behaviorism

I would shape students’ behavior/skills/knowledge in writing, by conditioning them to write a response to a prompt on the board when they get into class every day. This will help ensure that they are writing something every day. I can help them to get comfortable with writing by doing daily informal writing, so that it’s not so intimidating to write a larger, more formal piece of writing later on. I will monitor their progress with writing assignments and give praise where it is deserved. I might showcase a student’s paper by hanging it up in the classroom, possibly anonymously, so that the students feel motivated to produce good writing for the purpose of it being showcased. This would be an example of positive reinforcement. I would be giving them a reward for their good work.  I might use negative reinforcement in my classroom too. I might do this by telling students that if every student turns in their novel study guide, they won’t have to take a reading quiz at the end of the week for the novel. That would be taking away something unpleasant. A removal punishment that I may use in my classroom is moving one student away from another student when they are getting too talkative with each other. This would be removing something they want (their friend). Those are just a few ideas I have for English classes.