Article Response Paper

How Can We Help Our Children Succeed? Insights from the Physiological Literature
By: Barbara Rumain

Article Response Paper

Background:

According to the author, Barbra Rumain, there are general core psychological concepts: shaping of behavior, the Pygmalion effect, and self-efficacy affecting child education. Shaping of behavior is an important component of positive reinforcement/behavior modification in the classroom. Pygmalion effect is the teachers' messages and expectations, determining the success students have in learning. Self-efficacy is how students' concepts of themselves determine their success in learning.

Summary:

Rumain discusses the three concepts and stresses their significant effects on students’ education and on their behavior and performance in a class. Shaping of behavior is about shaping existing behavior which means when a student’s behavior is getting close to the desired behavior s/he is rewarded. Self-efficacy is what a student thinks of himself, and directly effecting whether s/he is capable of achieving what is required from them. With the Pygmalion effect or teacher’s expectations and messages: students live up to the teacher’s expectations and the messages the teachers’ send to them. She discuses how applying these concepts correctly, gives students an advantage; while misusing and misunderstanding them, reflects negatively on these students. These principles make influential statements about what makes students succeed or fail in learning.

Discussion:

The author presented important concepts that affect the students’ performance, abilities, and success on different levels. In each concept, Rumain has demonstrated good points and examples, which I agree with. I think the teacher plays the most important role in encouraging the students and motivating them to learn and accomplish their best. In addition, students perform better when they see that the teacher is fair and is sincere in the way s/he acts with the students (Barry, 2005). If a teacher does not know how to deal with a certain situation, s/he might drastically influence this student in a way that might affect him throughout his whole life.

Just as in the example of David, who by the third week, was feeling hopeless and frustrated, and had lower performance, because the teacher used a uniform requirement for the whole class. The teacher should have encouraged/rewarded him when she saw a simple improvement in his performance. If she had used such encouragements-each one based on their own prior performance-then David would not have been deprived from feeling successful. This is Shaping of Behavior, which is an important concept. Teachers often do not recognize what they are doing, and how they are affecting the performance of their students (Barry, 2005).

This article is definitely related to the teachers in Lebanon. Teachers in public elementary schools, especially, do not motivate students. They actually make them believe that since they are in public elementary schools, they are not capable of achieving anything in their lives. Students translate this into not being successful. These students will grow up believing that is true. Here the teachers should work on boosting the students’ self-efficacy. I think this is the most important concept: Self-Efficacy. Teachers come and go, and the effect they have on you comes and goes with them, if you are self-confident in your abilities and motivated to over-come obstacles that you will face. Even if one has a problem with a particular teacher, but feels motivated and capable in achieving goals, then s/he will succeed. It is crucial that the students believe in themselves, if they are going to succeed. How s/he thinks of himself will be reflected in their performance.

The Pygmalion effect, or the teacher’s expectation is another important concept. The minute teachers come to class, they form an impression of each student. They act according to that first impression throughout the whole year. The teacher’s view of the student, based on impressions they build, can significantly determine the progress the student will make (Tauber, 1998). If it were a positive one, then that would work in the student’s benefit. However, if it were negative, it does not matter if it is true or not, it could have devastating effects on the student. When teachers label students as "cooperative”, or "a scholar" (Tauber, 1998) from first impressions, they send positive messages to these students which aid the student in filling these expectations by reinforcement and motivation from the teacher.
Teachers send powerful messages to students. They tell them what they expect from them. With time, these messages will become a part of the student’s behavior and performance.

 
Conclusion:

Teachers in class form expectations from first impressions, then act accordingly with the students, which directly influences their behavior in class (Tauber, 1998). Teachers must be flexible to surpass impressions they get of students and be resourceful in their methods to help students succeed. Teachers must be able to reinforce students correctly (behavior shaping), give them the opportunity to experience success (teachers’ expectation), so that they gain that “I am able to do that” thinking (self-efficacy). In short, teachers should come to class believing that all students are equal in their ability to perform the best, so they are able to treat all the students in the same way and not favor one more than the other based on first impressions because first impressions can be misleading, and often not correct.


References:
Tauber, R. (1998). Good or Bad, What Teachers Expect from Students They Generally Get!      .     ….                          ERIC Digest

Barry, J. (2006). The Effect of Socioeconomic Status on Academic Achievement. Department of              .                          Sociology