Chapter 10 Social Cognitivism

What: Basically chapter 10 covers how behavior is cognitively constructed. The chapter covers three major points: the power of observation, the role of control, and the importance of motivation.
Observation is discussed through modeling, as the chapter defines modeling to be a person who demonstrates a behavior for someone else. "Students learn many academic skills, at least in part, by observing what others do" (350). There are many ways that people learn and react to something from a model; a major example of modeling behavior in the classroom is the direct instruction model.
The role of control is explained as how people can be masters of their environments, such as self-regulations that lead to personal goals. People can often choose the activities in which they participate, thereby controlling the particular experiences they have. When people (or in my case students) observe models demonstrating certain behaviors, they can control what and if they learn by paying attention and by encoding what the see in particular ways. Furthermore, controlling oneself leads to a more independent life, where the individual seeks their own goals by evaluating themselves with personal reinforcement after.
The importance of motivation is explained as to consciously choose certain activities, work hard at them, and persist in the face of failure-- or in other words the individual must have high self-efficacy to truly have solid motivation. Ultimately, an individual must have control and motivation to essentially take charge of their own motivation.

So What?
Obviously as a teacher, modeling and motivating is a very important aspect of the job description. It is essential to model behavior that is directed toward students in a way that will enhance their learning -- obviously students wont learn from a model who is not respected, thus the teacher (me) must have the students respect and attention to show them modeling behavior. Also, as a teacher, I think it is important to teach our students how to develop and regulate their personal self-regulative life style -- as a secondary teacher this aspect is HUGE to helping our students achieve independence for life after high school.

Now What?
Modeling is a natural ability for most adults (at least with somethings) and it should be a natural skill as a teacher. The best example of teaching through modeling is the lesson plan of Direct Instruction, which in jest give the students a model then allows the students to later practice the modeled behavior. Although, as a teacher, I will not need to plan a full out direct instruction plan to model behavior, it is a lesson plan that I will use when I want to show my students how or what to do.