Reinforcement In Classroom Observation

Reinforcement. Reinforcement is used by the teachers throughout the day so that the children demonstrate certain behaviors that is expected of them. For instance, one girl who does not sleep during naptime and often distracts other children prefers to stay indoors instead of going outdoors with the other children after they wake up. Most of the children are guided to the outdoor area if they wake up early so that they do not disturb the other children that are still sleeping. The associate teacher uses positive reinforcement and tells the girl “if you lie down quietly during nap time until I say you can get up, then I will let you stay in the classroom instead of going outside.” This reinforces and increases her behavior of lying down quietly

Behavior Hypothesis Child one. During clean up time, Alex refuses to clean up and join the other children in circle time. When a teacher tells him to clean up, he falls to the floor and lies there squirming, not wanting to leave his activity. When these moments occur, the teachers will clean up the area, leave him alone and give him his space that does not involve him moving to another spot. It appears that Alex behaves in this manner to avoid having to clean up and leave the activity he is engaged in and certain areas of the classroom. Child two. During free play time, Angel acts out by screaming and hitting when he does not have access to his toys that help him fidget. When these toys are taken away by him, he responds through these behaviors. When this happens, the teachers are likely to respond by giving him the toys that he typically plays with in the classroom. It seems like Angel behaves in this manner to have access to certain items, such as his toy dinosaur.

Replacement

A functionally equivalent replacement behavior for Alex would be to ask for a break from the tasks/demands. His behavior of dropping to the floor, squirming, and refusing to complete tasks can be made less effective if the teacher does not help him put the blocks away. By teaching him to ask for a break, it gives him more time to spend in an area of the classroom and will reinforce the responsibility of cleaning up after and joining circle time. This can be taught to the entire class through circle time when discussing alternative behaviors that the children can engage in. The master teacher can start the discussion off by asking what the children can do in these situations instead of behaving in this sort of