Effort? This is a term that I use consistently inside of my classroom and I believe that the majority of my students understand that if they try their hardest, that is all that matters. As long as you are trying hard and I can see that, you will be fine and not have to worry about your final grade for that particular paper or subject area.
Relating back to Behaviorism and reinforcing effort, you are teaching them a skill that you want reinforced daily, their effort. They are able to see what progress they make by creating an effort chart / spreadsheet and see the direct effect that their effort grades have upon their final grades. This is a positive reinforcement by enabling them to see the direct effect their effort has on their final grades. There are not a large or declarative punishment by the teacher for the student not putting forth effort except, they will receive a bad overall grade. What do you do in this case when a student does not care at all by the grades that the get in school?
I have used Survey Monkey in the past for rubrics but have never thought about putting together a survey based upon their effort. We use rubrics on a daily basis relating to their writing or when they are conducting a research project. I really think that this is a great idea and plan to put it into practice inside of my classroom as soon as possible.
Ahhhh as a teacher you got to love homework. Why is it so hard for students to do their homework? Why can they not see the importance of doing their homework on a daily basis? Why do you get some parents who call you and tell you that it is not fair of you to give that homework because they could not even do it themselves? I love that excuse, well we do not give homework if we do not cover it in class that day… why don’t you ask your child to show you their notes or ask them what they were doing while that subject / particular skill was being taught?
Creating a fun and interesting way to complete students homework would motivate them the desire to do their homework on a daily basis. With the use of some technologies the students will not feel as though it is the same boring way to do their homework. Giving the students different tools, such as, inserting multimedia projects, using graphs, or creating a PowerPoint allows the students to show their personal creativity to their work. This will in turn motivate them to want to do better and reinforce the importance of their homework. Giving recognition to their work and efforts will make them highly motivated.
Lastly, if you can create a Wiki page or Blog for your students to interact with each other inside of school and outside of school to accomplish a project, they will see the importance of communication and see what they can achieve together. Inside of the classroom Wiki page that I personally created for my classroom, I have online tutorials from our math lessons and other important links to academic sources that we use daily inside of our classroom. I placed a grant in my school district so that I can have a camera attached to my SmartBoard so that I will be able to tape a lesson and post it online for students to see if they are absent from class that particular day for the lesson.
Doing homework shows us the students understanding of a subject matter. We then can see what we have to manipulate to make sure that all students are receiving the important information that they need in order to comprehend the course / subject material. Behaviorist strategies are still very pertinent in schools today and need to be used properly and effectively so that all students are learning and there are ways to make sure that they are having fun while learning.
Resources:
Pitler, H., Hubbell, E., Kuhn, M., & Malenoski, K. (2007). Using technology with classroom instruction that works. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
Orey, M.(Ed.). (2001). Emerging perspectives on learning, teaching, and technology. Retrieved from http://projects.coe.uga.edu/epltt/index.php?title=Main_Page
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I was reading your blog and thinking about your effort charts, which is a great idea, and had the question pop into my- isn't effort a skill? When do we learn effort, at some point in our toddler lives does it just come automatically? Or does effort itself come from someone sometime in our lives reinforcing something that we did. I think some sort of an effort chart or survey would provide some self-reinforcing of the skill of trying. Like you said giving it your best is the ever important start to learning.
ReplyDeleteEffort is a hard thing to grade. I try my best to circulate around my room on a daily basis and give each one of my students an informal effort grade. I look directly at their homework and for the most part can tell if they tried hard. This is something that I am trying to teach my students but it was really hard to place a grade based upon their effort. I have gotten a lot better at grading their effort.
ReplyDeleteHello Mr. Henry,
ReplyDeleteMr. Bosley here from Walden U. I agree with you totally on effort in the classroom. I teach technology education in a small school in rural central PA. Each of my assignments are graded by the results of the students' final products. However, they are given a weekly Participation/Performance Assessment. These assessments make up a majority of the students' final grades. I teach the students that it is more important to focus on the process rather than the final product. Effort, I believe, is a very necessary concept for students to learn in order for them to succeed in the "real world."
Homework is a tough subject in my eyes. I teach in an area where most students go straight into the workforce after graduation. The culture in the area seems to push them in this direction. Most of the parents in my district think that once their child leaves school--they should be working on the farm or a nearby business. I definitely believe in practice outside of the classroom, but I have seen in many instances a student given too much for them to handle. I think that if we are to assign homework regularly, than it is necessary for us to provide time for that practice--even if it be an afterschool activity.
Effort = Success.
ReplyDeleteI have a large poster in my room right above the doorway. They see it as they leave each and every day. I remind them daily during school and always as they leave to go home. It is so hard to teach this concept.
That has to be hard dealing with that mind set when it comes to homework. I came from a small town growing up and there were some of my friends that had parents feel the same way. It was a constant struggle between the parents / students and the teacher / school. Good luck!