PLE 9

How might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?

Lisa has been acting up when put into small groups. I would talk with Lisa and ask her questions like why she thinks she is acting out? and where she thinks her behavior is coming from. Lisa may have a low self efficacy when it comes to working in groups, which could possibly be the reason for lack of effort. The case study states that Lisa gets angry when she does not get the part in the group that she wants. Lisa may have a high self-efficacy for one part of the small group, and may have a low self-efficacy for the others causing her to get angry when she does not get the part she is most confident in. After talking with Lisa, I would figure out why she gets mad whens he has certain roles as opposed to others, and then help build Lisa's self-efficacy for those other roles, and for working in small groups. I would tell Lisa I know you can do this, and I have seen you do this before and give her an example. Maybe building up Lisa's self-efficacy will help her make the right decisions, and participate more in the small groups regardless of the role she is given. Self-regulation would be a good way for Lisa to keep track of her behavior, and for her to be accountable of acting out, getting angry, or not putting effort in. I would sit with Lisa and show her a self-regulation chart, and ask her to fill it out after she is done with her small group. She will rate herself on her performance and improvements. Self-regulation will help Lisa really face the problems she is having, and get a grasp of how her attitudes and behaviors are relating to her performance in the small group. I would let Lisa know I will be chekcing her self regulation chart, and if she improved give her positive feedback and praise. Hopefully, the self-regulation, positive feedback and praise, and positive reactions from her peers in small group will help raise her self-efficacy in small groups and situations with peers.

PLE 8

Consider your CSEL intervention case study. Are there tools from a behaviorist view for either encouraging productive behaviors or discouraging undesirable behaviors that you could apply to the case? What are they?

Now, compare the interventions that you have identified above with what you think might work from a cognitive or constructivist viewpoint (you may need to Google for ideas but it's okay to just speculate based on your prior knowledge). How do they compare to behaviorist tools? What are the benefits of each theory, and what are the deficits? Which theory might play a larger role in how you determine classroom management?

For behaviorists, the teacher could set up an award system for Lisa. Every time she is on task and doing what she is supposed to be doing she gets points, rewards, or a sticker. This can be tricky though because it would have to be done in a way where other students get upset because they are not being rewarded. Also, the teacher can set up a system where if Lisa is not doing what she is supposed to then she has to take homework problems home and do them. When she does stay on task and do what she is supposed to do then the teacher can begin to take away the homework problems as an award. For cognitive theroy the teacher can model behavior that Lisa should have with in her group. The teacher can also model self regulation and self monitoring to help Lisa understand how to keep tabs on herself. I personally think that certain points from both behaviorist theory and cognitive theroy can be used in this case study with Lisa. I think modeling can play a major role with Lisa, and then rewarding Lisa for her performace can help her too. I am not positive but I think that for construtivist the teacher would ask Lisa what she thinks she can do to make better decisions, and let her explore her options based on what the teacher has asked of her previouisly. Behaviorist tools differ because behaviorist tools deal with response and reinforcement of behavior while cognitive is model based and constructivism is student based. I think though that when using behaviorist theories teachers must be careful with using rewards. Lisa might take advantage of her rewards, or only perform well when given a reward. If this is the case, what will the teacher do when Lisa stops performing well when the rewards stop? For me, I think cognitive theory plays a major role for classroom management because if a teacher is modeling appropriate actions and management from the start students are more likely to pick up on such things and keep it alive in the classroom!

PLE 7

Think of an activity or lesson component that explicitly teaches one or more metacognitive and one or more problem solving skills.

An activity that I have done with a class before that I absolutely love is based off a lesson about inventions. I would start off with talking about inventions with my students, and asking them if they knew what it means to invent something. This would be used to activate prior knowledge. Then I would read a story called "Incredible Inventions". After this I would begin the activity. I would give students different supplies to work with such as paper, glue, glitter, tape, paper clips, buttons, paper towel tubes etc. and as them to make their own invention. In doing this, students are working with metacognitive skills and problem solving skills. Students are thinking about using materials they are farmilar with to create something no one else has ever created before. This gives students a chance to be creative why building knowledge on what they already know with the given materials. Students will have to critcally think and use problem solving skills to create their own invention. Students will have to use problem solving skills like breaking the problem into two or more subproblems. Since I will provied them with tools they are farmilar with they will have to look at all of the materials activate prior knowledge and recognize what they are normally used for, and then brainstorm different ways to use the materials in a way that has never been done before. An acitivity that involves problem solving and thinking outside of the box like this allows students to think divergently and creatively. This activity provides students with a great deal of metacognition or thinking about thinking. Since students are inventing something new they will have to be thinking about what they are thinking about inventing!