Module Three

 

MODULE THREE

Concept One: Consequences

Summary:

    Chapter seven deals with behavior, and a rather large portion of it covers the types of consequences that one might give out in a classroom.  Consequences can be positive and negative and can either strengthen or weaken behavior.  One way this can be done is through reinforcement, as seen on page 267. Woolfolk provides an example of a student who is continually sent to the principal’s office for misbehaving.  Although that might seem like something you personally wouldn’t want to do, it is reinforcing the behavior.  Another consequence is punishment, which is designed to decrease behavior.  However, it is similar to reinforcement in that what works for one student may not for another.

Reflection:

    This section had me reflect more on the types of consequences I faced in school (both positive and negative).  I usually associate the word ‘consequence’ with ‘negative’, so I’ll start there.  During

marching band season, my high school band director would threaten to have us run laps if we weren’t paying attention.  This is what I would consider to be a negative group consequence, as we all would have been punished for not following the rules.  Woolfolk also mentions that the group shouldn’t suffer for one person’s behavior, which is usually what happened during rehearsal.  Once, he made us start all over because one kid was goofing off, which he announced to the entire band. Needless to say, we were rather upset with him.   In terms of positive consequences, I always think of one of my former coaches, who would let us play games at the end of practice if everything had gone well.  This case is an example of positive reinforcement.  We knew that if we worked hard that we would get to do something fun at the end of the day, which encouraged us to focus on practice more.

    I’ve also been reflecting more on what I would like to do in my own classroom.  First off, I don’t ever think I would threaten my students with running to try and get them to do what I wanted (although I’m not sure how I would end up in that situation).  It would be too bold of me to say that I would never use negative reinforcement in the classroom.  However, I would like to use it less, or at least pay close attention to the role it plays in my class.  While I might try to avoid it, it doesn’t mean the students won’t be affected, like the student mentioned on page 268 who gets ill at the thought of public speaking.  I would like to think that using positive reinforcement might be simple, but I also feel it could be easy to send the wrong message, like in the reading where the student teacher inadvertently reinforced the boy acting out by laughing at his Matthew McConaughey joke (pg. 268).

Concept 2: Planning Spaces for Learning

Summary:

    Chapter thirteen focuses on planning learning environments, and part of that includes classroom layout.  Woolfolk mentions two different areas needed in a classroom, personal territories, and seating arrangements.  A personal territory is the seat the student usually occupies, while seating arrangements refer to the entire room.  There are several different seating arrangements which include horizontal rows, clusters of four or circle arrangements, a fishbowl or stack formation (pg. 518-519).  Woolfolk also discusses special interest areas, like having a science center where students can experiment (pg. 519). 

Reflection:

    I thought this section was interesting because I never paid much attention to the way the desks were laid out, mainly because where I went to high school the desks all had that metal bar that only let you get out of your seat from one side. Having them arranged in any other way but rows was impractical.  Like the textbook mentioned, it also made it easy to daydream if you were sitting in the back row or in a corner because in most cases the teacher wouldn’t bother to walk back there.

    We also didn’t really have interest areas in my high school or middle school, but we did in elementary school.  Nine times out of ten it was a library, and it just had lots of books and bean bag chairs.  My fifth-grade teacher had what I can best describe as a geography interest area.  She would do weekly trivia, where you would have to guess the state based on the hints that were provided.  Once we made it through all fifty, we moved on to different countries.  It’s interesting to think about how I might include interest areas in my own class.  I personally like the idea of having a library.  I have a lot of history books, and I would like to think that if a student was curious about a topic that they could borrow a book on the subject, or if I needed to fact check something that it would be easy to access.

Concept Three: Empathetic Listening

Summary:

    Another pretty big part of chapter thirteen is communicating with students, and part of that includes being an empathetic listener.  Woolfolk provides the example of a student who claimed that the reading assignment they had to do was “dumb”, and how an educator might handle that situation (pg. 538). This involved hearing what the student has to say and allowing them to find a solution.  This keeps communication open, and lets the students know that they are being heard.

Reflection:

    When I read this section, I tried to think about how I would react if one of my students told me that the reading, I assigned was dumb.  Personally, I feel like as an educator it would be counterproductive to say something like one of the unhelpful responses listed on page 539.  However, I can also see how a student's comment might be misinterpreted.  If one were to look at the situation in a different way, it might seem like the student was trying to be disrespectful or question the teacher’s authority.

    I’m not sure why a teacher wouldn’t want to know why a student thought the reading was stupid.  They obviously felt strong enough about it to mention in class, and I think if I was in that situation curiosity would get the best of me.  It also might be a good opportunity to get feedback or raise interesting discussion points.  It also might be helpful if there were other students in the class who had difficulty with the reading.  I was that kid in class where if I didn’t understand something, I was typically too shy to ask because I was afraid of what other kids might think (Woolfolk refers to this as the “imaginary audience on page 53).  There is no way I was the only student like this, and not getting defensive about a comment like “this reading was dumb” might help students who are just too afraid to ask.