Korean Job Discussion Forums

[tomato]

I have an upper elementary class composed of boys only.
You could imagine how much fun that is.
These classes have been threatening my sanity and threatening my job.
There has never been a minute's peace.
I tried isolating offending students, I tried group punishment, and, of course, I stopped once every 30 seconds to yell at the students.
For a long time, I thought nothing short of capital punishment would do the trick.

But today, I tried positive reinforcement.
When the kids came in the room, I was prepared with a piece of paper in one hand and a pencil in the other.
While the students came in the room, I listed the kids who promptly sat down and announced their names.
Throughout the rest of the class, I added points for students who behaved while I read a page, behaved while another student read a page, behaved while we recited a verb conjugation, or behaved during any other activity. After each of these activities, I read the names of the behaving students.
Students got no recognition for misbehaving. I didn't scold misbehaving students, nor did I mention their names when I read the list.

At the end of the class, I tallied up the points and announced the first-, second-, and third-place winners. The class joined me in cheering for the students.
Even Jack, who had been one of the worst �������'s in the class, showed interest in my score sheet. He asked how he ranked. He ranked fourth.

Changing the subject:

I have been teaching in Korea for 4 years and working my present job for 1 year. Why did it take me so long to come up with such a simple idea? Is it because I'm stupid?
Well, in a sense, yes.
Never mind how many books I've read or how many classes I've taken;
when I feel threatened, my outer brain (neomammalian brain) kicks off and my inner brain (paleomammalian brain) kicks on, and all my factual knowledge about classroom management goes flying out the window.

Why is this?
It is because schools were only invented in the last few thousand years and Evolution has not had time to catch up.
For millions of years, if an individual was surrounded by those who were different from himself, that individual was surrounded by enemies or predators.
And that is exactly what my inner brain says those children are: enemies or predators.
Would positive reinforcement work on enemies or predators? Of course not!
So naturally, my inner brain doesn't remind me about positive reinforcement.

No disciplinary technique gets emphasized in education class like positive reinforcement.
And with good reason.
However, no disciplinary technique gets neglected in the actual classroom like positive reinforcement.
And with good reason.

[Paji eh Wong]