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Beliefs About Teacher Influence—Forced Choice Inventory
Part 1. Identifying Your Beliefs
Directions: You will see several groups of three statements about teacher influence. Read each statement and think about how much you agree or disagree with each. Place the letters of the statements in one of three boxes corresponding to the degree to which you agree with each statement. Place the letter of the statement you agree with most in the top choice box, the one you agree with second most in the middle choice box, and the one you agree with least in the lowest choice box. For a given group of statements, you might agree or disagree strongly with all three, but you must still place each statement in one box.
Group 1: Responsibility for Controlling Behavior
a. As an adult, the teacher has primary responsibility for controlling student behavior.
b. Responsibility for controlling student behavior is a shared responsibility of student and teacher.
c. The student alone has primary responsibility for controlling his behavior.
Place the letter of each statement in one of these three boxes:
Top Choice Middle Choice Lowest Choice
Group 2: Goal of Classroom Learning Environment
d. The goal is the development of a caring community of self-directed learners.
e. The goal is an efficiently run classroom in which academic learning is maximized.
f. The goal is the development of an environment in which students feel respected and academic learning is the focus.
Place the letter of each statement in one of these three boxes:
Top Choice Middle Choice Lowest Choice
Group 3: Goal in Dealing with Misbehavior
g. The goal in dealing with misbehavior is to minimize the loss of learning time.
h. The goal in dealing with misbehavior is to find a way to help the misbehaving student while minimizing the loss of learning time for others.
i. The goal in dealing with misbehavior is to identify the unmet need that led the student to misbehave and to find a productive way to get that need met.
Place the letter of each statement in one of these three boxes:
Top Choice Middle Choice Lowest Choice
Group 4: Students’ Relationships with Each Other
j. Above all, students must learn to really care about each other as people.
k. Above all, students must learn not to interfere with each other’s right to learn.
l. Above all, students should learn to respect each other as well as the teacher.
Place the letter of each statement in one of these three boxes:
Top Choice Middle Choice Lowest Choice
Group 5: Choices and Freedom
m. Students should be given freedom and choices about classroom activities within options defined by the teacher.
n. Students should be given lots of freedom and choices about classroom activities.
o. Given their limited experience, students should not be given much freedom and choice. The teacher must make the decisions.
Place the letter of each statement in one of these three boxes:
Top Choice Middle Choice Lowest Choice
Group 6: Consistency and Individual Needs
p. Because students are different in terms of their needs, it is okay for teachers to handle discipline problems in different ways for different individuals.
q. Consistency is crucial. Misbehavior must be dealt with in the same way for all individuals.
r. In dealing with individual differences, the teacher must find a way to balance the need for consistency with the need to meet individual needs.
Place the letter of each statement in one of these three boxes:
Top Choice Middle Choice Lowest Choice
Part 2. Scoring Your Beliefs and Connecting Them to Theories of Influence
Directions: Give each top choice 3 points, each middle choice 2 points, and each lowest choice 1 point in the blank that corresponds to that item’s number and letter in the chart that follows. Then add up the total points in each column to see how your choices match the three philosophies.
Teacher Directed Collaborative Student Directed
1a
1b
1c
2e
2f
2d
3g
3h
3i
4k
4l
4j
5o
5m
5n
6q
6r
6p
Total
Total
Total
Part 3. Written Reflection
Directions: Record your profile scores for each of the three theories about influencing students’ behavior and then answer the following questions: (1) To what degree does your profile match what you thought you believed about teaching and learning before reading the text? (2) What surprises you about your profile? (3) List some of the teaching actions that you will take to put your beliefs into practice. (4) Can you imagine any obstacles that will make it difficult to put your beliefs into practice?