Positive Reinforcement will always win students over. I know the term "win over" does not sound very professional, but it was straight and to the point. Children need to hear the positives. What have they been doing well? If they are on the right track. Keep up the good work. These sort of ideas allow the students to feel that they are on the right track to accomplishing the goal that they set or that the teacher set for them.
In this weeks learning resources, the emphasis on positive reinforcement outweighed the negative punishment. When I look back at my teaching, I feel that the resources were set up this way on purpose. It is what it should be like in the classroom; positive reinforcement and positive feedback. Constructive criticism is also positive because it allows the student to understand how to make it even better than it already was.
A lot of my students come from broken homes or families that are not as supportive of education as a teacher would hope for. I know there are more times than not when my students are hearing negative comments at home or their education is overlooked. They do not want to hear those things from me in the classroom. That is why i must always be positive, and it has worked. They are more apt to explore and challenge themselves with the class work. Sometimes, it even becomes a reward to do homework in the classroom. With all of the technology at their fingertips, it becomes an exploration versus a chore.
With all the strategies presented this week, I liked how technology is tangible to them. It is something that they can understand and relate to. Nothing over the top or hard to grasp. I try to make it like that in my classroom. I always go over how to use the equipment so that it is not just mine, but it is ours. We are all responsible for the technology. It is a real world application that they can use in their future eduction.
Positive reinforcment is the way to go. Students are so acustom to hearing what they do wrong that its a huge motivator when they here what they are doing right. I find that if you point out exactly what they do right it motivates them even more instead of using the generic nice job and so forth.
ReplyDeleteI really like how you present technology to the students as it being thiers and it is part of their responsibility. They take the use of the equipment more seriously. The great thing about using technology with them is that a great deal of programs have different ability levels to challenge all the students.
Matthew,
ReplyDeleteI agree that this weeks resources and strategies were very useful to the classroom and quite easy to incorporate.
I teach in an urban school district and have many broken home families. I hear what goes on at home with the students and understand that their education does take a "backseat" a lot of the time, knowing this, I always try to use positive reinforcement. Students who hear they are doing a great job or their hard work is really paying off, are more likely to keep trying to do well. Students who only hear what they did wrong, are more likely to "shut off" and not care about their work.
I believe that the strategies this week and the integration of technology is great use of positive reinforcement and I look forward to incorporating it into my classroom this coming school year.
Mathew,
ReplyDeleteI fully agree that positive reinforcement is far better than negative reinforcement, but both are necessary. I had also experience students from broken families and they look upon teacher as a guide , role model and the trust in which they confide in us.
Hi everyone,
ReplyDeleteI try to take every child in my class and make sure to incorporate some sort of positive reinforcement into their day. Whether it is that they are really good at something and I push them to achieve their goals in a new way or that they are struggling but putting forth an enormous amount of effort. All of the students deserve to be praised one way or another because it keeps their confidence up and their motivation to continue on.
Technology does make things easier. I have been lucky enough to be part of a grant where I have been able to acquire some fantastic technological tools. I do teach the students that these are ours and not just mine. They take ownership and pride in that and love being able to show off the 21st century skills that they are learning in class.