of the organisms you study?’ The answer is yes. So far as I know, my behavior at any given moment has been nothing more than the product of my genetic endowment, my personal history, and the current setting. (Skinner, 1983). In the average college classroom, behaviorism effects students’ way of learning in that their behavior is shaped by either positive or negative reinforcement.

This essay will attempt to make a analytical comparison between two psychological perspectives, cognitive and behaviourism on what they believe about their approach to learning and also explain what the theories of two psychologist that are associated with both perspectives, highlighting the similarities and differences.

Thank you for your considering my application to the Applied Behavior analysis program. For all of my life I have known that I was going to help people. It could be said that it is in my DNA. I just never suspected what the capacity would be. On December 15thI graduated from Albright college, I began working at Melmark on December 16th. My first thought, on that first day was “Oh no, I can’t do this, I need to quit” That was over two years ago, and I have gone to work every day, with a smile on my face. While working at my first position, out of college, I discovered my passion. My passion, I find, is working with children and adults with autism and with people who suffer from addiction. Watching the smiles on their faces, the determination when they work to complete a goal, and just the progress makes every hardship worth it, I love it. Each day, in my position as an ABA, I run behavior support plans, IEPs, teaching plans and other protocols, and each day I truly wish that I could have contributed to these plans, protocols, and IEPs. I ponder the recommendations that I could come up with, I wonder that if I had been able to participate in these conversations to create these plans could I have brought something else to the table, a different viewpoint. Affecting the way that the plans are written and in turn ran, I feel that I could make a big difference in the lives of the children and their families also. Every two weeks each child’s team meets to discuss his or her

Behaviourist approaches – children learn as a result of what they see and what happens to them.

I find an effective tool for managing behaviour is to set firm ground rules at the beginning of the course. These include clear boundaries, and expectations. If this can be done in consultation with the students it can be extremely effective, as it gives them the responsibility of managing each other’s behavior. It is useful to note however, that set sanctions must also be clearly defined and followed as a consequence for breaking the rules for this technique to be effective. The use of reward is a good method of encouraging positive behavior, the use of praise, certificates and house points for example.

In Psychology learning is seen as a change in behaviour caused by an experience. Behaviorism, is seen as a learning theory; an attempt to explain how people or animals learn by studying their behaviour. The Behaviourists Approach has two theories to help explain how we learn, Classical conditioning and operant conditioning. In this task I will attempt to describe and evaluate this approach.

This process takes place from the minute we are born. Information is taken in and absorbed, in turn builds one’s ability to retain what one has learned. Many factors aid in the learning process which includes ones environment, past experiences, and one’s emotion which all play a rewarding understanding on how ones sees the world and retain information around them. B. F. Skinner, “who developed the ideas of respondent behavior (that which is brought about by a specific stimulus and can be conditioned) and operant behavior (that which produces consequences that tend to be repeated when reinforced and discontinued when not reinforced). Many different practice models have developed from the theories of the behaviorists, who operate by setting up controlled situations in which behavior can be conditioned and reinforced. These models are widely used in teaching, in treating problems of human relationships, and in working with personal problems that lead to destructive behaviors. As behavior modification develops, certain features are assuming greater importance. One is the detailed specification of objectives with the possibility of sub goals that serve as

The learning approach is a behaviorist theory and only observable behaviour’s are studied. The theory

This study shows that childhood class can affect your adult life cognitive behavior. This experiment was done in Sweden with 28 different sets of twins that have been separated and adopted. The test was over verbal, memory, fluid and perceptual. Twins that were more aware of the social and economic value are better at cognition learning. When we are younger we tend to be more sensitive and oblivious, how we learn or react can affect us later on in the future. The environment has a huge affect on our cognitive as well. Twins that were adopted by a well rounded family and by this I mean high class, smart and good people, the kids ended up having a higher IQ, kids seems to learn from their environment, if they around smarter people then they tend

During my inquiry, I considered theories when planning, taking action, reflecting, evaluating and finally documenting. Sometimes we can feel pressure to handle disruptive behaviours immediately. Taking the time to understand the behaviour and to consider various options often results in a more constructive resolution. After an event is past, taking the time to evaluate the effectiveness of our response can help to improve our reaction in the next situation (Kuhlenschmidt & Layne, 1999). During my inquiry, I made questions about student behaviour and made assumptions. As an example student behaviour during Friday, last period was really disruptive. I assumed, that may be their energy supply is low or excitement about the weekend (mood). Discussion with teachers proved me this was a very common experience. Research showed that It’s natural for student attention levels to vary according to motivation, mood, perceived relevance of the material, and other factors (Briggs, 2014). Based on my understandings, knowledge, readings and other experts’ ideas, I developed an action plan for behaviour management in year 8

Schools are required to produce behaviour management policies, (DfES, 2007) to promote positive behaviour that extends from the individual to the whole school community. This not only reflects the rules within the classroom, but also creates an ethos within the wider school, thus setting high standards for behaviour. If the core rules are explicit and the children are encouraged to make a ‘positive contribution,’ (DfES, 2003) such as develop their own classroom charter, and then learning can be effectively facilitated with a consistent framework for behaviour. (Ellis and Tod 2009) Furthermore, Chaplain (2010) emphasises that if the teacher refers to the classroom rules frequently, and the procedures for behaviour are applied consistently then it can significantly reduce or even eliminate minor

Disruptive behaviors are conditions that can have a great influence in the teaching environment. Disruptive behaviors unswervingly hinder the ability of the teacher or the capability of a learner to benefit from their classroom experiences. Students attend schools with hopes of being productive citizens of society. I like to think of students as future leaders of tomorrow! For the most part, students attend school because it is the law. A learning environment should have actively engaged students, who are eager to participate and show knowledge is being acquired on a daily basis. However, some students are bored and disengaged with academic struggles, due to non-active lessons. Certain life factors such as family problems, financial difficulties are all factors that distract and contribute to students disruptive behaviors. One of the most detrimental settings for a teacher in a class is classroom management. Classroom management is defined as being "the methods and strategies an educator uses to maintain a classroom environment that is conducive to student success and learning" (McCreary, 2011). Disorderly student conduct is unfavorable to the entire academic process because they impede with the learning process of other classmates and cause teachers not to be able to instruct teachers most effectively.

Learning is the relatively permanent change in behavior (Burns, 1995), and can come in the form of observable activities and internal processes. Explanations of what happens when these actions occur are known as learning theories. These theories include behaviorist, cognitivist, humanist, social learning and constructivist. In this essay behaviorist and cognitivists will be described, compared and contrasted in order to truly understand their approache.

Learning has been described by Howe (1980) as ‘cumulative’ i.e. whatever we learn at any time is influenced by previous learning. It is also clear that developmental processes and learning processes are closely interlinked. Whilst psychologists agree that learning is affected by past experience and is relatively permanent there are differing theories about exactly what changes when learning takes place and what mechanisms are involved. An important issue is whether the focus is on overt behavioural changes (that which can be seen) or covert, cognitive changes (the unseen change in thoughts). The concept of learning is broad and there are different psychological theories as to what is involved in that learning process.