When I was seven, my mom had me take piano lessons. I took lessons until I was twelve years old. Having taken lessons for five years, I do not play piano at all today. Now that I think back about it, I wish I would have taken that opportunity that I was given. What was my problem? Why did all those lessons I took not stick in this brain of mine? There is only one word to explain my lack of talent in piano. That word is practice. I hated to practice.
Learning to play the piano is no different than learning at school. I strongly believe that practice is very important. I teach high school math. In order for my students to truly understand the concepts taught in class, they must spend time working out problems. They need that practice; in other words- Homework. According to James Hartley practice is very important in learning. “Frequent practice - and practice in varied contexts - is necessary for learning to take place. Skills are not acquired without frequent practice.” (Smith, 1999)
Behaviorism is a conditioning as a response to behavior. The idea is to reinforce good behavior and punish bad behavior. Programmed instruction is a type of behaviorism (Laureate, 2008). Today, programmed instruction can be seen through online tutorials. A good tutorial will provide immediate feedback for students. Tutorials can be like video games where the player gets a score for correct answers or they can let the player retry missed questions after an explanation of the ones missed.
Until researching behaviorism, I did not realize that I use it in the classroom as often as I do. I found this link to be interesting in its thoughts on behaviorism and learning.
http://smartworkethics.com/index.php?/blog/comments/what_is_behaviorism_and_why_is_it_so_important_to_smart_work_ethics/
Here is another link that I found:
http://www.scumdoctor.com/psychology/behaviorism/How-Education-Uses-Behaviorism.html
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2009). Bridging learning theory, instruction, and technology. Baltimore: Author.
Smith, M. K. (1999) 'The behaviourist orientation to learning', the encyclopedia of informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/learning-behavourist.htm.
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Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI had a similar experience with one of my fourth graders this past school year. This child signed up to play the trumpet and then decided she did not want to take the time to practice. Her mom told her that she did not have to continue playing next year but that she did have to finish out the school year. The student ended up pretending she was going to lessons instead of actually going because she knew the music teacher was going to notice that she was not practicing. You often here people using the phrase, "practice makes perfect." I believe this is true in certain cases. Math facts, for example. The only way for students to get faster at learning their addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division facts is to use flash cards often and practice at home. These are concepts that escape my fourth graders.
Allison
Lisa,
ReplyDeleteI agree, there is not a substitute for practice. I am a softball and track coach and we go through hundreds of drills each day in order to develop muscle memory, strength and endurance. Why should it be different in the classroom? I approach my lesson plans the same way I approach the practice field. I teach the skills, we practice the skills through different assignments, I redirect as necessary and build off of the positive.
Allison, One thing I have noticed with teaching high school math is that they highly rely on the calculator. I have many students that cannot add or multiply simple numbers. I think they have lacked practice in those skills.
ReplyDeleteFred, I tell my students the first day of school that learning math is just like learning a sport. It is good you have coaching experience that you can use in the classroom.
We now live in a world of instant gratification and reward. Many of my students seem to have never heard the word no. They are always talking about playing video games and getting high scores. The high score is the reward for their "hard work". How do we harness that work ethic in our students in school? I think this week's resources are a great start. Show students how they are doing/improving in class. I think this would be of great help to any teacher. Not only beneficial for the student, but their parents as well. Having students track their own progress puts some pressure on the students because they can see how they are doing. They do not need to ask the teacher what their grade is, they would know. They would also be able to see what areas they need to improve in.
ReplyDeletePractice is definitely necessary for several of the skills taught in the classroom. In the third grade I find that when you can add a challenge or fun to the practice it draws in a lot more students.
ReplyDeleteFor example, starting last year I added the program "Rhymes and Times" into my curriculum. It is a program in which students learn multiplication facts through rhyme. This year I borrowed a keyboard from the music teacher and we even turned the rhymes into little songs. The students practiced singing the rhymes each day, decorated a picture about the rhymes and then they were challenged to complete a page of 50 multiplication problems. I rewarded students who completed their paper the fastest. All of my students looked forward to Math time during this program and all of them were very motivated to do their best to learn the rhymes.
When we can put rewards or challenges into our curriculum, then we can encourage more students to succeed.