Personal Educational Philosophy - Essay Example

Vicarious reinforcement is indirect reinforcement and does not come from without. It comes from the person himself so that it is also called self-reinforcement. Imitation and modeling as the terms suggest simple mean that a person learns what he sees. Models particularly are imitated. The model could be a parent, a teacher, peer, basketball star or even I whose behavior is imitated. My impact as a teacher being a role model in the classroom cannot be overemphasized. This is true in all aspects of learning that range from mechanical speech learning to the more complex learning of values.

No matter how good I am on the theories of good speech if I do not talk well, the learners may not learn to talk correctly. In like manner, a good discourse on moral values like honesty will not do any good if the learners are witnesses of dishonesty in the classroom and in bigger society. Most observational learning studies have been focused on films and television shows. In fact, the researches of Bandura and Walters on observational learning included exposures of the experimental groups to films.

Aside from this, I also adhere to Bandura's different models. Environmental model refers to the observations made of sexual reproduction among domestic animals like dogs, cats, chickens, and other including plants like vegetables and fruits. Parental instruction model . Also included in this category are the peer groups through teasing, conversation, cursing, etc. Cultural model refers to the use of folk tales in order to illustrate the concept of size, the normative and "don't's" in verbal reference to sex; the use of language to identify basic elements of social organizations.

The foregoing results reveal the modeling role of parents and peers which become especially important within the context of parents and teachers as authorities. In a society where children are left more and more with their peers, the latter's modeling could lead to more imitative sex-related and other forms of behaviors. In social or observational learning, Bandura emphasized four subprocesses; namely, attention, retention, motoric reproduction, and reinforcement. For any observational learning to occur, I believe that the model stimulus must be attended to.

What has been observed must be retained if the model's behavior is to exert influence even after a period of time. Imitation follows only if the individual had motoric reproduction or actually imitated the behavior of the model. The last, reinforcement is internal rather than external. In this Bandura states that reinforcement is a motivational factor rather than a strengthening factor. Social learning theory seemingly explains many of our behaviors. The way we talk and walk - our gestures - many have been learned from the models that we have been exposed to.

No wonder, children talk like their parents and resemble those of their parents. Friends, too, behave similarly. The social learning theory points out the crucial influence of television, radio, movies, and other forms of mass media which are fertile sources of models for