TOPIC
The best way to teach is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones.
Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the recommendation and explain your reasoning for the position you take. In developing and supporting your position, describe specific circumstances in which adopting the recommendation would or would not be advantageous and explain how these examples shape your position.

RESPONSE
Although there is some merit to the statement that the best way to teach is praise positive actions and to ignore negative actions, I only agree to it when speaking of in it certain circumstances. This essay will discuss the extent of my agreeance with this statement through understanding "teaching" as using attention as a reinforcer to increase the likelihood of a behaviour, as well as the circumstances in which this statement may or may not hold true.

Firstly, if we are to discuss teaching as using methods to produce mastery of a certain set of behaviours or tasks in another individual, then what a teacher's role is to increase the likelihood of these behaviours/set of behaviours to happen again. In this way, you can use the psychological understading of conditioning to understand that reinforcers are things given to a student after a behaviour is done to increase the likelihood of that behaviour happening again. Attention is gernally a powerful reinforcer amongst humans and other animals that is used in many behaviour therapies that will increase the likelihood of a positive or wanted behaviour to happen again. For example, in my role as an Instructor Therapist (IT), which uses a form of behavioural therapy, I give my attention to the behaviours that I want my students to display more, such as saying "please" when asking for something, or when engaging in approprate communication techniques (speaking, or using communicative technology if they are non-verbal) for a desired item. In this respect, I also ignore mal-adaptive or negative behaviours that I do not want the students to display, such as them hitting another person instead of using their communicative tool or words to say "stop." It is important to note though, that although I am delegating my attention to the postiive behaviour, I am not fully ignoring the negative one. I am acknowledging without reacting, and shwoing increased attention and follow through of demand when appropriate behaviour of the student is displayed.

Secondly, it may be that certain circumstances will require that negative actions to have attention paid to them. For example, when providing a student constructive criticism so that they can furhter develop their skills. This would have to be used at the teachers discretion as to what degree they wil focus on the positive versus negative set of actions that the student presents. For example, if a student who is realtively shy is asked to speak in front of the class, and stammers when they talk, it would not serve the student for the teacher to discuss with them how they need to increase the fluidity in which they speak. The teacher instead can focus on the positive aspects, like the student taking a risk and being able to get valid ideas out to the class, then offer them advice on how to increase their confidence when speaking in front of others. In this way, seemingly negative attention is being focused on, but the attention given to is paired with attention to positive actions as well, and will serve to increase the skills of the student.

In conclusion, attention should be used at the discretion of the teacher to ensure that their students can flouish in thie r classrom,