If you were a behaviourist, how would you set up your teaching environment?

Student Response
1. If I were a behaviourist, I would set the golden rules as an initial discipline strategy to help me in the long run
for classroom management purposes. One example of the golden rules that I would make are by having the
students to respond to me automatically each time I say "class, class, class". Another one is to tell the students
that they need to take out all the needed materials prior to the entrance of each subject teachers so that they
are always ready for lessons.

2. Using reward chart to instill the correct behavior. By using operant conditioning technique, students are
rewarded with every correct behavior and responses that they give during the lesson. Negative reinforcement
also will be used by removing the rewards that students suppose to get when they didn't show the correct
behavior and have responded incorrectly. With the correct behavior instilled, the lesson objective will be
achieved and the classroom can be managed in the correct manner.

3. Firstly, I will start my class with an induction set such as using simple games or short animation to capture the
pupils attention and make them ready to learn. Normally, I will focus on pupils who are easily distracted by
observing them closely or by standing near them and make them aware of my presence. I also often use threat
words such as not allow them to eat during recess or will make them stay back after school if they cannot finish
the task given on time or say that they will have to do everything all over again if I find that their handwriting are
not satisfying. I find these methods very useful as I can see that even the most difficult student to handle in the
class start to do their work after hearing those words. Thus, I believe that it is important to observe the students
behaviors in order to create a productive and effective teaching process.

4. If I were a behaviourist, I would set up a reward system chart for my students. In this case, whenever they
response to my questions, there will be a reward sticker for them to paste on the reward chart. At the end of the
semester or year, those who get the most stickers will be given an appreciation certificate.
5. In order to be a professional teacher, a teacher must be smart in establishing communication with his students.
The teacher will not be able to start teaching and learning activities if they fail to start good communication with
the students. Good communication makes teachers able to convey information clearly and accurately, hold
discussions, questions and answers, answer all the beliefs thrown by students well and effectively. Good
communication can also make students comfortable with the teacher when teaching and learning activities are
carried out in the classroom. If I were a behaviourist, I would set up the teaching environment through some
rules. Actually I have applied the behaviorism approach for my teaching and learning process. For example, I
would condition my students with the rules of five five, clap your hands, followed by four four, butterfly, and
lastly one one, so they would do ssshhh as quiet time. So whenever I practise this rule, all of my students will
stop doing whatever they are doing, they will stop talking, and continue with participating the lesson. Besides
that, I also have applied reinforcement where I would do quiz time for every topics and reward them with some
stationary sets if they would get high score.This is the application of one of learning theories that I have applied
in my teaching and learning process in order to have a good communication skills with my students.

6. A behaviourist approach in teaching places emphasis in using the habitual nature of humans to expedite the
learning process. As a teacher, a means of setting up an effective and sustainable teaching environment
requires the advocating of classical conditioning. This may involve auditory, visual or kinesthetic symbols to
alert students in order to make them ready in the exposition phase of a lesson. In primary education, a pivotal
step in establishing classical conditioning is via the pre-lesson set induction. Effective methods that I have used
in my classroom include attention grabbers and simple engaging activities such as 'Who am I?', 'Rally Robin',
'Hot Seat', 'Think-Pair-Share' as well as the use of storytelling or lyrical lessons as an introduction to the lesson.
As for classroom housekeeping, kinesthetic cues are regularly used in my classroom. Examples include 'Eyes
on me, eyes on you', 'Hello - Hi' to control student focus when they are distracted or excited. Besides that, in
order to cultivate a reward based teaching environment to elicit student excitement, a reward chart is used in
my classroom. All students are divided into six permanent groups (Houses, like in Harry Potter) which are
awarded stickers for evidence of collaboration, participation and display of HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills)
in classroom interaction as well as successful completion of group projects. This is an example of positive
reinforcement, which helps motivate students to participate in a lesson. To balance it out, any violations of
basic classroom rules or wrongdoings and insubordination made by students will cost them a sticker for their
 team. This is a clear example of negative reinforcement in my classroom. In order to give value for the stickers
accumulated, a monthly 'Showdown' or 'Quiz Show' is carried out and the team in the top of the leaderboard for
that month will be rewarded with gift bags containing stationary, chocolates, 'Immunity from Punishment' cards
and other interesting and motivating rewards. In short, I believe a behaviourist approach may prove to be fruitful
in the primary ESL classroom if carried out in the right situation and suited with the context of the lesson.

7. I will establish a contract/ rule system on the work to be done and what rewards will given. The reward system
will also be used to encourage students to answer question in class. For example, I will reward the student who
answers the question correctly with a gift. Therefore, the students will volunteer themselves to answer the
question in which results in positive competition. In addition, I will provide the students with immediate and
frequent feedbacks for difficult concepts to motivate others.

8. Behaviourism is a theory that describes how people learn. It discusses how our behaviour are influenced by the
reinforcement of rules and punishments. The importance of the environment in influencing a child's learning
experience cannot be overstated. According to this notion, the environment should be set up in such a way that
the child can develop good responses. If I were a behaviourist teacher, I would use operant conditioning to set
up my classroom. In my teaching setting, I would use rewards and punishments to motivate students. For
instance, when administering a spelling test. If my pupil answered all of the questions correctly, I would give
them a star sticker. If they fail and get every word incorrectly, I will ask them to correct five times for each word
they get incorrectly. From there, we can see that a link is established between behaviour and its consequences.

9. I would use reinforcement approach in my classroom if I were a behaviorist. As behaviorist believed that all
behavior can be acquire through conditioning. Thus, in my class there will be reward and punishment. For
example, if my students are able to answer my question, he/she will acquire a star-shaped stamp in their
reward book. When they manage to acquire 10 stars, they can pick whether they want biscuits or drinks. But if
the students misbehave or disturbing their friends, their hard earned star will be deducted. Through this
conditioning, they would get the idea of how they should act in classroom.

10. If I were a behaviorist, I will prepare a book of stickers. This stickers is a sign of rewards for students. The
 students who are able to complete the classroom work and homework will get the stickers from me. First who
completed with the correct answers will get double stickers. However, the stickers will be taken away if the
students did not do their homework or exercises. At the end of the month, the students who get the most
stickers will be awarded by the teacher. As for the participation during lesson, I will divide the students into
groups so they need to give their full commitment to their group to compete with other groups. The highest
participations will be given a reward too. I believe, it is hard to control the students by using only our own voice.
We can set the rules or ways to put them to stay focused in the classroom without making a noise. As for me, I
will use signal. I will put a finger to my mouth without saying anything to the students and show it to them. Then,
the students might follow the things that we have instructed and to stay focus during the lesson.

11. If I am a behaviourist, I would set up my teaching environment by using mechanism that could help with
increasing student's motivation to stay put with the lesson in the classroom. I would love to use positive
reinforcement in order to make them feel eager and want to do the best during the lesson. As example, I would
create a reward chart where whoever able to do well in a task given, comply with good attitude or maybe
actively participated, they would receive a star from me as the teacher. At the end of the week, whoever could
collect the most stars, would be given a gift as a token of appreciation. This is one of the ways to lift up the
student's spirit, not to make them doing something for a return but it is just to show them that their attitude
could help a lot in living a good life, not only in the classroom. Besides, I believe that positive reinforcement
could lead to positive environment. Being a behaviourist, I would apply this theory to get my student's attention
to learn happily.

12. Pupils are easy distracted. For example, instead of paying their attentions to the lesson, they like to talk to their
classmates or do things on their own. If I was a behaviourist, to overcome this, I would use classical
conditioning to control my classroom. The method that I find effective to grab students' attention is clapping.
Clapping is good since it will 'swallow' all noises and students find it is a fun thing to do. The stimulus of this
classical conditioning is my signal and the response would be their clapping. Regardless the noises, I would
shout, "Okay, class. Let's clap!" and they will automatically clap their hands following the rhyme "Clap one! Clap
two! Clap three! Hushh!" and put their index finger on their lips. I use this method too when the students are
bored or sleepy.
13. If I were a behaviourist, how I setup the teaching environment is by applying both types of reinforcements either
positive or negative depending on how the students’ behaviours during class. For example, if the students did a
negative behavior, I will give punishment accordingly and I will let the other classmates to acknowledge too if
they did the same thing during my class because I want them to learn from lesson. Besides, if the students
behave positively during my class plus with completing the classwork on time, I will give a reward to the student
and I will share the student’s achievement with the class so that they know, if they behave positively or gaining
good marks, they will get something in return.

14. If I were a behaviorist, I would like to set up my teaching environment by applied reinforcement because I found
it is interesting to approach my students with a reward for their excellence performance; meanwhile, it is fair for
me to remind my students with punishment if they misbehave. I firmly believe if I can control the environment
inside my classroom it will help my students having a positive attitude to learn on that day.

15. If I were a behaviourist, I would make sure that my pupils realize about my existence in the class. That means,
when I'm in class, pupils should focus on me instead of their friends. If the class starts to get noisy (as the
pupils are talking with each other) when I am talking, I would stay quiet until the pupils realize that I want them
to look at me when I am explaining things. I would also apply reward and punishment system. In my current
school, the homework that SJKC pupils have to do is abundant. They are drilled with lots of exercises. So, I will
give them homework to complete. If they manage to complete it, I would shower them with praises and say
"Good job', 'Well done', 'Nice'. Sometimes, I would reward them with candies and small stationaries like erasers
and pencils. If they do not complete the homework in given time, I would stand in front of them. With that, it
would instill this thought they they did wrong for not completing the homework. Then, they will complete it as I'm
standing in front or beside them.

16. If I were a behaviourist, I would set up my teaching environment by applying the theory mostly during class
induction and every time I see my students are a bit out of focus. It is important for me to make sure my
students are fully prepared to receive the lesson. How am I going to do so? From my experience, before I start
my lesson, normally I, myself will stand up straight and make myself tidy in front of my students. I will not say
 anything, and I do this every single day (I have classes with them 5 days a week). In time, my students are
accustomed to it, and they repeat what I did well. It works for me as I don’t have to shout at them asking them
to keep quiet (in one way, it helps them to be more disciplined). Another example is for my Year 1 students,
before my lesson, I will raise my hand (starting with my thumb) and they will response automatically by chanting
days of week and they really enjoy that. Sometimes, I randomly raise my hand during the period just to test
them. When they are doing good deed or complete their work well, I would reward them with ‘stars’ (the ‘star’
system works well for primary students) and if it otherwise, they will not get them or the ‘stars’ will be taken
back. All in all, being a behaviourist is great in getting the classroom and students ready for both the behaviour
as well as for the lesson.

17. If I were a behaviourist, firstly I would applied classical conditioning, a behavioral training in which the students
will give a certain response towards the gestures or stimulus that were given to them. For instance, when
chaotic situation were started to occurs during the teaching and learning process especially during the game
section and so on, I will raise my hand, showed the gestures of number 1-3 and the students need to clap
according to the numbers. Using those action, they will know that they have to behave, stay calm and quiet. It
will be done repeatedly every time they started to get out of control. This technique enables me to have fully
control over the class and most importantly assist me in effectively delivering the lesson and conducting the
activities during learning process.

18. Before I initiate my class, I would like my students to keep quiet and get ready for the lesson. So, I would put
my index finger to my mouth three times. At the third, I would say 'Quiet'. The actions are to be repeated by my
students. Then, I will instruct them to sit properly and put other things aside. Another, during lesson
development the students tend to get excited during class activity or discussion, that they talk among each
other. To stop them of doing that and for me to continue the lesson, I will do a gesture of pointing my index
finger to myself by saying 'Look at me'. If some students are still talking, I would raise my hand in the air, point
to myself and say out loud 'Look at me'. Besides that, I would give my student a star for every completed work
and a praise. For mistakes in tasks, I would call upon the students names and point to them which part is wrong
and gives explanations as well as encouragement "You can do this" or "I will help you".
19. First of all, I will set some rules to my students before I start my lessons. For example, I will raise up my hands
showing them my thumbs up as a sign that I could start my lesson and they will respond the same sign to
convey that they are ready to learn. Second, If I were start talking, all of them should be in silenced. If I heard
them talking, I would immediately stop talking and make an eye contact to those students until they realized
that they have disobeyed the rules. So, I don’t have to shout their names in the class and they also understand
my responds and automatically behave well in class. So, every time I enter the class, they manage to show
their good attitudes because they have already remembered to the rules given.
Behaviourism is a theory that describes how people learn. It discusses how our behaviour are influenced by the
reinforcement of rules and punishments. The importance of the environment in influencing a child's learning
20. experience cannot be overstated. According to this notion, the environment should be set up in such a way that
the child can develop good responses. If I were a behaviourist teacher, I would use operant conditioning to set
up my classroom. In my teaching setting, I would use rewards and punishments to motivate students. For
instance, when administering a spelling test. If my pupil answered all of the questions correctly, I would give
them a star sticker. If they fail and get every word incorrectly, I will ask them to correct five times for each word
they get incorrectly. From there, we can see that a link is established between behaviour and its consequences.

21. If I am a behaviorist, my teaching environment will be a teacher-controlled environment which focusing on my

capability to predict and control students and manipulate the environment to shape my student’s behavior. I will
make connections between specific stimuli with appropriate responses and in efforts to modify the subject’s
behavior, scheduling of positive and negative reinforcements will be applied throughout lesson to further
motivate students. Some illustration of my teaching approaches in my classroom are in which I will reward
students with a sticker for each meaningful comments the student makes (continuous reinforcement). I will give
out special stickers each Thursday to students who made comments throughout the week (fixed interval
reinforcement). On a random day each week, I will give out different stickers to student who have actively
participated in classroom discussion (variable interval reinforcement). I may also reward a student with a sticker
after the students contribute three meaningful comments in classroom discussion (fixed ratio reinforcement). A
student can also receive a sticker after the student contributes three to ten meaningful comments (variable ratio
reinforcement). Similar approach with different incentives (stimulus) will be applied to further encourage my
students to succeed in their future assessments. In contrast, negative reinforcements will be applied to students
if their behavior is undesirable or required improvements. For example, if students in my class does not listen
quietly in lesson, punishments such as extra homework will be assigned to them for that night. Other example,
if students did not manage to finish their given tasks within a certain periods, breaks will be amended or they
will not receive any sticker for the day. If it comes to a more serious situation such as always making loud
noises or fighting with classmates, scolding will be done as being reprimanded or lectured is something many
students would like to avoid. With the belief that rewarded behaviors are more likely to be repeated while
punished behaviors are less likely to be repeated, my teaching environment will emphasize the students to be
engaged on the process, not simply passive listeners. Random reinforcement will be arrange and prepare
accordingly in order to adjust my student’s performance up until the goal is finally reached.