6.4. Methods to stimulate behavior and activity

This group of methods is used to form moral feelings, that is, a positive or negative attitude of an individual towards objects and phenomena of the surrounding world (society as a whole, individuals, nature, art, oneself, etc.). These methods help a person to form the ability to properly assess their behavior, which contributes to the awareness of their needs and the choice of their respective goals. The basis of the methods of stimulation is the impact on the motivational sphere of the individual, aimed at the formation of conscious motives among the pupils for active and socially approved livelihoods. They have a huge impact on the emotional sphere of the child, they form the skills to control their emotions, they learn to control specific feelings, to understand their emotional states and the reasons giving rise to them. These methods also affect the volitional sphere: they contribute to the development of initiative, self-reliance; perseverance, the ability to overcome difficulties to achieve the goal, the ability to control themselves (endurance, self-control), as well as the skills of independent behavior.

Among the methods of stimulating behavior and activities, there is encouragement, punishment and competition.

Encouragement is an expression of a positive assessment of the actions of the students. It reinforces positive skills and habits. The action of encouragement involves the excitement of positive emotions, gives confidence to the child. Encouragement can be manifested in various ways: approval, praise, gratitude, granting of honorary rights, rewarding.

Despite the seeming simplicity, the promotion requires careful dosing and caution, since the inability to use this method can harm education. The method of promotion involves the observance of a number of conditions: 1) the promotion should be a natural consequence of the student's action, and not his desire to receive encouragement; 2) it is important that the promotion does not oppose the student to the rest of the team; 3) the promotion should be fair and, as a rule, consistent with the opinion of the team; 4) when using rewards it is necessary to take into account the individual qualities of the reward.

Punishment is a method of pedagogical influence that should prevent unwanted actions of students, inhibit them, and cause a feeling of guilt in front of themselves and other people. The following types of punishment are known: imposing additional duties; deprivation or restriction of certain rights; expression of moral censure, conviction. These types of punishments can be implemented in various forms depending on the logic of natural consequences: impromptu punishments, traditional punishments.

As any method of stimulation that has a strong influence on the emotional and motivational sphere of the individual, the punishment should be applied according to a number of requirements: 1) it should be fair, carefully thought out and in no case should it degrade the dignity of the student; 2) you can not rush to punish until there is no full confidence in the fairness of punishment and its positive impact on the behavior of the student; 3) when applying punishment, one should make sure that the student understood what he is being punished for; 4) punishment should not be “global”, that is, when punishing a child, it is necessary to find positive aspects in his behavior and emphasize them; 5) one punishment should follow one offense; if there are many misdeeds, the punishment can be harsh, but only one, for all the misdeeds at once; 6) the punishment should not abolish the encouragement that the child could deserve earlier, but had not yet received it; 7) when choosing a punishment, it is necessary to take into account the essence of the offense, by whom and under what circumstances he was committed, what are the reasons that prompted the child to commit the offense; 8) if a child is punished, it means that he has already been forgiven, and it is no longer worth talking about his previous offenses.

Competition is a method aimed at satisfying a child’s natural need for rivalry, leadership, and comparison of oneself with others. Competing among themselves, schoolchildren quickly learn the experience of social behavior, develop physical, moral, aesthetic qualities. Competition contributes to the formation of the qualities of a competitive personality. In the process of competition, the child achieves a certain success in relations with his friends, acquires a new social status. Competition not only stimulates the activity of the child, but also forms in him the ability to self-actualize, which can be considered as a method of self-education, because during the competition the child learns to realize himself in various activities.

The method of organizing competitions involves taking into account the following requirements: 1) the competition is organized in connection with a specific educational task (it can fulfill the role of a “trigger” at the beginning of a new activity, help complete difficult work, relieve stress); 2) not all types of children's activities should be covered by competition: one cannot compete in appearance (“Miss” and “Mr.” contests), manifestation of moral qualities; 3) so that the spirit of the game and friendly communication does not disappear for a minute from the competition, it must be equipped with bright attributes (slogans, titles, titles, emblems, prizes, signs of honor, etc.); 4) publicity and comparability of results are important in a competition, so the entire course of the competition must be openly presented to children, who must see and understand what activity is behind these or other points or points.