I Should Be Marking

Ivan Pavlov first used the term ‘reinforcement’ as a psychological theory back in the early 1900s. In the famous experiment trained dogs so that when he rang a bell they knew they were about to be fed. After a short while they would start salivating (a conditional response) upon hearing the bell (a conditional stimulus).

The same principle applies in classrooms. In practice, many of us recognise that praising a pupil reinforces their positive behaviour, and most of us refer to this as positive reinforcment (although it differs from the technical term as used in psychological theory). It seems a sound enough argument – reward somebody for doing well or trying hard and they are more likely to want to do well and try hard in the future.⁽¹⁾

My first thought after this is ‘what is negative reinforcement?’ Is it reinforcing negative behaviour, such as giving attention to attention seekers when they behave poorly? Is it taking punitive measures when somebody misbehaves? Or is it as simple as not providing postive feedback when someone has done well or tried hard? Which of those lead to negative results?

I’ve been thinking about this after watching my daughter (4) at her dance class. She was mucking about and not listening to the teacher and so I gave her ‘the look’ from the sidelines and made it clear that I wasn’t happy. She immediately started sulking and paid no more attention to the teacher than she had before.

A few minutes later she looked back over to me and I gave her an encouraging thumbs up and a smile. The response was immediate – a happy, smiling, attentive and energetic little girl dancing around and keeping to the steps.

It’s often difficult to offer positive reinforcement when there isn’t positive behaviour to reinforce. There is, however, always positive potential – and if we can reinforce that then maybe some of those situations that are turning sour might just be turned around.

It’s not a perfect solution and it won’t guarantee a good lesson from that horrible class you dread on a Friday afternoon. I can’t even honestly say I use it often enough myself, but it’s worth bearing in mind. In an attempt to remind me, I’ve made up and printed out the image at the top of the post and stuck it in the corner of my whiteboard, to remind me that my actions have a heck of an impact on students. Something worth remembering.

⁽¹⁾ Interestingly, the ideal outcome would be for a pupil’s positive behaviour (conditional stimulus) to invoke positive feedback/praise (conditional response) – making the teachers the subjects of the psychology, not the students.

It’s interesting to think that badly behaved attention seekers use psychological tools to get their desired conditoned response…

OK, so I made a post a week or so ago suggesting that I had cracked how to deal with my form group. Well, perhaps not so much after all. Waiting silently for them to be quiet is still a technique I’m using heavily but it’s not doing the job as well any more on its own.

Once a week (or sometimes twice) I have a full 20 minute registration with nothing to do – no assemblies, no planner signing, just the register and any notices to read out. So we played a counting game I read about on the TES forums and it seemed to go down fairly well. It was noisy, but fun and I think we need more of the latter (and I’d be happy for a better balance of the former – quiet for the register and notices, noisy when th activity allows it).

What I really need to do is find a strategy and stick to it in order to allow the kids time to get used to the routine. I’m getting better at doing that but there’s still a way to go – too many of my (good?) ideas fall by the wayside after a week or two and I’ve watched enough reality TV to know that isn’t the best way to deal with kids!

Not a request for help (although it’s always goot to share good practice), but I suddenly realised that I had inadvertently made a breakthrough today.

They’re Y8 and a very mixed bag in terms of ability, attitiude and behaviour. Strangely (or so it seems to me) some of the brightest in there are also the most disruptive. An image of a vulture springs to mind but that may be a little harsh (I must be in a good mood!).

Anyway, I’ve tried quizzes, games, reading, class detentions, shouting and all sorts of other tactics in an attempt to get them to shut up and sit down – even if it’s only for enough time to take the register and read any notices. I’ve realised that it’s the little routines that make the difference.

I’ve always asked them to line up before entering the room, but had been lax about the state and volume of the line in favour of making sure they got in and out on time (and of course the more rowdy they are the more time you need to get them in and take the register – and so begins the vicious cycle).

Lately I’ve been thinking ‘to hell with it’ and waiting quietly for them to line up properly. Today I even asked one of them very deliberately, politely and quietly to please join the line with the rest of the class – worked wonders!

So they’re in. Only 2 minutes left to actually get the register done, but they’re mostly now in the right frame of mind. I wait until coats are off before I start the register and stop if anyone is talking, banging, swinging on chairs, playing slaps, turning round, etc. I don’t shout, cajole, moan, complain – I even try not to give the really annoying ones ‘The Look’ (with varying degrees of success). The kids do exactly what I was told they would. They blame each other – specifically, the ones making all the noise. Of course they defend themselves by shouting back but the mood quickly changes and everyone knows who the real trouble makers are. I just wait patiently, looking at nothing in particular and as soon as the class is ready we go to the next name.

No rewards here for the attention seekers, at least not from me. This, of course, leads them to try more and more desperate attempts to provoke a response and I must confess to a slight concern over where and when I will have to draw the line.

Of course they end up 2 or 3 minutes late to the next lesson, although hopefully this will improve as the message starts to sink in. All I need now is a spell to convert Y11 apathy into completed coursework…