Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivation
Are you a new teacher who is having a hard time managing your class? Are you dealing with rowdy students in your class? How do you deal with them?
Efficient classroom management is a skill we teachers need to develop over time. Managing a class is difficult, especially if you are new to solo teaching. As a teacher, I use both positive and negative reinforcement in class. For positive reinforcement, I praise a kid in front of the class for behaving favorably and to make him or her stand out in class as a role model for other students. I set rules in class. Suppose a student deliberately does not follow them. In that case, I deduct points from Dojo (an online application where I can give points for formative assessments and remove topics for any unpleasant behavior in class). Younger kids tend to misbehave in class because of various factors: not being interested in the lesson, problems at home, and peer pressure.
Although it is pretty overwhelming to deal with these factors, extrinsic motivation is one of the classroom techniques a teacher might reinforce in class. Although it won’t work all the time, since intrinsic motivation is more efficient than extrinsic motivation, it is still worth trying. We, as educators, can instill intrinsic motivation in our students by building rapport with them and encouraging them that even though they make mistakes, there is still room for improvement. Our words of encouragement can be beneficial in inculcating good values in children. It is through words any man on earth can be impacted.
It is widely accepted that punishment can immediately stop or correct a negative behavior but does not diminish that behavior in the long run. I have a student who always misbehaves in class. Our school counselor was asked to observe her since, despite the head teacher’s warnings, the misbehavior continued. After her observation, we met, and I told her that the kid’s father is strict. I witnessed it myself during our online class. The father, although supportive, punishes her for every mistake she makes. I guess this is why she feels that our school is a place for her to be free. It seems like the school is her comfort zone. She tends not to listen to teachers and wanders around the school during class.
After learning more about behaviorist principles, I can now understand why students act the way they act in school. Educators must highlight students’ strengths and help them work on their weaknesses.
Some schools and institutions are finding an alternative way to discipline students instead of excluding them from school or giving punishment, negatively affecting children’s well-being. Mergler et al. (2014) stated that “disciplinary practices largely aim to keep students in the classroom and modify student behavior by equipping students with the knowledge and support systems to address the root caused of the misbehavior.”
References
Mergler, M. S., Vargas, K. M., & Caldwell, C. (2014). Alternative discipline can: benefit learning. The Phi Delta Kappan, 96(2), 25–30. http://www.jstor.org/stable/24376156.
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