Comments from Participants

Joan (reading from chat): Teacher is clear. Student looks at teacher for reinforcement.

Joan: I thought it was interesting to see that he looks at me for reinforcement, but he also looks at me to see what’s coming next. You can see him starting to do something and then waiting, looking, seeing what the tag point is going to be and then continuing. So he is very focused on what it is we are asking him to do.

Martha: This shows how you are working on swimming skills, but you’re also building attending behaviors, because he’s looing back and forth, so he’s giving you eye contact and he’s learning to check back.

Joan (reading from chat): Teresa (Lewin) also says nice obervation skills by teacher.

Joan: Thank you

Joan (reading from chat): Great behavior modification and great to have a helper – good job Jen!

Joan: Yes, Jen is very patient. I just noticed that we made this video in 2009!

Joan (reading from chat): From Jennifer Shryock: Awesome! Beautiful exchange. Nice shifting to meet learner’s comfort level.

Joan: Yes. I think a really important point is always to be watching the child, observing what he is doing and changing your criteria based on what he is showing. 

Theresa McKeon: We talked about this earlier, watching and looking for small behaviors. Go back and watch this over and over again and you will see why Joan shifts her criteria. You’ll see him start to look away, you’ll start to see him get more comfortable, he starts to talk. People often ask, when do I change the tag point, when do I move forward? And if you learn to watch the behavior of your students, you will find all kinds of clues. I think Joan is just pretty natural at that without even recognizing it. But that’s very important.

Joan: Camille also pointed out that we moved back and forth to the previous tag point when the child did not complete the target behavior. That was one of the things we were hoping that people would pick up on. When he makes a mistake there are several times in this video where he didn’t get a tag, and it’s just no big deal. If a child makes a mistake and doesn’t get the tag, nothing happens he just self-assess and tries again. 

Theresa McKeon: I think it is really important, that we think of marking a behavior and not a child. That’s why coming up with a tag point is a great idea, because it helps the teacher shift their concentration from “my child did something right” or “my child did something wrong” to: A behavior happened or a behavior didn’t happen. To the learner, that can often be important.

Joan: Right, yes, exactly.

Joan: We also heard from Shubata who says “Wow excellent video. Is it possible to provide differential reinforcement?” I am not exactly sure what that question means. We are differentially reinforcing by reinforcing selected behaviors from among the behaviors that we see. I am not sure it that is the answer to the question. Please write to me some more and we will talk about this again later.

Joan: Jen says, “They self assess. The student self-assesses, but also the teacher readjusts”.

Joan: This is true. It’s a back and forth. It’s a relationship. It’s not the teacher doing something to the student or trying to get the student to comply. It’s like a dance, a back and forth, and the child is completely in control of the situation. They are also a full partner in their learning, which makes it fun for everybody.