Behavioral Theories of Learning

Whenever I think of my students, I think of my experiences as a child and what helped me. The behavioral theories that I read about from "Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice" By. Robert E. Slavin are extremely important because without a positive learning environment children will not learn to their fullest potential. My goal as a teacher is for my students to get the best experience in the classroom. One of the reasons why I decided to become a Montessori teacher is because I wanted my students to become motivated based on their individual growth/achievement in the classroom. I was sick of taking things away such as points, assigning extra credit, providing motivations such as pizza/ice cream parties. I wanted my students to focus on their work and to love learning and working. Montessori allows me to provide that environment because there are not as many grades as in a traditional school. My students get to focus on their work and work to the best of their ability. They understand natural consequences too because if the classroom environment isn't one for learning due to their excessive talking then the quality of their work will suffer. Natural consequences enable my students to understand the importance of their own individual behavior and how it can impact their performance.