To Follow or Not to Follow, That is the Question
In any school situation, students have two choices: to follow the classroom/school rules and procedures, or to not follow them. Based on these actions, we teachers then have some choices to make: should we reward a student who followed the rules? Should we not reward them? Should we punish a rule breaker? Should we not punish them?
Teachers are put in a situation where they do not want to ignore a student's good or bad decisions, but at the same time, teachers do not want to over do a reward or a punishment. For this blog, I will discuss how I balance the four questions that I asked above.
First of all though, in order for me to discuss how I reward or punish my students for adherence or lack of adherence to rules and procedures, I must talk about the Bear Behavior Chart that I employ in my classroom.
Bear Behavior Charts
Chart One
Chart Two
It is an easy system for my kindergartners to follow. It rewards and punishes students by moving their bear representative up or down the chart, depending on their behavior. Students know which bear represents them based on two distinct features: 1. It has their First Name Initial on it. 2. The bear was personally colored in based on their two favorite colors. (For the two students with the same name, their Last Name Initial was also added to differentiate them.)
At my school, we use a token economy system. Students are rewarded with toy money, which I refer to as Bear Bucks to go with the Bear Class theme. At the end of the month, students can use the money they earned to buy some toys. How do they receive this money? They receive this money for doing their homework, for behaving well in class, and for doing something good out of the ordinary.
However, in my class I changed it up a little. In my class, students receive their Bear Bucks at the end of the day. Instead of handing out money throughout the day, my students get to move up the Bear Behavior Chart for doing their homework, for behaving well in class, and for doing something good out of the ordinary.
LEVELS: UP OR DOWN
Each level consists of three dots for them to land on. For every good or bad action they move up or down one dot (two dots if it was something really good/bad). Therefore, if they hope to reach the highest level in one day, they are expected to accomplish something around 9-10 good things that day. More, if for some reason they went down a level or two that day as well. As mentioned above, they move up for doing their homework the previous night (but checked that day), for behaving well in each class, for eating all their lunch food, for playing well with others during recess, and for various other things throughout the day (see Positive Reinforcement below for more details).
My students start off each day in the middle of the chart, on dot one of READY TO LEARN. From there, their daily goal is to reach the highest level, OUTSTANDING! When they reach this level they can receive 5 Bear Bucks (on any of the three dots on this level). However, in reality it is just 3 Bear Bucks. 2 of the 5 are pretty much guaranteed since they are given out for doing their homework. Luckily, my students focus more on the big round 5 over the "3 plus 2 for homework" way of thinking. The next highest level is GREAT JOB. Here students receive 3 Bear Bucks (2 for homework and 1 for GREAT JOB). After this is GOOD DAY and the original starting point READY TO LEARN. In both levels, students just get their 2 homework Bear Bucks.
Below the starting point is the "negative" area. This is the area students don't want to be in at the end of the day. First of all is THINK ABOUT IT. As the name suggest, here student's are encouraged to think about the actions that led them to be placed here. If a student happens to be here at the end of a day, he/she will give the teacher 1 Bear Buck. The next level is TEACHER'S CHOICE. If a student lands here, the teacher will think of a punishment for the student. If a student is here at the end of the day, he/she will give the teacher 3 Bear Bucks. The last and lowest level is PARENT CONTACT. If a student lands here, his/her parents will be called and told of the student's behavior that day. If the student is still here at the end of the day, then he/she has to give the teacher 5 Bear Bucks.
THROUGHOUT THE DAY: ALWAYS A CHANCE TO MOVE UP
As mentioned above, my students move up (or down if necessary) throughout the day based on their actions that day. Just the thought of moving down the chart is enough motivation for most students to improve. They love seeing their little bear representative getting closer and closer to the top of the chart. For good students, this system is a tangible thing that they can constantly see. It motivates, encourages, and pushes them to keep doing the things they are doing. For me, the best part is seeing how excited they get whenever they reach the OUTSTANDING level. They jump and scream, and are so excited to tell their friends and family about it. On many occasions, my students can be seen discussing among themselves about how close they are to reaching that goal. They can be seen doing the "math" to see if they have enough time to reach it (one up for lunch time, plus, one up for art class, plus, etc.).
The beauty of this system, however, is the fact that I have never had a student end up in the "negative" areas at the end of a day. Never in five years of usage! During the day many a student has of course moved down to these areas. But, because this chart is used to represent their whole day's worth of work, students are always moving on up. (More details about some examples of UP and DOWN movement in the Positive Reinforcement and Consequences paragraphs below.) Therefore, this chart is a very redeeming system for my students. It is a tangible system that not only shows them that they NEED to improve. But it also shows them they CAN improve. And more importantly, it shows them AS THEY ARE improving. The biggest difference I can recall was a student a few years back. He started the day off on the wrong foot and quickly found himself in the middle (dot two) of TEACHER'S CHOICE. However, by the end of the day, he had climbed all the way up to dot one of GREAT JOB!
Now of course, a student can't obviously go up or down for EVERY single action, either good or bad. The logistics make it impossible (would need a chart with a million levels on it!). Plus, there is no time to be constantly moving nine students up and down a chart a million times a day! More importantly, however, is the message one sends if every action is being judged. Therefore, to get a better example of how I employ this system let's take a look at some more specific examples for it below.
Giving Positive Reinforcement for Following Rules and Procedures
There are some things that are guaranteed on the chart. If a student does his/her homework, he/she gets to go up one dot. If the student behaves well in the class (pays attention, does his/her work, etc.), then one more up. However, throughout the year, I also encourage my students to go beyond the normal: sit down nicely, listen to the teacher, write neatly, etc. I encourage my students to pick up things off the floor regardless of who put it there or whose it is; help their friends when they see they need help; be honest about what happened; etc. For this positive things, they also go up on the behavior chart.
But! Those things just mentioned are NOT guaranteed to make a student go up. Why? I have had some students do those things specifically to move up on the chart. Not because they are the right thing to do, but just because they wanted the reward for themselves. For example: "Teacher, I picked up John's pencil off the floor. One up?" It's because of these situations I do not make these things a guarantee to move a student up the chart.
I instead try to teach my students to do these things regardless of a reward. I try to teach them to do them simply because they are the right things to do. How do I do this? I tell my students that if they do something nice, and then come and tell me about it in the hopes to move up, then they will NOT move up. I will praise them for being good people, they might get a high five, but they will not move up the chart. If that student does a good thing and does NOT tell me about it, but I happen to see it, then maybe they can move up the chart... maybe. It is not a guarantee, but a small possibility. The reason I do this is because, as mentioned above, I do not want my students to emphasize the reward over the good action. I do not want them to do something simply because it benefits them. However, by sometimes rewarding them for these good actions, I am putting in them the habit of constantly doing good things. Yes, at first they are doing it in the hope of a reward, but over a short time, they forget about the reward and just do the good thing out of habit. It is at this point that I will reward them by moving them up the chart. Like this, they are reminded that these actions are good, but at the same time they know that doing these good things are not guaranteed to give them rewards (outside of the very occasional up on the chart).
Another thing I try to do, is try to get the parents to help with positive reinforcement. Sometimes, some parents come to the school to pick up their children. It is at this time, that their child is so excited to tell them that they were OUTSTANDING that day. I then follow it up by telling the parent, that yes indeed, "John" was soooo good that day! He did "this" and "that" and "that" throughout the day. After hearing all these things, the parents then show how amazed they are that their child did all those great things in one day. One can then see how proud this child is to not only be complimented by his/her teacher, but to be able to amazed his/her parents as well. Their self-confidence really grows.
That last part ties in what another strategy I use, which is praise them when they do something out of the ordinary. Picking up a friend's pencil off the ground is very good, but that is not something out of the ordinary. Going to grab a tissue and handing it to a friend who is crying, that is amazing! Moments like this, I like to point them out and tell the whole class about them. "Class, what Clara just did was so nice. Her friend was crying and by herself, she thought about how to help her friend. She went and grabbed a tissue and gave it to her. Clara is such a good friend. You know what Clara, one up for you!" By doing this, I am not only praising them, but I am also rewarding them for thinking beyond themselves.
One more thing I do for positive reinforcement is to give out high fives, but with small twists here and there. There is the traditional high five. Then there are the times when I fake pain after a student's high five. I tell them how strong they are and that it really hurt my hand. The class laughs so hard for this. And the last one is the: high one, followed by the high two, then the high three, high four, and finished with a high five. Each done with one finger, two fingers, three fingers, four fingers, and of course five fingers, respectively.
Consequences for Breaking Rules and Procedures
When it comes to rule breakers, I have to use different strategies. First of all, my strategies depend on if others in the class noticed or saw the rule being broken. If I am the only person who saw it, then what I like to do is take the student outside the classroom. This way, it stays a secret between them and me. I very nicely talk to them and give them a warning. No punishment, no negative consequence, just a warning. By doing this, I am showing my students that they don't need to be perfect; but there is still something that happens (the warning itself). When returning back into the classroom, other students ask what happen, I reply with a simple, "I love you!," to the class and quickly get their attention back on the lesson. If they keep asking, I just keep telling them that I love them and just keep getting them back on the lesson.
However, if the broken rule was reported to me by other students, or if somehow other students happen to see the student break a rule, then I can not just take the student outside in order to keep it a secret. For this situation I also issue a warning (since it was the first offense), however, I make it into a fun mini-lesson. I use the situation to remind the whole class why the rule is put in the first place, and then "dramatically" role-play (sometimes with the offending student, if he/she is not too shy) it for them. This way, students learn and laugh at the same time. This lightens up the mood, and makes it easier to transition back into the lesson.
Sometimes, my students do happen to repeat a minor offense. In this case, after the warning, they will move down the behavior chart. For example, the "No Korean" rule at my school. The first time a student speaks Korean, I give them a warning. I also remind them to use the sentence, "Teacher, how do you say _____ in English?" By saying this I can translate the word for them, and they can use the English word in its place. However, because my students are so young, they have the habit to quickly revert back to speaking Korean. On the second offense, they go down the behavior chart. Every time after this, I repeat the process: warning, move down; warning, move down; etc.
So whether I alone know the rule was broken, or if others know it was broken, the first step is a warning. However, there is one exception to this strategy: if the student's misbehavior was beyond just breaking a small rule. For example, if I catch a student lying to me. I give the student a chance to tell the truth, but if they don't, then I do not give a warning. The student goes straight to the punishment: moving down on the behavior chart.
Moving down the behavior chart is a big deal for my students. Because it is something that not only they can see, but something their friends can see as well. My students really don't like to move down the chart. Moving down the chart is usually the last thing necessary for my students. Because of its daily usage, its importance is magnified in my students' eyes. Therefore, more serious consequences don't need to be applied.
The only thing ever needed beyond the "moving down the chart" method, is reminder that by moving down, they are receiving less Bear Bucks. Which in turn means that they will have less money to spend on new toys at the end of the month.
I have been lucky enough as a teacher to always get great students. Thanks to them following my rules and procedures, just about every single situation has been resolved with the above steps. However, this year I do have a student who has twice now made extremely serious situations occur. When this student is being extremely unresponsive, my school's policy is to tell him that the Korean teacher will call his parents. I, on the other hand though, take him to another room. In this other room, I give him a minute or two to calm down. I stand there near him, but not close enough to make him feel threatened. After a few minutes I try to talk to him. I ask him to tell me his side of the story, I tell him to tell me how he feels. My goal is to let him know that I am there to listen to him. However, my goal for him is for him to try and understand the situation outside of himself. I explain to him that I understand that he is very angry. I even tell him that it is okay to feel angry. That is acceptable to me. But then, I tell him that his actions after being angry are not acceptable. He can be angry all he wants, but yelling and making a scene in the class, that is a big "no, no." I repeat the things I say to him several times. This has gone on for anywhere between five to twenty minutes. After our talks, he has always felt better. I give him a few more minutes to calm down. I let him go drink some water and go to the bathroom if he needs to. Then we go back to the classroom together.
Summary
So outside this one particular student, for the past five years the Bear Behavior Chart has been all I have needed to help my students understand and apply the rules and procedures of the classroom. I add some small things here and there when they do good things (praise them, high fives) or bad things (warnings, taking them outside the classroom for a talk), but in the end, the behavior chart is the most important thing I utilize to help my students become better people inside and outside the classroom.
Thanks to the Bear Behavior Chart, and my own personal touches added, I am able to find the balance that I need for my students. I reward them when needed, and not reward them when not needed. I punish them when needed and not punish them when not needed.
