Rewards & Consequences

-
(Burguieres, nd)

According to Marzano (2007) rewards that are less detrimental to intrinsic motivation and student performance include:
  • Awards that  do not call attention to themselves
  • Rewards are not given for simply engaging in an activity. They are given for achieving specific goals.
  • Reward is not tied to behavior as control devices.

“Token economies appear most powerful if chits are awarded for positive behavior and taken away for negative behavior” (Marzano, p. 135). When considering all these factors  and other research I decided to modify a reinforcement system developed by Hamilton (2017)  that will reward positive behavior and assign consequences.  

Behavior System

There will be a class wide behavior policy to help enforce our class rules (see above poster). I will have a laminated list of student names with a space  for me to write notes on  hung up near the board. This will be my “I tried my best today” list. As the day progresses I will write color coded notes in blue, green, yellow and red regarding which students have been given warnings about breaking a class rule, which students are doing exceptional work and which students have broken rules (see detailed description below). I will not draw attention to my writing but it will be displayed for students to monitor as well.

Near the end of each day I will stamp students homework folder (so that parents can also monitor student behavior) with the color that corresponded to their behavior for that day, based on the information on the board.
  • Blue = student went above and beyond what was expected
    • Examples: was extra helpful, took initiative, was a leader, noticed and helped a struggling peer.  
  • Green = student did a great job and performed as expected in class.
    • Examples: followed all class rules, did their best work in class, had a good attitude towards learning.
  • Yellow= Student had a few minor problems.
    • Example: After 2 warnings were given student  decided to break one class rule.
  • Red= Student did something very wrong or continuously chose to not do their job.
    • Example. After 2 warnings chose to break more than one class rule repeatedly.

Positive Reinforcements
Students who get a blue or green stamp at the end of the day will receive a hole punch in their Good Behavior Punch Card (Hamilton, 2017). To help stream line the hole punches,  my student helper for the day will punch holes for the list of  “blue” or “green” students.

Once a student has received 20 punches the student will be able to get a special prize from my treasure chest (filled with simple presents such as: stickers, candy, bouncy balls, stamps, special pens, little note books, balloons). Students will also receive a certificate that they can take home to show their parents.

Consequences for Students
2 warnings given to all and knowledge of consequences
I want my class to be a positive learning environment where students know that I care about them and I have confidence they can follow the rules. Hence, every student is allowed 2 warnings before their color changes to a negative color (yellow or red). My warning system is adapted from Marzano’s graduated actions (2007). Students will be aware that their first warning will be me looking at them and making a mark on the “I tried my best today” list. Students will also  know that their second warning will be me moving towards the student and making  second mark on the “I tried my best today” list.

It is also important that students know what some of the consequences are for disregarding class rules. The students should be involved in deciding what the consequences should be, thus helping them take ownership. Many of the consequences involve students losing out on an activity or a “time out” from activities such as recess or “choose your own station”. “In elementary school it is not uncommon to create a time-out seat in the classroom. Students who have demonstrated an inability to control themselves are asked to sit in the time-out seat, where they are not permitted to interact with any members of the class” (Marzano, p. 143)

Examples of rules being broken and consequences given for yellow or red stamp:

Rule broken
Consequence
Talk while other student is speaking
Lose 5 minutes of recess (yellow).
Lose 10 minutes of recess (red)
Not following directions
Lose 3 minutes of “choose your own station” student has to finish unfinished work during this time (yellow).

Lose all of “choose your own station” and student must finish work during that time.
Touching other student  (pinch, hit, kick)
Write the student an apology note (yellow) Write the student an apology note and lose all of recess (red) .
Disturb classmates
Sit in time out seat for 5 minutes (yellow).
Sit in time out seat for 10 minutes  (red)
Swing in chair  (work and play in safe manner)
Lose chair for 10 minutes  (yellow).
Lose chair for the rest of the day (red)
Purposeful tearing of a school book  (respecting school property)
Fix the tear and apologize to the teacher (yellow).
Fix all the tears in school books (red)

Yellow Stamp
Getting a yellow stamp means the student had a few minor problems during the school day. This student would have received two warnings already and then decided to break a class rule.
  • If the student receives 3 or more days in a week of yellow stamps on their homework folder then the teacher will call or email parents. Being proactive before a major issue ensues will help the teacher practice “withitness” (Marzano, 2007).

An example scenario would be: Sally has been swinging in her chair. Sally was warned twice by the teacher to stop swinging in her chair (not working in a safe manner & disturbing her classmates)
  • First warning  the teacher makes eye contact with the student and writes a warning on the board by her name (Sally: 1st warning)  
  • Second warning the teacher moves closer to the student and then writes a second warning on the board (Sally: 2nd warning)
  • Sally disregards the warnings and keeps on swinging in her chair. The teacher now must disrupt class and tells Sally that a consequence will be given and she will get a yellow stamp. The consequence is that the chair will be taken away and Sally will have to stand for 10 minutes.

Red Stamp
If a student received a red stamp it means that he/she did something very wrong or continuously chose to not do their job. After 2 warnings this student would have received a yellow warning on the “I tried my best today” list and then broke one rule repeatedly or broke multiple class rules
  • Parents would be contacted through email or phone whenever a red stamp is given. Parents should always be aware when their child is unable to follow in the class rules after many chances for compliance have been given.
  • If the student receives 3 or more red stamps in a week (or more than 8 in a month) then a parent meeting needs to be scheduled so a solution can be better reached.

An example scenario would be: Sally has been swinging in her chair. Sally was warned twice by the teacher to stop swinging in her chair (not working in a safe manner & disturbing her classmates)
  • First warning  the teacher makes eye contact with the student and writes a warning on the board by her name (Sally: 1st warning)  
  • Second warning the teacher moves closer to the student and then writes a second warning on the board (Sally: 2nd warning)
  • Sally disregards the warnings and keeps on swinging in her chair. The teacher now must disrupt class and tells Sally that a consequence will be given and she will get a yellow stamp. The consequence is that the chair will be taken away and Sally will have to stand for 10 minutes. If when she gets the chair back she keeps swinging in it then she will move on to the red stamp consequences.
  • Again Sally disregards the class rule again and swings in her chair. Now the teacher marks a red by her name and takes away her chair for the remainder of the day.
  • Teacher emails the parents and explains what happens.

Contingency for High Intensity Situation
It is important to have a contingency plan for high intensity situations that may arise in the classroom.  Marzano (2007) states it is important to recognize the student  is out of control and that the teacher must remain calm. The teacher needs to listen to the student so they feel heard and then carry out an action plan. In this scenario Sally did not like that her chair was taken away due to continually breaking the rule regarding not swinging in her chair. Sally starts to cry uncontrollably and throws herself on the ground.  Here is my action plan:
  1. Recognize that the student is out of control while remaining calm.  Engage other students in an activity so they are not just watching this situation unfold (examples: silent reading, journal writing, share writing with partner).
    1. Teacher: “Sally I can see that you are having a hard time with your consequence and it looks like you are feeling out of control right now. Can you please tell me what is going on.”
  2. Student shares concerns and teacher attempts to calm the intensity .
    1. Sally: “I feel like this is unfair because you are always picking on me.”
    2. Sally continues to cry very loudly.
    3. Teacher: “I can see that you feel this is unfair. We can talk about this more when you have stopped crying and disrupting the other students who are trying to work. When you are ready please come over to my desk.”
    4. Sally calms down and comes to teacher’s desk. Teacher explains that consequences are fair and given out fairly.
  3. Student does not stop behavior (Sally is still crying loudly and will not come to teacher’s desk).
    1. Consequence Time out: Student removed from room with the help of the teacher. Student asked to sit outside for a few minutes to calm down. Teacher checks after 2 minutes. If student calms down then there can be a conversation back outside classroom.
    2. Consequence Principal's office: If student can not stop crying then the student needs to be taken to the principal’s office so that the teacher can resume teaching.

Behavior monitoring flowchart


References
Burguieres, Cindy (n.d). Classroom Rules. Retrieved December, 2, 2017 from 
https://www.tes.com/lessons/h2hMIPmjGBM0rw/classroom-rules

Hamilton, Jennifer. (2017). Behavior Punch Cards. Retrieved December, 4, 2017 from https://www.adabofgluewilldo.com/behavior-punch-cards

Marzano, R (2007). The art and science of teaching : a comprehensive framework for effective instruction. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Differentiated Strategies

-
Image
This blog post includes differentiation strategies to meet the needs of my students to make sure they are able to access the content that is taught. My kindergarten classroom is focusing on an English Language Arts Standard where the objectives address: asking and answering questions about key details, main idea and supporting details and connections between characters, ideas and events. As explained by McCarthy, 2014) learning is making a cohesive unit out of the what the teacher is responsible for and what the students bring to the classroom. As the teacher I am responsible for: content, process and product, while the students bring readiness (current skill level), interests (choices and background) and learning process (brain/multiple intelligences). Image (McCarthy, 2014)  I will ensure that my classroom teaching includes differentiation in content, process, product and learning environments for learning disabled students and students of various readiness levels....
Read more

Teacher Evaluation

-
My husband, Brad (a high school teacher) has worked at various international schools and currently works for a US public school in Sicily (Department of Defense Education Activity School), which I will call School A. I interviewed Brad about how teachers are evaluated at school A and the international school he worked at in Hong Kong (School B). At School A the principal shows up at random to do observations and there is no pre or post observation meetings. The principal doesn’t take notes and doesn’t give any feedback. At the end of the year she rates all the teachers as “satisfactory” .  She will arbitrarily state that some teachers aren’t “doing what they are supposed to be doing” but what they are “supposed to be doing” has never been outlined. My husband heard from another teacher that as long as you write your standards on the board that is all the principal is looking for. Teacher observation at School B was much like the video “The Formal Observation” outlined in the T...
Read more