The Office - The Jim Trains Dwight
Posted Feb 06, 2007Using Pavlov's teaching theory, Jim teaches Dwight to want mints.
Cat chapter finished.
Horse chapter commenced.
My editor said last week, "You've hit your stride." Ed said, "No, you've hit your sprint."
resolution: I am reforming my work habits.
I feel confident I can do this because between the last book and this one I reformed half my work habits. So it can be done.
Next time I'm reforming the other half.
...........................
Clicker training is going to be one of those life-altering discoveries, I'm thinking. Andrew needs clicker training pronto, and I'm trying to figure out whether I could use it to teach C. how to factor trinomials in the form of ax^2+bx+c. Seriously. I'm pretty sure this is possible.
I wonder if you can clicker train yourself.
When I was in college we "trained" our professor to lecture sitting down. Every time he lectured standing we would all begin to slouch in our chairs, yawn, look away, doodle etc. We did this in a slow and subtle way. When he sat down and began to lecture we would scoot forward in our seats as well as lean forward, give direct eye contact as well as smiles and nods. We had him consistently lecturing from his chair in about 6 classes. Curious about the class? Psychology- he was impressed and we all learned about Skinner first hand.
ReplyDeleteYou really did that??
ReplyDeleteI've heard those stories for years, but I never met anyone who actually did it.
I once tried to train my boyfriend, who was a competitive boaster, to stop bragging by looking away every time he did it.
ReplyDeleteFinally he said, "What are you doing?"
I suppose that story doesn't bode well for the possibility of me clicking A. & C. into shape.
ReplyDeleteOur batty boxer is bell trained. She drives us crazy with the bells. We keep bells hanging from the doorknob and she rings them when she needs to go out for a potty break. She'll also ring them frantically (actually violently) if we're late with dinner or breakfast. If she wants fresh water in the bowl, she rings the bell and walks away from the door so that she can push the bowl around. Sometimes, she rings them because she's bored or saw a squirrel or turkey outside and she wants to hunt it down (which she's not allowed to do, of course).
ReplyDeleteSo actually, my family has been bell trained by the dog.
A variant of clicker training -- extensively applied to people -- is what you're looking for with Andrew. It's called "TAG teaching" (teaching with acoustical guidance) and is very exciting stuff.
ReplyDeleteHere's the site:
www.tagteach.com
It has multiple applications for people with autism, as it minimizes language and communicates directly with the nervous system. It's widely used in sports. Check it out.
And yes, you can clicker train yourself. You don't use an actual clicker, but you can use other secondary reinforcers. Karen Pryor gives examples in "Don't Shoot the Dog."
I had a similar experience to Jane Deau shaping others' behavior. I shared this story a few months ago in a private group, and I can't get it to format properly here (sorry).
ReplyDeleteIn the fall of 1996 I was administratively moved (due to a computer error) from a very high-performing, community based elementary school (where I fully expected to stay forever) to a horrific, urban jungle middle school. On my first day in the new school, while checking the mailboxes in the staff room, another (relatively senior) person
came in to get his mail. I smiled and said, "Hi, I'm So-and-so, I'm new here," and attempted to shake hands. My new colleague glared at me, snarled and said , "F*** off" and stomped away.
I was stunned -- but not for long. Not only this individual, but several others -- I called them the Gang of Four -- behaved exactly the same way. They were rude, vulgar, harassed newcomers (and others on staff they disliked for whatever reason) and even went beyond harassment to some activities which were clearly illegal and I will not elaborate on. Alas for me, these four were all on my wing. I had to pass them -- and their taunts and insults -- regularly. The school was a tough enough environment as it was, and this kind of behavior (which I had naively never even imagined existed among fellow staff members) depressed me. I found myself entering by the back door to avoid them.
Within a couple of weeks I began to pull myself together and I remembered Karen Pryor's story in Don't Shoot The Dog! about a young woman who married a selfish, demanding boor, and whose father -- quelle surprise - was equally
offensive and who lived with them. The young woman's mother was horrified when she visited the newlyweds, but her daughter reassured her: "Don't worry, Mom, I'll shape them up. Wait and see." As KP tells the story, the
next year, the mom was amazed to see these two selfish layabouts transformed into courteous, solicitous and helpful domestic partners. She went on to explain how the young woman had gradually shaped civil behavior in these
two.
I took the example to heart, and began systematically reinforcing my colleagues. At first, I shaped only the absence of abuse and profanity. I made a point of walking by their rooms, making eye contact, and greeting each one my name with a friendly smile. If I got opprobrious epithets, or
"the finger," I ignored it and continued on my way, but if there was a grunt or noncommital remark, I stopped and gave the person my full attention,
smiled and asked some open-ended question or made a general positive
comment. I found that real attention is a powerful reinforcer for most normal adults. How many people REALLY listen to us in the course of a day, and are genuinely interested in what we have to say? Not many. Of course, one has to make sure that the feedback one gives people is very specific,
and true as well. I found I could safely say things like, Wow, you put a lot of work into this project, or That was a really creative way of integrating such and such into the geography unit. Over a period of
several months, these hostile, negative people became warm, friendly, waved at me in the halls, asked me into their rooms to show me stuff, sent me
jokes by email -- incredible! They continued to treat others on staff the same malicious way, however (in other words, the behavior did not generalize beyond me -- but it sure made MY life easier!)
I stayed at that school another three years and they got friendlier and friendlier over time. I was even a little sad to say goodbye when I changed schools. Since then I have managed to use the same principles on colleagues who needed a little encouragement to take up
effective instructional practices or to do them more consistently;-) Not only does it "work," it smooths the path of social interactions generally.
A by-product of looking for the good in people all the time (in order to reinforce it) -- you like them more and THAT has bi-directional reinforcing
properties.
Yes, we did. Small college and a small sized class made this possible for us. Hey, was activity based learning?
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteClicker trainer Debi Davis clicker trained herself to knit. From http://www.clickertraining.com/node/37:
ReplyDelete"After a marvelous clicker session with my service dog, I used TAGteach (the human-human equivalent of clicker training with our animals) to teach myself to knit. Confusing stitch patterns I'd avoided trying due to frustration were now broken down into tiny steps, and I used a cutback box clicker in my mouth to TAG myself through every difficult stitch. Before I knew it, I had painlessly created six full inches of a pattern I had failed to master many times before."
This is fantastic!
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think about clicker training math -- not sure what I mean, but it seems to me there's an application.
One thing about this approach: it strongly reinforces & reminds you of the need to break tasks down to parts a person can actually do.
I was making that mistake again a couple of days ago trying to get C. in shape for a test on factoring trinomials.
I managed to correct myself pretty quickly, but I started out all wrong.