TEACHING STRATEGIES FOR EFFECTIVELY USING OBSERVATIONAL LEARNING

1.Think about what type of model you will present to students:

Every day, hour after hour, students will watch and listen to what you say and do. Just by being around you, students will absorb a great deal of information. They will pick up your good or bad habits, your expectations for their high or low achievement, your enthusiastic or bored attitude, your controlled or uncontrolled manner of dealing with stress, your learning style, your gender attitudes, and many other aspects of your behavior.

2.Demonstrate and teach new behaviors:

Demonstrating means that you, the teacher, are a model for your students' observational learning. Demonstrating how to do something, such as solve a math problem, read, write, think, control anger, and perform physical skills, is a common teacher behavior in classrooms. For example, a teacher might model how to diagram a sentence, develop a strategy for solving algebraic equations, or shoot a basketball. When demonstrating how to do something, you need to call students' attention to the levant details of the learning situation. Your demonstrations o should be clear and follow a logical sequence.

Observational learning can especially be effective in aching new behaviors. The first time students are required to arn how to multiply, to solve an algebraic equation, to write a ragraph with a topical sentence, or to give an effective talk, y benefit from watching and listening to a competent model.

3.Think about ways to use peers as effective models:

The teacher is not the only model in the classroom. As with teachers, children can pick up their peers' good and bad habits, high or low achievement orientations, and so on through observational learning. Remember that students are often motivated to imitate high-status models. Older peers usually have higher status than same-age peers. Thus, a good strategy is to have older peers from a higher grade model how to engage in the behaviors you want your students to perform. For students with low abilities or who are not performing well, a low-achieving student who struggles but puts considerable effort into learning and ultimately performs the behaviors can be a good model.

4.Think about ways that mentors can be used as models:

Students and teachers benefit from having a mentor someone they look up to and respect, someone who serves as a competent model, someone who is willing to work with them and help them achieve their goals. As a teacher, a potential mentor for you is a more experienced teacher, possibly someone who teaches down the hall and has had a number of years of experience in dealing with some of the same problems and issues you will have to cope with.

In the Quantum Opportunities program, students from low-income backgrounds significantly benefited from meeting with a mentor over a four-year- period. These mentors modeled appropriate behavior and strategies, gave sustained support, and provided guidance. Just spending a few hours a week with a mentor can make a difference in a student's life, especially if the student's parents have not been good role models.

5.Evaluate which classroom guests will provide good models for students:

Who else would be beneficial models for your students? To change the pace of classroom life for you and your students, invite guests who have something meaningful to talk about or demonstrate. Spend some time locating competent models in the community. Invite them to come to your classroom to demonstrate and discuss their skills. This can't be arranged, set up field trips in which you take students to see them where they are working or performing.

6. Consider the models children observe on television,videos, and computers:

Students observe models when they watch television programs, videos, films, or computer screens in your classroom. The principles of observational learning we described earlier apply to these media. For example, the extent to which the students perceive. The media models as high or low in status, intriguing or boring, and so on will influence the extent of their observational learning. It is important to monitor children's TV watching to ensure that they are not being exposed to too many negative models, especially violent ones.