A new term means new wor(l)ds

Charles A. Watson
EDUC302
Paper#2: Behavior Theories
September 3, 2014

 

Which of the four theories of human behavior as described in the Scarpaci text do you most closely relate to (you may describe more than one if you believe you ‘fit’ in more than one area)?

In constructivist theory, the individual builds his own knowledge base. Teachers and fellow students scaffold. This model that includes the other three: a person constructs from his own environment, which influences his emotions (psychodynamic), and his emotions drive his behavior.

What is it about this theory that you relate to (describe the theory within your response)?

A student works with the resources presented to him, including his peers. People are resources because they have knowledge. Resources can be as simple as the inspiration of sunlight through an unblinded window or the related thoughts and discussion following a presented YouTube instructional video. The teacher allows the room to buzz with insight. He facilitates. The students provide individual and collective feedback and bridge to a stronger individual knowledge and maturity.

Share several examples of evidence that indicate why you choose this theory:

There is laughter with the teacher and learned, shared sorrow from the class. There is practice of cynicism, opinion, and conformity from literature and current events and local, regional, national, and global history. All of these bits collectively add to knowledge construction—logical conclusions made hourly, daily, and throughout the school year. Come May, a student is much more mature than he was in September, regardless of grade level, through social interactions with his classmates. The show and tell, cause and effect, learn from fail—having an ego crushed and doing the same to someone else. These are an individuals teaching and learning moments. We build self-discipline, our common goal, and constructivism with its inclusion of the other behavior theories, is the natural medium for building mature, knowledgeable citizens.

1. What have you done that demonstrates this (in a field experience, coaching situation, babysitting, internship, practicum, volunteer situation, service project, as a parent, or work experience)?

The year I was born, my father was a junior high school principal. On my first day of kindergarten, he was assistant superintendent of schools. On my first day of high school, he had his PhD. When I graduated from high school, my father was school superintendent. When I was a stay-at-home father with my first daughter some thirteen years later, with a new and flexible career just after the dot-com bust, he would tell me that she was “my project.” So, I had a mission to find out what he meant by those words. This was before I knew of Piaget; not instinctively but academically.

I have raised children through stages of their early childhood and witnessed the schemas that are the basis for constructivism. The role-playing and pretending that kids do in early childhood is the basis for self-teaching, the repetition of something creative until it is mastered in the child’s mind, before primary school even begins.

In my fourth year as a regular secondary school classroom sub and for B.D. at the elementary level for three districts, I see student maturity develop across many planes. I have witnessed jackassery for attention in P.E. class, or maybe that kid was just expressing how he has always let off steam. Oh, he has a behavior I.E.P. I get it. The one who would throw sharpened pencils at the hung ceiling. That same kid once asked me if I wanted to join his meerkat club. Well, who doesn’t love a meerkat? He forgot about it over one summer. And then I sat with him in the behavior room when I subbing during the last week of school and talked about his goals for the summer and how he had to change his line in the yearbook to something more appropriate. He has goals. He has a job for the summer and beyond hopefully. I smiled and wished him luck and said I will see you again someday. I recall he was entering a community college program with a journeyman electrician approach. This made me very happy, as he was disruptively likable.

2. What have you read that confirms this (textbook or research article);

Recent research supports that a four-year college education isn’t a goal for everyone; that craft will often trump academic intelligence in salary and enslavement to student loans. And what is craft? First, it is art, even as a plumber. Second, craft is the repetition of a mastered activity that is enjoyable for the practitioner. Craft can be further enhanced through certification. Craft is schema. It’s meditative. Craft as career probably requires less social interaction over the lifespan of a person, but that student for life will surely reach a working level of self-discipline through his craft and its network. 

3. Who have you seen demonstrate it and what did you like/dislike to show your beliefs (cooperating teacher, coach, parent, daycare provider, Sunday school teacher, your own teacher); and/or

The art teacher has a messy room, yet advanced knowledge of craft (schema). The trigonometry teacher has a spotless room and mathematical genius beyond our wildest imagination. The English teacher enables students to make mistakes when they write papers, but presents the correct usage with returned work. All three teachers quietly encourage the advanced students to strive for a higher level and to know that they have a gift. All three of these classes promote working together and forming trusting friendships through awesome subject matter. All three subjects require self-discipline and group behavior for each class meeting to be a success. If the class isn’t a success, it isn’t fun for anyone. Knowledge and passion for it are not constructed from an illogical chaos (see Physics, Chemistry). We will work together to accomplish our common goal.

4. What documents do you have that demonstrates your answer (field experience work, project write up from a class, letter from someone, certification of completion, lesson plan, student work, or self developed materials).

Once upon a time, I worked in print media creating materials with literature on them. I have certifications in advanced Adobe Photoshop and Acrobat from 1999. The process of mastering those programs opened doors in print production management. Documentation! Organizational skills and file archival; connecting knowledge based on social interaction in a classroom. A 15-year post college career in print media began at some point in high school. I was newspaper editor my junior and senior years constructing knowledge with others using a Macintosh computer with floppy discs and sharing this periodically in a printed format. In college I worked for my campus newspaper as a production assistant, cutting and pasting and discovering bit mapping and dot gain with a stat camera. Wax machines. Senior year we used Macintosh for page layout. Way back, I delivered the Des Moines Register and Quad City Times between the ages of 10 and 14, on my bike, every morning at sunrise. Sometimes my dad would give me a ride. I quit after I bought myself a six-piece drum set with all the fixings, to play on the eighth grade basketball team that practiced in the mornings during winter. 

I have produced grocery ad supplements, catalogues, ads for high-end magazines, an arts and entertainment weekly for three years, a business weekly and a business monthly, and supplementary magazines. I even had a short run with Western Publishing before they closed shop in Racine, WI, just before the buyout by Time or Disney or Turner Broadcasting for all I can recall. The Golden Books, there they were, the ones that helped me construct knowledge when I was three.

Once upon a time, I had a career working with others who had significant roles in a final product—a collective piece of useful information.