Fritz Redl And Wattenberg Summary

o Fritz Redl and William Wattenberg believe that behavior is shaped when a student is in a group versus individually. When they are in a group, they are more likely to misbehave due to group dynamics and the environment around them. This can be due to peer pressure and just the act of being with a friend. You are more likely to talk to them. They believe that teachers should not use punishment very often and in a pleasant way, but use positive and encouraging words and ideas to help the student stop from misbehaving. o Redl and Wattenberg’s most useful idea to me is that an individual’s behavior is shaped by the dynamics of the room around them and people they are paired with. Group dynamics do have an impact on student behavior and often times, …show more content…
Communication between a teacher and the student(s) will influence the behavior of the student’s in the classroom. If they hardly communicate, students may feel they do not care and begin to act up. He believes that punishment should not be used because it can cause the student to become hostile and angry, which in the end leads to the child continuing to act up and misbehave. Teachers should communicate with the student in a positive manner and avoid saying ‘you’ and labeling them. If you say a student is ‘bad,’ they will become discourage and hurt and see themselves as ‘bad’ even when they are in fact, …show more content…
He wants student’s to choose appropriate behaviors. He believes students have internal motivation that will guide their behavior. We just have to provide it for them. If they are off task and not motivated, we should finds ways to make them motivated. He believes punishment is destructive and that rewards should not be given. He believes that punishment and rewards is just a way of manipulating behavior rather than actually altering the behavior. o The most useful thing of his theory is the idea of how rewards should not be given out. When you give a reward, you are not really changing the behavior, just manipulating and masking it to fit the way you want. A student will continue to act a certain way, but when being watched by the teacher, will act how they want to get the reward. The least useful part is how we should find ways to make unmotivated students motivated. Not every student is going to find something motivating, and as a teacher, we can sit down with every student individually and find out what motivates him or her. If we could, that would work well, but there is not enough time to do it