IP&T 301 Week 6

1. When I was in first grade, I was spinning in the swing and the recess teacher made me sit on the bench for the rest of recess. My response was that I never spun in the swing again. :( At home, I learned that if I fought with my siblings, I got sent to my room.
   
2. I remember getting to go out to lunch with my teacher for getting a high score on a certain number of spelling tests. I also remember getting little awards for good citizenship when I did something nice for another student in elementary school.
   
3. I could see myself using interval schedules to teach wanted behavior. When a student is working on an assignment or working especially well with his classmates for a certain amount of time, I would definitely want to acknowledge that behavior with praise. I would definitely want to stick with a variable schedule so my students would not know when the praise is coming. That way, the praise will be more genuine and students will respond to it more.
   
4. I believe that behaviorism contradicts the ultimate goal and purpose of our Father in Heaven. He wants us to use our agency and choose joy and charity and righteousness because of our love for Him and our desire to serve Him and our fellow man. He wants us to be motivated intrinsically—by what is truly in our hearts. However, this state of choosing righteousness for righteousness' sake is something that we all are working towards, and I also feel that our Heavenly Father uses His own type of "reinforcements" and "punishments" to point us toward that ultimate goal. For example, He will withdraw His Spirit when we sin (negative punishment) to teach us to repent and keep His commandments. That being said, I see a big difference between the Lord's use of reinforcement and punishment to the behaviorists. Heavenly Father more often than not uses feelings rather than concrete things to teach us. Also, He is using them to help us eventually choose righteousness because that is what we truly desire, not because we want to avoid punishment or receive blessings.