Reinforcing negative behaviors
I had a great teacher who told us to "Never reinforce a negative behavior." I wonder what people might think about this as a blanket statement.
I agree, when one student brings a negative behavior to the class room it's not long before more students feed into it. As instructors we must always curtail any negative behavior that is disruptive to the learning enviroment as soon as we see it.
Hello Sean,
I must agree with the statement. For instance, my class begins at 8am and one student was always coming in at 8:05, 8:10 and so on. Later other students began to follow suit until I had to start recording lateness for everyone; otherwise students would have started coming into class whenever they felt like it.
MaryAnn,
Your last sentence really captures the essence of what reinforcement should be about. We are the model and learning leader for our students. In these two roles we need to make sure we are helping them to grow in their knowledge and skills while moving closer to their career objectives.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
I think this is very interesting and I actually believe this blanket statement. I agree with this as an educator and as a parent.
I think that when we reinforce negative behavior, we really are not showing our students that their can be consequences to that behavior. It is our job to show them the better behavior, better ways to proceed forth in a manner that gives them better results. In essence, reinforcing negative behavior is showing them that their behavior is fine; we are the authoritative person they are looking to for that guidance and we should give it to them.
Sean,
As a rancher and horse trainer we use a similar saying when working with a young horse. "Make the right things easy and the wrong things difficult." This saying ties into the idea of not reinforcing a negative behavior. When a negative behavior occurs be it animal or student time needs to be taken to show what the desired behavior should be and how to perform it. Through repetition the positive behavior will be reinforced and make a part of the working memory of the individual or animal. When this is accomplished you know and your students have been successful.
Gary
Gary Meers, Ed.D.
