"A Teacher's Perspective on Classroom Reinforcement"

1. The teacher would smile, give a thumbs up, or a high five to reinforce good behavior. She would give the children compliments on specific actions or improvements. She also spoke to the children individually to express to them where they have made improvements and to keep up the good work or to compliment their cooperation and listening skills.
To reward the students, the teacher would give out stickers to the children that helped clean up before or after rehearsal. If the students behaved well, the teacher would allow them to add their won unique and creative ideas to the show. If their ideas were useful she would immediately add them in. If their ideas were weak, she would adjust them to make them work.
2. If the teacher had to punish the kids, which was rare, she would have them sit out of the activity and watch. If the child was still acting inappropriately, the teacher would have them stand out in the hall until she had time to discuss their behavior and reprimand them. The last step that the teacher would take would be to pull the poorly behaved child out of the scene that they were working on.
3. The teacher described one-on-one discussions with the kids as the most effective form of reinforcement and punishment. Pulling the child aside to compliment them on their work or behavior seemed to boost their confidence and self-esteem. Having a direct conversation with the child about their poor behavior or lack of effort seemed to have a big impact on them because they began to strive to do better and work harder and would look for positive reinforcements from the teacher.
4. The teacher believed that if she had been teaching a math or english class as opposed to an acting class, changing students seats, sending them into the hall and warning them about detention, or giving them a pop quiz would be more effective punishments. Because the students are not in seats and are doing hands on activities, those alternative punishments would not work in her classroom. The rewards and reinforcements that she would use would be virtually the same as the ones she uses now.

Option 2 Behaviorism
1 Hour Observation The West Hempstead Drama Club