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Paul illustrated in today’s presentation that our behavior is determined by an interaction between our genes and environment. I contend that this has significant implication for teachers functioning as brain surgeons in their classroom. A student’s behavior is a reaction to their environment, the classroom. Who creates the environment in the classroom-the context? May I suggest the teacher. Therefore, the teacher is responsible for student’s behavior due to the fact that they created the instructional environment i.e. the context.

Does this then imply that that the responsibly lies with the teacher and not the student when a child is inattentive, bored or misbehaving in class? Doesn’t the teacher create the environment (the context) that is eliciting the student’s behavior? Is then not the teacher responsible for changing the environment which according to the information presented today, will change the student’s behavior? Therefore it is not the misbehaving student’s fault when s/he is misbehaving; it is the teacher’s fault.

This idea/concept can be disconcerting to many teachers because the blame for the behavior of students in their class shifts from the student to the teacher because the teacher creates the environment that derives student’s behaviors. This argument reinforces the theory that the context of the class is more important than the context of the course. Is it the teacher’s at fault when students in class are bored, inattentive, or disruptive in their class?

Above is my summary of observations from which I have created a story from this morning presentation. Is it correct? Let’s start a conversation.