Behaviourism works, but that doesn't mean it works in education

I've seen a lot of talk on social media about taking down behaviour charts, and I've made this comment in a few of those spaces- if behaviour charts worked, then we wouldn't need to use them in every grade every year. Because, what is the purpose of behaviour charts? To make students behave, right? So, to me, the obvious question is, if it makes them behave, then wouldn't they be a short-lived thing? Because they would all have learned to behave? It isn't just behaviour charts, but it's all of these things we use to get our students to behave. We try to bribe them with pizza parties, pajama days, cookies, anything. "If we fill this jar with marbles we will get a free movie day!" One could argue they work, because eventually that marble jar gets filled and we give them whatever we promised. But then we start all over again. And again.. and the next year it is the same thing. I ask you, then, "do they really work?"

We once had staff from another school come and talk to ours about this "school wide initiative" they instituted. Basically it was a behaviour chart for the entire school. They gave out frisbees, they gave out pizza tickets, they had a big fair at the end of the year. They praised those kids up one side and down the other. They had a great year! It was all too good! Our admin at the time was all gung-ho for this idea. But then the question was asked (and, yes, I admit it was me who asked it...), "How about this new year? Did those positive behaviours transfer over?" While they did try to put a positive spin on it, the answer was, "Not really." 

Many classroom management programs are nothing more than a behaviouristic approach. Pavlov, Skinner, and Behaviourism at its best/worst. If students do what we want, we give them a reward! The trouble is, they learn to work for a reward, and not for intrinsic motivation. It is a system that doesn't trust the student or their intellect, but relies merely on the external control of the educator.

Do students enjoy the routine and appreciate the predictable-ness of the reward? Sure do (and we'll come back to this idea later)! But do they, in turn, take that into their lives? Do the positive gains in behaviours extend to the next year? Into their out of school lives? I've never seen that happen in real time. If it did, then why would the next years teacher need to do the same thing?

Better, I believe, is putting the onus on the student to be a responsible member of the classroom. Better, in my opinion, is it that we allow students to have control over their own behaviour. Better, in my opinion, is to approach our students from a surplus mindset rather than a deficit one. If we think about the students in our class as humans who want to do well, and we act on that, we will begin to see that in them. Not every student has perfect behaviour, nor will they ever. But that's when we deal with that behaviour in a one-on-one way rather than a whole class or in front of a whole class.

This is an example of putting a mark on the paper. This was a student who was struggling with hitting other students rather than using a more appropriate method. He became very aware of how many times he was hitting because of this- and he did change his behaviour

One idea that I have been using for many years is having a child who is consistently behaving in a way that isn't conducive to a classroom community is by having them put a mark on a piece of paper every time I have had to speak to them. It seems ridiculous, way too simple, but, guess what? It works nine times out of ten. We may have to revisit this method at different times throughout  the year (I do teach kindergarten, after all), but what I find is, they don't take nearly as long to change their behaviour. The magic of this idea is that it makes a student aware of how many times they do whatever it is they are doing. So many times, they just really aren't aware of how many times they have to be spoken to. This method makes them very aware, and usually that is what it takes to make a change. 

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Classroom management is also about the attitude of the teacher. When I view my students at the beginning of the year as a group of individuals who will become a community, and I communicate this to them, they buy into the idea. We do a lot of talking about working together, talking out our problems, being a family. We read a lot of books about this. It is the main conversation throughout the month of September, and into the rest of the year.

Getting students to work together in a socially acceptable way takes work and it takes time, but when we approach it from this surplus perspective, it pays off in dividends. It creates a class of students who have empathy, who stand up for each other (even if they do argue in the classroom, haha). It creates a group of students who care about each other, and themselves. 

Now that I have made my own case against behaviour charts and the fact that they are nothing more than good old fashioned behaviourism, I am going to through a curve-ball out there: there are times when behaviourism does work!

Yes, I said that. There is definitely a place for behaviourism in our lives. When I workout, I do the same warm-up exercises, and my body relaxes into the workout. When I finish my run, I do the same stretches, and I can feel my body and my brain relax and calm down. It is the same as when I go for a run on a familiar trail. My body knows where it's going, and for how long, so it is much easier to relax into the run because I know what I am doing. I'm not spending my time wondering, "how much longer" because I already know.

I have routines I do every day. They help me order an unpredictable world. I take comfort in those routines, and when I cannot take part in them, I miss them. My day doesn't feel complete. During the school year, my morning routine is the same every day. I wake up early to work out, then I make my lunch, and I sit and drink my coffee and scroll through the internet. Finally I get ready for my day. In the evenings it's a bit of a reverse. I plan what I will wear ahead of time, what I will eat, and where I will run or walk. These routines are good for my mental health. 

In my opinion, the role of behaviourism in our lives is about helping us to make our days more orderly, not about learning to behave the way someone else wants us to. It may work on dogs, and it may work on humans for a time. But what happens when the reward is taken away? The hope is that the "positive behaviour" will continue. But if we are only doing it for a reward, then when it is gone, we will return to our old patterns. Think about those diets we have all been on. We lose the weight, but put it back on. Why? Because we worked for the reward, but didn't understand how to maintain it without a goal. When we learn to get our motivations from within, then we are better positioned to sustain the end result.

So, while I agree behaviourism works, I don't agree that it can be used to help educate our children because I don't believe it creates the intrinsic motivation needed to sustain the goal. Behaviourism helps us order our lives, but it shouldn't help us order our classrooms.