Chapter 10: Social Cognitive

Which of the learning activities/skills can you think of that lend themselves to learning through modeling?

In a preschool classroom, I believe many of the children learn through modeling. This is one of the prime-times to teach skills and activities through modeling, because children will be more apt to adjust their learning. One skill children could learn through modeling in the preschool classroom (depending on how that school functions) could be skills on how to properly serve food to oneself, and how to properly use a fork, spoon, or knife. Obviously, as the teacher, I would serve the food to myself by taking one serving of each item. I may or may not show discretion between items I like and items I don't when serving myself, but I might after "trying" each item. While eating, I would model the correct way to use my utensils; for example, not banging it on the table or plate, using the utensil to pick up food, keeping my utensil at my own plate, etc. For the very first lunch, and probably for several days, I would make my action explicit and verbally explain to the children what I am doing and why. One example might be if I were spreading jelly on a biscuit. I would explain the steps I take to transfer the jelly from the package to the biscuit and how to smooth it across the biscuit in an even layer. The main goal of all this modeling during a meal will be beneficial to teaching children skills to be self sufficient.

How might self-efficacy and self-regulation contribute to the intervention plans you use in your case study?
In the case of Willard, self-regulation would be the best solution for keeping under control his wandering behavior. Self-regulation in Willard's case should take the form of a simple checklist since he is in Kindergarten. Possibly this checklist uses a series of symbols rather than words, so that Willard knows which task he has accomplished. Since Willard likes to ask when it will be time to go outside, I would make for him a daily calender that he can keep at his desk. I would most likely make this a type of device where Willard can use dry erase markers, so the same checklist could be used everyday. On this list will be pictures of our daily routine. After each routine, Willard could mark it off as completed. He could then visually see when it is playtime, instead of constantly asking the teacher. To keep Willard on task, I might create some sort of checklist that reaps a small award. I may give Willard 5 stars to start the day off with, and each time he gets out of his seat, he loses a star. However, each day his stars can be totaled to reach a goal - which will also need to have some sort of visual representation for Willard. Once he reaches his goal, he can receive something special  (lunch with the teacher, extra free time, etc.) They will be goals do not resort to candy or really special treats of that sort. 

This is a checklist I found that is really for the teacher to send home at the end of each week (as a disclaimer, I do not agree with this checklist) but it is a general illustration of what type of list I might introduce to Willard with the side note if the adaptations i mentioned earlier. We may have to work on one behavior at a time (since he is so young). Hopefully, eventually Willard will learn to regulate his behavior without a checklist and will stay on task with his activities.