BehavCogHum Approach to Teaching

By Mimi Nissim
College of Education
Long Island University, C. W. Post
March, 2011

I wish there was a way to mix the behavioral, cognitive, and humanistic approach to teaching. Each approach individually seems to be so extreme but combining all three would be perfect. Personally, I only like certain aspects of each approach. In the future, I hope to create my own unique teaching style by taking bits and pieces from each and forming a new and improved teaching method. I am more of a traditional type of person so I can relate to the behavioral approach. By using positive reinforcement, I would motivate my students to promote behavioral change and I like the rewards system using stars or stickers to show them that they are doing a good job.

At the same time, the cognitive approach is also very useful in that you can relate new information to knowledge that they already know. When students see how new information in applicable to everyday life, I think it will be easier for them to understand and they learn more. It is important that they understand why things are the way they are and we as teachers must guide them through each lesson until they are able to fully grasp the new information. Finally, the humanistic approach is just common sense that all teachers must be sensitive to students needs and also feel connected to them. To create a safe and comfortable environment in the classroom is critical in the learning process. Teachers must be warm and loving to their students and truly care about them in order to be able to teach them.

Therefore, with all that being said, we have just created a new teaching approach for the future. One where teachers are kind and truly care for their students. They want to help them understand why things are the way they are and form connections to the world. Also, teachers will use positive reinforcements to reward their students and make them perform better in school because of those consequences. Basically, in a classroom, every student and every situation will vary. We can not limit ourselves to only one teaching method but we must always be ready for anything that may happen. One student may benefit with positive reinforcement while another will only respond to a kind and loving teacher. Being a teacher, or rather a good teacher, requires flexibility and knowing when to use which approach in your classroom.