The Basics of Verbal Positive Reinforcement
After my first two interviews and finding a new direction in my inquiry I decided to look a little into positive reinforcement. Having worked as a dance teacher and now a teaching assistant in a primary school my experiences have helped me with an small insight to using positive reinforcement. However, I needed to look at the basics and why using this in a teaching environment can help.
From looking back on my journal and reading through personal experiences whilst in the two different teaching environments I have found examples of when I used effective positive reinforcement. Considering I'm no expert myself the outcome of the method improved the behaviour and atmosphere of the classroom, even if it was just for that lesson.
" Positive reinforcement has the potential to be one of the most potent strategies teachers can use to motivate students." (L. Canter)
L, Canter talks about verbal reinforcement and how it is the most frequent reinforcement used in classrooms today. He goes on to recognise the two basic different types of verbal reinforcement which are: recognition and praise.
The difference between the two is that, "recognition entails letting students know that you acknowledge they are meeting your expectations in a nonjudgemental manner" (L. Canter)
However, praise on the other hand is different, "Praise if judgemental. Along with acknowledging the students have met your expectations, you add comments indications your approval of their actions" (L. Canter)
Bibliography
L. Canter, 2010. Assertive Discipline: Positive behaviour management for today's calssroom. Solution Tree Press.
Hi Ashleigh, I've actually been looking into motivation within drama and how teachers can adapt various strategies to encourage it, so the above quote really stood out to me in terms of relevance whilst reading your blog entry. It was also something that came up time and time again during the interview process with my teacher participants as something they see as being effective. Thanks for including the reference, it is a source that I would very much like to have a read of myself!
ReplyDeletePip :)