Teachers As Whale Trainers
How and why to apply positive and negative reinforcement strategies in the classroom to improve learning outcomes and build relationships.
(Names and some descriptions have been changed to protect privacy.)
It’s the last week of school before summer break, and the students, who at this point have survived a year and a half of learning in the midst of a pandemic, are buzzing with even more excitement than usual.
I’m standing outside the door greeting students with “Only four days left!” or “You’ve almost made it!” when I notice one of my former students, Ellie, bounding down the hallway towards my classroom.
“Mrs. Thune!” she exclaims, almost out of breath from her run across campus. “I have something for you!”
As she rips open her backpack, I start to deliver my typical speech to students that go out of their way to show me kindness: “Oh, Ellie, that is so sweet; thank you! You didn’t have to get me anything. I just appreciate — ”
“Here it is!” Ellie interrupts, placing a book in my hands. “I saw it on Amazon and immediately thought of you. I got a copy for myself, too, so we could read it together.”
Whale Done! the cover declared. Two killer whales were pictured jumping over the subtitle: The Power of Positive Relationships.
“It’s about how trainers at SeaWorld get the whales to jump using positive reinforcement,” Ellie explained. “They try to catch the whales doing something good so they keep getting better. It’s just like how you were with us freshman year!”
Although I’m aware of the controversy surrounding captive orcas (not to mention the recent backlash against SeaWorld), I appreciated Ellie’s generosity. What’s more, I was struck by the fact a student had picked up on my most important — and effective — classroom management technique: the deliberate application of positive and negative reinforcement.
As someone who had previously misunderstood these terms before undertaking a graduate degree in applied behavior analysis, I’m compelled to clarify that positive reinforcement is the addition of a stimulus to increase future emissions of a target behavior. To provide an example from my own classroom, I might high-five a student after he revises an essay. In this case, the added stimulus (the high-five) is given after a specific behavior (revising an essay) to encourage the student to revise his next essay.
While negative reinforcement is often equated with “punishment,” it’s actually the removal of an aversive stimulus to increase future emissions of a target behavior. Here’s another real-life scenario: I recently exempted a student from an upcoming grammar assignment after she demonstrated mastery of the skill on a pre-assessment. In this case, the aversive stimulus (the upcoming grammar assignment) was removed after a specific behavior (demonstrating mastery of the skill) to encourage the student to demonstrate mastery of subsequent skills.
If you’re an educator or parent, you’re probably already using positive and negative reinforcement strategies on a daily — if not hourly — basis. The fact of the matter is that you don’t have to be an expert on Skinner’s principles of radical behaviorism to apply this concept to reward specific behaviors you want to see repeated. Below are just a few simple ways in which teachers, in particular, can purposefully implement positive and negative reinforcement procedures in their own classrooms to improve learning outcomes and create a culture of trust and mutual respect.
But how should teachers respond to students that “misbehave”? First, they should consider that research indicates reinforcement procedures are more effective than punishment procedures. To use Ellie’s words, teachers should constantly be on the lookout to “catch” students “doing something good” — and more importantly, reward students for demonstrating those behaviors. Something as simple as saying in front of the class, “I really appreciate how Isaac is rereading the text,” goes a long way not only in clarifying the specific behaviors you want students to demonstrate, but also in developing a supportive environment in which your students are more likely to innovate.
When the “misbehaviors” do happen, Blanchard, the author of Whale Done! offers a practical solution: provide redirection. In their research on classroom management strategies, Jones, Jones, & Vermette (2013) contend that “[i]n many instances, facial movement, body posture and other non-verbal signals are enough to correct inappropriate, off-task behavior” (p. 25). Here’s an even better way to redirect. Imagine you have a student who’s attempting to instigate an off-task conversation with a peer. Instead of using the (likely ineffective) command, “Emily, be quiet and focus,” you can redirect the student’s desire to talk by asking her a question. “Emily, I was just reading your response to Jaden’s post in yesterday’s discussion forum. Can you tell me a little more about what you mean when you said…?”
Ultimately, like SeaWorld trainers, we’re helping our students jump higher and higher until they surpass even their own expectations — and along the way, we’re building positive relationships that could change the trajectory of their educational experience. Although I’m not about to show up to school in a wetsuit, I’m happy to be training my students to gain the academic and social-emotional skills that will benefit them in English class and beyond.
