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Katie Willey ED 611 3/1/2009 Girod Analysis of Educational Practice: “Catch ‘Em Being Good” The auditorium is silent as Principal Doyle walks on stage. Hundreds of little eyes are staring as he drags a large grey bin behind him. He stops mid-stage, and takes off the lid. Whispers and yelps of excitement flood the auditorium as little elementary bodies are squirming with anticipation. Assistant Principal, Mrs. Marsh, stands next to Mr. Doyle, holding a Hula Hoop in one hand and a Beach Boys cassette tape in the other, which brings a sea of “oooo’s” and “ahhhh’s” amongst the students. Mr. Doyle reaches in and pulls out a pale green piece of paper, unfolds it and into the microphone announces, “Philip Baunsgaurd!” The crowd erupts in cheers, while the 2nd grader anxiously trots down the main aisle to the stage where he chooses the tape over the Hula Hoop. As he runs back to his seat, he is met with “high-fives” and pats of encouragement and congratulations from his classmates. At Jasper Elementary School in Alta Loma, California, this was a monthly ritual for its staff and students. The entitled, “Catch ‘Em Being Good” Assembly was one that students, including myself, would look forward to with great enthusiasm. Superb prizes such as; stationary sets, popular books, hair accessories, toys, art supplies and candy were offered to the winners, which caused such zeal. How did you get to become a winner? You have to be caught doing something good! Teachers or staff who observed a particular student exemplifying good behavior (such as sharing, cleaning up your area without being asked, picking up trash on the playground, helping another student with homework etc.) would be given a pale green ticket that had room for the student’s name, grade and teacher to be written on it. These tickets would then be placed in the big grey bin on the stage in the cafeteria/auditorium waiting to be pulled at the assembly. When I attended Jasper from 1989-1993, the school did not have a massive numbers of students, violent gangs or an especially low socioeconomic demographic. Jasper implemented the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system to encourage togetherness, manners and reduce unwanted behavior amongst a semi-diversified population. When using a stimulus (in this case the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” ticket) in order to achieve or observe a desired behavior, Behavioral Psychology is being utilized. By using positive reinforcement (Operant Conditioning), teachers give students tickets in order to continue a “good” behavior. However, aside from Behaviorism, the use of extrinsically motivational tactics, in this case the prizes, are also be utilized to get students to show “good” behavior. The following will describe how both theories are utilized within the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system and the consequences and effects of using such theories when molding behavior. Behaviorism states that a person’s behavior is dictated by the environment around them and not by internal thought processes. We as humans are not in control of our actions alone, but are manipulated by that which is around us. Operant Conditioning, more specifically, explains that our behavior comes from how we respond to what is presented to us in our environment. In the case of the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system, the stimulus within the environment is the ticket itself. The idea of prizes, toys and games is already reinforcing to students, because prizes, toys and games are fun and exciting. In order to obtain the prizes, students must obtain a ticket. In order to obtain a ticket, they must exemplify a “good” behavior. Once a student gets a ticket, they will do what they had to do last time in order to get another one, therefore gaining the reinforcing prize through natural consequences. “You learn to act differently based on the natural consequences of your previous actions…If something you did results in a positive outcome, you are likely to do that same activity again.” (AllPsych/ Heffner Media Group, Inc.) When students see that getting a ticket is a consequence of doing something “good”, they are more likely to do more “good” things. Teachers and staff at Jasper Elementary use that theory to coerce “good” behavior, and for the unwanted “bad” behavior to be pushed into the background. By reinforcing “good” behavior through awarding tickets (which we have established as a connection to winning wonderful prizes), we are making it more likely that students will exemplify “good” behavior in the future. Thus, teachers are controlling what is presented in the student’s environment, therefore controlling what behaviors are likely to be observed. Behaviorism, in theory, seems to answer the demands of teachers at Jasper by providing a stimulus within their student’s environments to achieve a desired behavior. However, behaviorism and operant conditioning has some consequences and errors that may skew desired results. Every child has been brought up in a different environment; (family life and structure, access to resources, exposure to civilization, etc.) Behaviorism operates on the understanding that each person will react to a stimulus within their environment the same way. For example, if a student who has been brought up in a very “well-to-do” family where cleaning up was not something that they had to do themselves, they may not see the stimulus of a ticket as something to validate touching trash, they have learned that other people do that, and what was learned at home is more powerful than what is learned in school. Perhaps a child in an extremely broken home saw his mother beaten everyday, and at school, the stimulus of the ticket would have no response when it came to changing his violent behavior to sharing and caring, for it is violence that is modeled and learned at home. In essence, it is the previously learned information within each student that determines the effectiveness of the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system, for the ticket stimulus is responded to differently by each student based on their individual perceptions of the environment itself. Behaviorism is one theory seen in the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system; however the use of extrinsically motivational tactics is also seen is “bribing” students to act in a way that is considered to be “good” among teachers and staff. Extrinsic motivation can be described as a student acting in a certain way in order to get a reward or to avoid punishment, the reward or avoidance of punishment being the student’s reinforcement. Intrinsic motivation can be described as a student acting in a certain way because of the enjoyment it provides, because of a sense of accomplishment, etc., the feelings evoked from the behavior or action are the students reinforcement. In the case of the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system, extrinsic motivation is utilized to see desired behavior in students. The students see the connection between the ticket and the prize. Opposed to the behaviorist point of view where the ticket was a natural consequence of their environment manipulated by their teachers, extrinsic motivation is an internal thought process by the students to win that prize by any means. The ticket now is no longer a stimulus within their environment, but a vessel by which they can win a fabulous prize which will make them happy! The focus leaves external environmental stimulus and consequences and is now based on pure internal thought processes and motivational trends. In order to win a great prize that will be revered by their friends, the student must act in a way that is considered “good”. Upon the behavior, the student is rewarded with a ticket and is one step closer to winning something amazing. It is because of this that the student now makes the connection of “good” behavior to awesome prize. It is because of this connection that this form of psychological process works. However, although this practice works, along side other forms of extrinsically motivating tactics (stickers, candy etc), it creates the wrong connections and can turn once intrinsically motivating behavior into one that is now only done for reward. For example, let’s say a student once loved to help other students with their math homework because of their love for the subject and because of the joy in helping people. As noticed by a teacher, that student is exemplifying “good” behavior; therefore they get a “Catch ‘Em Being Good” ticket. This student continues to tutor other students in math, but now only under the condition that they get a “Catch ‘Em Being Good” ticket. Another example is one that I experienced while at Jasper Elementary, students were given “Catch ‘Em Being Good” tickets when they picked up garbage off of the playground. Well many of our recesses were devoted to bringing in handfuls of trash just for tickets. We may have been exemplifying “good” behavior, but we only saw picking up trash as an avenue for tickets, we did not care that we were doing something good for our school. It is this reason that extrinsic motivation fails, because after these students leave Jasper and go to Alta Loma Middle School, helping a classmate who is struggling or picking up litter is no longer rewarded, and therefore there is no motivation at all for it to be done. When the reinforcement is shifted from intrinsic to extrinsic, it is due to the fact that extrinsic motivation is usually immediately reinforcing. It takes more time for intrinsically motivating tasks to become rewarding, while a prize is immediate. You may love reading, and after weeks of reading a really good book you finally finish and have a great sense of achievement. However, using “Catch ‘Em Being Good”, if you get a ticket every time you finish a chapter, reading becomes about the tickets, and not the feeling of accomplishment when it’s finished. Another loophole in the extrinsic motivation theory, like with the fault of behaviorism, is that not all students are raised the same way with the same values. If a student who hates being put on the spot and does not find candy, toys and prizes appealing, they may not be motivated at all to get tickets to get called on in front of the whole school, therefore no need to act “good” and the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system is null and void for that student demographic. As shown through the lens of both behaviorism and extrinsic motivation, the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system is one that is meant to manipulate the actions and behaviors of students through means of a desirable effect and/or result (prizes). Why do teachers and schools do this? If we know that 1) it does not work with all students and 2) changes the way that “good” behavior is perceived by the students, why are we still using systems like the “Catch ‘Em Being Good”? It is because it works right now. There are no long training sessions for teachers to go to, there are no expensive materials needed, you don’t have to wait weeks or months for results. By using systems such as the “Catch ‘Em Being Good”, teachers will see results immediately. Students will make an effort to get those tickets by doing things they did not before, producing “good” behavior all around in a matter of moments. Yes, some students may not respond to the stimulus/motivation the same way, but sometimes peer pressure and modeling from their peers may encourage “good” behavior among that group. As explained, there are some benefits to using tactics such as the “Catch ‘Em Being Good” system. By rewarding students with things they find fantastic in exchange for “good” behavior, results are observed. However, it is the over use of such tactics that create problems. If the tickets were only given to “exceptionally good” behavior that was unprovoked by the thought process of “if I do this, I’ll get a ticket”, then maybe things could change, (such as a student helping another student get help who has fallen down on the black top). Behaviorist and extrinsically motivating tactics will probably always be used in classrooms, however it is important to balance their use and not rely too heavily on them, for the outcome of overuse will be reversal.