Four elementary school children were tested on 120 words containing the short e (e.g., ten, pen) and short a (e.g., tan, pan) sounds. Words were tested in the hear-write (H/W) and see-say (S/S) channels. No programmed consequences were scheduled during baseline (BL) tests 1-3. After BL, an error analysis categorized words based on channel error and topography of error. Praise was delivered during tests 4-6 for correct responses. Children's responses were variable within channel and across channels for a majority of words. By the end of the praise phase, there was a decrease in the number of words with errors, for all children in their error word group. Error topographies began to stabilize for some words during praise.

Behavior-specific praise has been shown to increase rate of desired behaviors for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities, though it is rarely used by caregivers in residential facilities for adults with disabilities. Prompting in the form of tactile stimulation has been demonstrated to increase rate of behavior-specific praise delivered by teachers and caregivers. The purpose of the current study was to increase the quantity and quality of behavior-specific praise statements that were delivered by caregivers to individuals at a large residential facility for adults with disabilities. A tactile prompting device (Gymboss Interval Timer and Stopwatch) was provided to the caregivers and set to vibrate for one second at intervals of five minutes, for a total of six intervals. Instructions were provided to the caregivers to deliver behavior-specific praise statements, for appropriate behaviors, to their assigned clients every time a vibration occurred. Examples of behavior-specific praise statements were provided to the caregivers before each session, but no feedback was delivered during the prompting phase. Results indicated that a tactile prompting device was effective at increasing rate of behavior-specific praise statements delivered by caregivers in as little as one session.

Contingent praise is widely recognized as a universal, practical, and highly effective classroom management tool. While previous research has examined the effectiveness of performance feedback to increase teachers’ use of contingent praise in the classroom and to observe its effects on students’ behavior, no research exists on the effects of increased ratios of praise-to-behavior correction statements by paraprofessionals in the classrooms of preschoolers diagnosed with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). This research was conducted in an urban, specialized pre-school program, for young students with developmental disabilities. The researcher implemented a performance feedback protocol, measuring two paraprofessionals’ ability to achieve a target 1:1, followed by a 4:1 ratio of praise-to-behavior correction statements. Students’ on-task, off-task, and disruptive behaviors were also measured. Results demonstrated that: (a) performance feedback was an effective and well received tool for in / Applied Behavioral Analysis

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of e-mail specific performance feedback (ESPF) on increasing the quantity and quality of pre-school teacher behavior specific praise (BSP) using a multiple probe design across 4 general education pre-school classrooms which included students with and without disabilities. Researchers also wanted to examine the effects of the teacher’s BSP on student’s task engagement during class activities. Results indicated a functional relation between ESPF and increasing the quantity and quality of BSP statements. Results also indicated that increased quantity and quality of BSP statements increased average task engagement across all student participants.

Syftet med mitt examensarbete är att studera lärares användning av talhandlingar till flickor och pojkar, samt se om talhandlingarna kan ha någon inverkan på elevers talutrymme i klassrummet. Jag har valt att avgränsa mig till tre talhandlingar; beröm, tillsägelser och uppmaningar. Jag undersöker även om lärarnas egna upplevelser av interaktionen i klassrummet stämmer överens med hur det faktiskt ser ut. För att söka svar på mitt syfte och mina frågeställningar har jag använt mig av triangulering genom två metoder. Enskilda intervjuer har genomförts med de berörda lärarna för att få svar på deras kommentarer om interaktionen i klassrummet. Observationer har använts för att observera lärarnas interaktion med eleverna.  Min undersökning visar att lärare använder talhandlingar som beröm och uppmaningar relativt lika mellan flickor och pojkar. Den mest framträdande skillnaden mellan flickor och pojkar är när lärarna ger tillsägelser till eleverna. Då dominerar tillsägelser till pojkarna. Pojkarna tar själva friheten till att uttrycka sig fritt i klassrummet och får där med mer talutrymme. Lärarna själva ansåg inte att de gjorde någon skillnad mellan könen vid tillsägelser, vilket dock inte visade sig vara fallet i mina analyser av observationerna. Även utformningen av tillsägelser skiljer sig mellan könen. Till flickor är det vanligare med indirekta tillsägelser och till pojkar direkta. När pojkar får tillsägelser av lärarna handlar det oftast om beteenden som stör andra i klassen. När flickor får tillsägelser gäller det i allmänhet sådant som enbart stör dem själva. / The aim of my thesis is to study teachers' use of speech-acts for girls and boys, as well as see if the speech acts can influence pupils' speech space in the classroom. I have chosen to delimit my study to three speech acts, praise, reprimands, and calls. I also investigate if the teachers' own experiences of the interaction in the classroom are in line with what it looks like. To seek answers to my questions, I have used the triangulation by two methods. Individual interviews were conducted with the teachers concerned to get answers and their comments about the interaction in the classroom. I also observed the teachers' interactions with students.  My study shows that teachers uses speech acts as praise and calls relatively similar between girls and boys. The most prominent difference between girls and boys is when teachers give reprimands to the students. Then dominate reprimands the boys. The boys themselves take the liberty to express themselves freely in the classroom and get there with more speech space. Teachers themselves considered that they made no distinction between the sexes at reprimands, which not proved to be the case in my analysis of the observations. The design of the reprimands differs between sexes. For girls, it is more common with indirect reprimands and boys directly. When the boys get reprimands by the teachers, it's mostly about behavior that disturbs others in the class. When the girls get reprimands, in general such that only bothers them.

This study investigated the effect familiarity with a teacher had on student interpretations of teacher verbal praise in seventh and eighth grade choral ensembles. A stimulus tape was constructed of 16, 30-second videotaped clips containing verbal praise of four teachers. Teachers identified their intent in the use of praise in each example. Students (n = 80) from the four choirs responded to the tape by labeling the praise in each clip as deserved or as one of three types of instructional praise (i.e., praise to encourage, to send a message to other students, or to seek student cooperation). Comparisons were made between choirs in labeling the praise. Comparisons were made also between each teacher's stated purpose in praising and the interpretations of choirs familiar and unfamiliar with the teacher. Choirs who were unfamiliar with the teacher differed from the teachers' own students in interpreting the praise: Students who knew a teacher labeled the praise as deserved in five clips, but unfamiliar choirs thought the praise served an instructional purpose. In four clips, choirs differed in their interpretations of the type of instructional praise. Students familiar with a teacher recognized their teacher's intent in praising in 12 of 16 clips. In some situations, familiarity with a teacher and context made a difference in detecting the teacher's purpose for praising. In five clips where teachers identified the praise as deserved, students unfamiliar with the teacher and context thought the praise was intended to encourage students. Students across choirs were particularly sensitive to a teacher's use of praise to send a message to other students. Students are keen observers of teacher praise. Findings suggest students discriminate between praise directed at the performance and praise used for instructional purposes, suggesting that observation instruments that rely on a single label for praise might miss important information. Findings support the importance of determining how teachers intend praise to serve and how students interpret the behavior.

<p>How did rock and roll, the best music for worshipping the devil, become the finest music for worshipping God? This study narrates the import of rock music into church sanctuaries across America via the rise of contemporary worship music (CWM). While white evangelicals derided rock n' roll as the "devil's music" in the 1950s, it slowly made its way into their churches and beyond over the next fifty years, emerging as a multi-million dollar industry by the twenty-first century.</p><p>This study is a cultural history of CWM, chronicling the rise of rock music in the worship life of American Christians. Pulling from several different primary and secondary sources, I argue that three main motivations fueled the rise of CWM in America: the desire to reach the lost, to commune in emotional intimacy with God, and to grow the flock. These three motivations evolved among different actors and movements at different times. In the 1970s, the Jesus People movement anchored in Southern California, adopted the music of the counterculture to attract hippies to church. In the early 1980s, the Vineyard Fellowship combined rock forms with lyrics that spoke of God in the second person in order to facilitate intimate worship with the divine. In the late 1980s, the church growth movement embraced CWM as a tool to attract disaffected baby boomers back to church. By the 1990s, these three motivations had begun to energize an entire industry built around the merger between rock and worship.</p> / Dissertation

The thesis is focused on comparison of three teachers' approaches to the same subject matter in the area of curriculum, differentiation and high expectations. There are analysed topics in question it the theoretical part. The chapter about curriculum contains information about setting curriculum, where is it set, which role does the teacher play in setting curriculum and how he/she chooses the curriculum. We can find there also information about what types of curriculum and approaches to it do exist. The chapter about high expectations explains the term self-fulfilling prophecy and also the way how it is created and how it can be changed. The topic of the last chapter is differentiation, where there are types of differentiation and way of working with pupil according to their needs. There are concisely described two groups of pupils, pupils with special needs and gifted pupils. The approaches of three teachers are based on recordings and interviews. The results of this study give us information about, how the teachers work with textbook materials and what is their approach to chosen unusual topic. The results also tell us, if the teachers are differentiating and if we can observe different behaviour to various pupils. KEY WORDS Curriculum, teacher's beliefs, differentiation, high expectation, praise

anglicky The diploma thesis Contemporary Trends of Protestant Liturgical Music in the Czech Republic deals mainly with both - musical and unmusical - element of contemporary praise and worship songs used at protestant Sunday services. The aim of praise and worship music in a Sunday service, is to give praise to God, as well as it was in biblical times. Therefore the first chapter of the thesis presents observations about music in the Bible and examines its connections to non-musical ways of praising God, which throws light upon the situation today. The part of the thesis which makes the reader familiar with current situation of protestant liturgical music in the Czech Republic, points out weaknesses in present-day song writing and shows a need of musical education for Christians, who take part in performing music at Church, compose songs and translate them from other languages. There is also a notable trend of adapting hymnbook songs, which therefore become friendlier to younger generation who prefers livelier music. Although there is not any board for protestant liturgical music, there are several influential personalities, whose view on various components of music liturgy and relationship to God's praise are presented in the third chapter. All of them agree on the fact that praising God through...

Challenging behavior in preschool is a serious concern for teachers. In recent years, positive behavior support (PBS) has been shown to be effective in reducing such behaviors. Class-Wide Function-related Intervention Teams (CW-FIT) is a specific program for implementing PBS principles in classroom settings. CW-FIT is a group contingency that utilizes social skills training, teacher praise, and positive reinforcement to improve student behavior. Students are taught specific social skills and then work in teams to earn a group reward based on the use of these skills. CW-FIT has been shown to be effective in elementary classrooms but has not yet been evaluated with other age groups. The present study examined the effects of CW-FIT implementation on teacher praise rates and student engagement in four preschool classrooms with 55 total students. A single-subject, multiple-baseline design with embedded reversals was used to evaluate impact. Results indicate that CW-FIT increased teacher praise rates and student engagement while reducing student disruptive behavior. Both teachers and students found CW-FIT to be socially valid. The present study indicates promising results for the implementation of CW-FIT in a preschool setting.