Planning on Purpose

At the risk of sounding way too cute given our discussion of training marine life, I am, indeed, a fish out of water in this course.  Michael commented that I was quiet initially in the discussion this week.  This is multi-factorial:

1.     The coffee that made me late had not kicked in.

2.     My typical learning environment is very different from the one utilized in this course.  I am learning how to learn in a new classroom structure.  My bias is to observe first, talk later when something is new.

3.     I am pursuing a specialization in college teaching as an extension of my PhD requirements.  While I am an expert in the field of pediatric physical therapy, I am a novice when it comes to education.  Again, with all the new…I tend to listen first and speak second.

These factors established, I will attempt to superficially explore a remark made during the conversation this week.  When discussing my husband’s errant parking, I offered a strategy for correcting his behavior.  (“Correcting” is the precise term here rather than “changing”.  He was, after all, wrong.)  Michael remarked that I was suggesting a planned scenario when really I needed to wait for the desired behavior to occur, then reinforce it.

This is the point that I have been considering.  Given that I am unfortunately ignorant within this realm, I did not have much to say in real time on the matter.  But, I am ready to toss out some thoughts.  I look forward to correction on these points as needed.

At first, I was wondering if the distinction being made was that when training behavior, we wait.  When training for learning, we plan.  When I have my PT hat on, I have a treatment plan for a session and overall plan of care.  When I have my teacher hat on, I have a syllabus and lesson plans.  Is it different when it comes to behavior?  I am going to suggest that it is not.

When it comes to professional marine life animal trainers, Sutherland describes extensive binders of training plans (Sutherland, 2008).  Trainers break down behavior into approximations that move from basic to complex as animals learn desired skills.  While there is an element of waiting for the desired behavior to occur, this process is far from being without a plan.  Trainers are setting up an environment in which those approximations are very likely to occur.  In fact, they are also setting up circumstances where undesired behaviors are impossible to occur.  Planning and anticipating are critically important to the process of behavior training.

I found a statement that connects the trainers’ strategy with teaching humans.  “Establishing the appropriate classroom environment facilitate[s] student learning and engagement” (Peer & Martin, 2005).  This statement includes the three elements that I am considering here: (1) behavior in the form of engagement; (2) learning; and (3) planning, which is the work needed to establish the environment.  There is clearly interplay between teaching and learning, which involves intentional planning.

The following excerpt further illustrates the need for careful planning by teachers to support all students in their learning process:

"Consequently, it is essential that teachers scaffold the development of students’ self-efficacy and skill development in self-regulating their learning, as part of classroom instruction. A key challenge for teachers, therefore, is to translate self-regulated learning theory into classroom practice which engages all learners, including the least confident and motivated." (Fletcher, 2016)

While I cannot as a therapist, parent, wife, or teacher force behavior to occur, I can intentionally plan environments and circumstances that make desired learning and behavior very likely to occur.

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Fletcher, A. K. (2016). Exceeding expectations: scaffolding agentic engagement through assessment as learning. Educational Research, 58(4), 400–419.

Peer, K. S., & Martin, M. (2005). The Learner-Centered Syllabus: From Theory to Practice in Allied Health Education. The Internet Journal of Allied Health Sciences and Practice, 3(2).

Sutherland, A. (2008). What Shamu Taught Me about Life, Love, and Marriage. New York: Random House Trade Paperbacks.