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Materials for Class
Useful Links for Class
- No Dentist Left Behind
- Standardized Testing- Simpson's Episode
- Assessing Students through Different Methods
- Spelling Assessments/Games
- Rubric Maker
- Discipline- Simpsons Episode
- CHP 12- Article 2
- CHP 12- Article 1
- Mr. Holland's Opus Movie Clip
- ChP 10- Constructive Classrooms
- CHP 10- Detailed info on constructivism
- CHP 10- Hyptermedia with constructivist approach
- CHP 10- Constrasting direct and constructivist approaches
- CHP 10-High/scope program for teaching
- CHP 9- Master Theater
- CHP 8- Youtube clip
- CHP 8- Memory Forum
- CHP 8- Memory Games
- CHP 8- Memory Games (NEMO)
- CHP 8- Boosting Student Memory
- CHP 7- Article about Difficult Child
- CHP 7- Management Scenarios
- CHP 7- Samples of Reinforcement
- CHP 7- Management Inventory
- FREE MUSIC
- Citation Machine!
- Library - for Research Articles
- APA Style guidelines
- Girls and Computers Video
- Links for Chapter 4
- Web Sites for Chapter 3
- Sample Video from EDPS 530 Student
- Possible topics for Video Presentation
- Article: Standards for Good Teaching
About Me
- Dr. Pratt
- Office Hours: Wednesday 1:00-4:00 TECH 206 (Education Office) Phone: 785-5578 email: dpratt@pnc.edu
Reflecting upon last year, I can see where I have used tactics that would fit into all four categories of positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, extinction, and punishment. Student reactions vary. I feel this is part of the learning that the teacher does each August - finding what works and for whom.
ReplyDeleteI do feel that I'll be more intune with whether or not my strategies are working or whether I'm not being effective and am just becoming frustrated - hurting the situation, not helping it.
In terms of positive reinforcement, I use a few incentives. I reward good behavior throughout the week with the use of "coupons." Students can earn coupons such as free time on the computer, get out of an assignment, have lunch with the teacher and bring a friend, sit at the teacher's desk for the day, etc. Also, I reward students who have all of their homework in for the week by having lunch in the classroom with me. You wouldn't think that fourth graders would want to have lunch with their teacher, but they do! I also give bonus recess time when I can fit it in to our busy schedule. Luckily, my students respond well to these types of reinforcements. As far as punishments go, I have taken away recess, class privileges, called parents, and verbally disciplined students. This year, many of these punishments did not work, even when they worked in the past, I had a unique group of kids who did not respond well to such punishments. In fact, one student said "I don't even like recess" when I told him that he was losing recess as a consequence. In the future, I will adopt the attitude of "it depends" in order to decide whether positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, or extinction would work the best. I also think that I neeed to implement more positive reinforcements in my classroom .
ReplyDeleteI have used many different types of behavioral reinforcements in my class, both positive and negative. On a positive note, I like to have students focus on a behavioral goal for the class and individually. As a class, I keep a compliment chart. Every time my students receive a compliment from another staff member, I fill in a box on our chart. Once they get 20 compliments, they can choose a special activity to do, such as a bonus 30 minute recess or a movie with popcorn. For individual students, I do a lot of different things. I have to admit, I am a big believer that extrinsic is great for hooking them in but then I try to phase them into a more intrinsic desire. Every year you have to tweak your reward system to meet the needs of your students. For example, this year I went away from using candy and I used pencils instead because my students never had pencils. This worked well because it alleviated the morning battle of who needs a pencil, plus the kids could see that I knew something about them because I tried to match the design of pencil to their special interests. This year our school went to a school wide Positive Behavior System that was a disaster. You are supposed to give kids a "paw card" for going above and beyond, but most of the time the kids got them for just doing what they were supposed to do. This year I would like to focus more on the intrinsic motivation students have and wait to introduce any type of a reward system to see if I even need to use one. Of course there will be behavior challenges, but there always is no matter what type of system you use.
ReplyDeleteI'm very guilty of using food as a positive reinforcement in my classroom. I know it's not always the best incentive, but you would not BELIEVE what I can get kids to do for a lifesaver or a mini-Snickers bar. It's a great incentive for work completion, because sometimes in my class ("it's just BAND, Mrs. Andert... who cares?") students don't really take their grade very seriously. Offering students the incentive of a piece of candy for work completion-- correctly done-- really can increase my turn-in rate.
ReplyDeleteWe also have a positive behavioral support system (PBS) that is school-wide, called PAWS. The school maintains a list of PAWS rewards, so I don't have to always be responsible for the reward associated with giving the slip to the student. (For example, students can buy a pizza party with 3 friends, if they each submit 40 PAWS... that's administered and paid for by the school.)
I need to think more about what punishments I use (parent phone calls, writing sentences, detentions) so that they are more effective, and not punative to other teachers. I don't mind the extra work of calling a parent or administering a detention, but it doesn't always yield the desired outcome.
In my classroom I have a ticket system for positive reinforcement. When ever someone exhibits positive behavior they get a ticket. For example, for filling out their assignment book and getting it signed by a parent, they get a ticket, if they chose to read when they have free time, if they get started and continue to work quietly, if I hear them compliment another child, or someone compliments them, they get a ticket (Or some times more depending). When things need to be returned to me, ie: signed progress reports, report cards, permission slips, etc., if they return it the next day it is 5 tickets, 2 days later it is 4, three days later it is three and so on. The day before a test we play "Who Wants to be a Ticketaire". I randomly ask questions from the test, if they answer on thieir own, they get 5 tickets, given answer choices they get 4, use a life line of phone a friend they both get 2. On Fridays they can shop for items such as candy, stickers, pencils, school supplies, bookmarks, keychains, etc... I have done this for several years and the kids seem to enjoy it. They can't wait for Friday to shop. I also try to give group or class points for good behavior to work toward a larger reward. I have not found as much success in this method. Usually I take points away for unwanted behavior, and this has led to the class not reaching their goal. I may try it without taking points away.
ReplyDeleteThis year in fifth grade we used a classroom economy system. It was the first time our students had been exposed to a system like this, before it was just “red, yellow, green card” type systems. We paid students for everything, not just academics. Each Friday the class went shopping at our Cherokee Cash store, and we had a cashier and a timer to run the school store. They could not go shopping if they had a missing assignment during the week. I thought this was very effective because it was something the whole class looked forward to because it only happened once a week.
ReplyDeleteI was very lucky with this past class in that they responded extremely well to the rewards and the punishments that went along with the economy systems. Students could be charged money for such things as not homework, no name on paper, etc. Basically every reward or punishment was controlled through the economy system. I had one student who this did not work for and we adapted it by being paid for extra opportunities, such as having his assignment notebook signed each night, and having a trouble free recess.
Overall, I really like the economy plan because it is all inclusive. Obviously there will be times when I will have to modify the plan to fit certain situations. Students were both extremely happy when they got paid and also displeased when they had to pay for some behavior they did.
The most recent experiences with my class were at the end of the school year. Children in my school become very anxious when breaks from school are imminent because they often go without food and other necessities when away from school for an extended period. This presents unique challenges. I kept the focus on our classroom family and used a lot of hugs and 'good jobs' to reinforce good behavior. I handled negativity by overlooking behaviors that would bring down the atmosphere in my classroom. The children reacted well to these reinforcements and we were able to enjoy our final days together and reflect on the year by creating memory books and by playing games like Jeopardy! to find pride in all that we learned during the year. The only change that comes to mind would be to use positive reinforcement to encourage more thoughtful reflection. For example, I might really cheer for children who take the time to think about favorite memories and share them rather than writing 'It was fun.' in their books.
ReplyDeleteI use incentives all the time, but I tend to get a bit randomized with them. I feel this helps to build in the intrinsic rewards because they don't know exactly when they are going to "get" something. I've used stucker charts, candy, extra time on computers, calls home, etc. This year, I found that walking around while kids were working on things and handing out tickets (to go into a drawing)to kids who were on task. At the end of the day we'd draw a ticket (or two) and the winner would get to choose something from my treasure chest. The also had to be quietly standing at their desk with the chair up to have their ticket count if drawn. This has really cut out a lot of the chaos at the end of the day too. I also use positive reinforcement for students who turned in all of their homework. They would get an extra recess on Fridays while the others could work to catch up on their assignments. This really worked well with this group. Some had issues with the Friday homework at first (those who didn't have it all in), but when they found out they could complete their work and then go out they were ok with it. It seems that every year I make adjustments to fit my current group of kids. Moving to middle school this fall will be a big change. There are things that work well in a contained room that won't work when you get a new group every class period.
ReplyDeleteOne reinforcement that I used last year was the free homework pass. I gave this to students if they completed all homework for the week. I definitely saw an increase in homework completion, but was bummed to see some kids had just written down answers to complete the page. It helped solve the problem of completing the task, but didn't help students improve their understanding of concepts. I will use this again next year, but I will do a spot check on assignments, and if it looks like answers were just written in without any thought, I won't count it as a completed assignment. I also have used "Springfield Bucks" in the past as a positive reinforcement for students who were following procedures and doing the right thing. I found this to be a great tool, but also found that some students weren't doing the action because they new it was good and wanted to help but to get the buck. I would give these out again, in fact the whole building will with PBS starting next year, but I will be more selective in how I pass them out.
ReplyDeleteI had a particularly challenging group of students this year with regards to behavior. I tried a number of different strategies, but always tried to be consistent in enforcing them. I used a lot of positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement. I'm not a big fan of giving students a "prize" for reinforcing good behavior. I think it's important that they don't grow up expecting go be rewarded with "something" everytime they do what they are supposed to do. I prefer to offer praise or special priveledges. I also use a lot of time-outs in the form of removing the child from the situation. I think consistency is very important.
ReplyDeleteI tend to use positive reinforcement and punishment to obtain the behaviors I want. This past year, I have used verbal praise and hallway points the most. Both worked well for the majority of my students. My students also love it when the can earn an extra recess or have AR time outside. This works best when the weather is nice, and they are antsy to go outside. I did end up putting 2 students on individualized sticker plans because the verbal praise alone wasn't effective enough. The combination of the two worked better. They earned smaller personal rewards after a row was filled and a larger one after the sheet was filled. But, the next time I need to use sticker plan, I will gradually extend the number of stickers earned before giving the smaller rewards and eventually only reward the child once the entire sheet is filled. I feel this would better follow the principles of shaping. My school also uses Thumbs Up cards. Every Monday morning four cards are drawn and announced over the intercom. Each child then receives some type of a prize. Although I don't use candy as a motivator very often in 1st grade, I used it a lot in 5th. I put a "yum" on work that was very good or when a student showed improvement. If a student went from a 52% to a 60%, that child would earn a yum. It wasn't a daily thing, so the kids never knew when I was going to do it. As for punishments, I typically use verbal reprimands, take away recess time, call home, or send a note home to be signed. On occasion, I have had a child move his/her desk away from the group for part of the day. While punishment can work, I have had better luck with positive reinforcement. Since children vary, I start out general and then try to figure out if any child needs a different type of motivation to follow the behaviors I expect.
ReplyDeleteI use a "good behavior ticket" system in my class for positive reinforcement. Similar to what Dominee said, the students can earn tickets for participation in test review, being on task, etc. I draw two names out of the "good behavior bucket" every Fri. and those students get to choose out of the treasure box of prizes. I like this system because my only job is to draw the winners on Fri; it's mostly student-led. The students write their own initials on the ticket and drop it into the bucket. I keep these on a table in the open. I tell them that I trust them to be honest and they have to be quiet while going up to fill out their ticket or they forfeit the ticket. (I'm often teaching while they're going to get a ticket; immediate feedback works best!) I also allow the class to earn a letter each day to fill in the Hangman-type grid that will allow them to earn a class reward such as extra recess, popcorn party, game day, etc. They do not earn a letter toward the reward word if the whole class loses recess time for behavior and/or if more than three students owe recess time. It puts a little bit of peer pressure on the students. (negative reinforcement I believe) I think both methods work faily well; it's important to reward students both individually and as a group. I would like to modify my group reward system though. I wasn't as consistent as I would like.
ReplyDeleteOver the past few years, I have moved toward positive reinforcement for the entire class via use of our marble jar. The class could earn marbles for our jar if they received compliments from other adults for excellent class behavior and/or from me for being on-task as a group. One thing I learned from using our jar is that it helped keep kids motivated to earn marbles if we "stopped" at certain increments and had small celebrations rather than trying to fill the entire jar for one large prize or treat. Using this jar for the class also encouraged children to help each other extinguish minor undesirable behaviors, such as talking in line because they wanted a group compliment in the hallway. In this way, the jar also aided in extinction of certain student habits. One constant challenge as I give students positive reinforcement via verbal or nonverbal communication is to make sure I am distributing this reinforcement equitably between the students in my class in a genuine manner. Of course, my classroom also included punishment for misbehavior or consistent missing work. Students lost free time, filled out "behavior logs" to reflect upon poor behavior choices, and/or received an e-mail or call home, depending on the circumstance. As was mentioned in other posts, loss of free time, however, is not always punishment for certain children and therefore may not be as effective as other forms of punishment or negative reinforcement.
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