Classroom Management Resource
Page – Shindler – School Climate – PLSI – Teaching
- Workshops
by JVS
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“Transform Your School” (TYS) School-Wide Student Discipline,
Motivation, Character-Building and Conflict Resolution Program
In addition
to school climate assessment products, research and services, the Alliance for the Study of School
Climate offers a school-wide behavioral improvement program. The program is
entitled “Transform Your School” or TYS. It is aligned with the ASSC school
climate assessment and improvement framework and the SCAI. It provides a
comprehensive program for behavioral improvement that includes discipline,
motivation, character development and conflict resolution. It is designed for
schools at the K-8 level and uses the principles from the book Transformative
Classroom Management, by John Shindler of CSULA (coming December 2008).
Features of the Program
·
Combines
student behavior, character-building and conflict resolution into one
comprehensive school-wide program
·
Promotes
long-term motivational and behavioral improvement
·
Promotes
school pride, positive climate and community
·
Encourages
whole staff coherence and school-wide continuity of behavioral expectations
·
Integrates
expectations across the classroom, PE, special subjects, playground and other
school functions
·
Builds
students’ internal locus of control and “Success Psychology” (see TCM
Ch. 8)
·
Contributes
to student academic achievement and social growth
Contrast to other School-wide Discipline Programs
·
No
use of bribes and limited extrinsic rewards
·
No
use of public shame or comparisons (see TCM
Ch. 20).
·
Minimal
cost to maintain
·
Shifts
focus from the negative to the positive
System Themes
The key to
the program is its positive approach to building a concrete, specific and
personal understanding of quality behavior. It features a few key behavioral
themes. These themes can be modified to suit the needs of a particular school
but typically include most of the following concepts:
o
Cooperation
o
Effort/Trying
o
Respect/Sportsmanship
o
Attention/Listening
o
Responsibility
o
Positive
Attitude
Within the
TYS program these themes are taught, modeled, assessed, and reinforced throughout
the students’ experience across the school.
Recommended applications of the themes include the following:
·
Incorporated
school-wide as part of a “theme of the month” focus
·
Incorporated
within the class to promote higher levels of performance and improved behavior
quality
·
Positive
recognition of high quality behavior is recognized with the use of cards (e.g.,
“cougar cards” or the nickname/mascot of your school) as well as with other
forms of positive recognition
·
Reinforced
on the playground to encourage high quality behavior and related concepts
across different school environments
·
Incorporated
in PE and other special subjects to reinforce both character and behavioral
expectation and provide continuity
·
Conflict
resolution is facilitated by trained student peer CRLs (conflict resolution leaders)
·
Integrated
into In School Suspension Programs (if applicable).
Classroom-Level Features:
·
System
with rubric for assessing behavior and/or participation (see TCM
Ch. 21)
·
Lesson
plans for different character areas and conflict resolution
·
Build
concepts into lessons and discussions by monthly theme
·
Facilitative-Teacher
role (positive recognitions and reinforce or concepts rather than giver of
punishment or shame)
Playground Level:
·
Playground
staff gives positive recognition and cards (e.g., “cougar cards”)
·
Use
loss of time as a negative consequence
·
No
shame, negative use of the system, or public recognition of undesirable
behavior
PE, Specials, and Out-of-Classroom Interactions:
·
Participation
rubric becomes the primary focus of assessment
·
Use
of themes in projects games and activities
·
“Catch
a student being good” capacity for all adults on campus
Conflict Resolution:
·
Incorporates
principles of nationally recognized
·
Student
peer conflict resolution leaders on-duty at recess
·
Conflict
resolution lessons taught in classes
·
School-wide
expectation that students possess the capacity to solve their own problems and
learn from their conflict (see Ch.
14 in TCM).
Three Levels of Program Application
The TYS Program is designed to meet the needs of
schools at all levels of functioning.
1.
Stage
1 – schools see student behavior as a weakness and have a need for a coherent
system to improve it.
2.
Stage
2 – schools want to become more consistent with their expectations across
domains of the school.
3.
Stage
3 – schools want to move toward 1-Style classrooms and students who think more self-responsibly
and who want to shift toward a more community-type school climate (see TCM
Ch. 16)
Resources from ASSC to support the TYS Program:
·
Workshops and
o
Transformative
Classroom Management (TCM)
o
Conflict
Resolution Training for Students and Teachers
o
How
to Create Classroom Behavioral Assessment Systems including Sound Rubrics
o
Healthy
Use of Rewards (see TCM
Ch. 7) and how to use Cards Effectively
o
The
Fundamentals of Building a Success Psychology in the School (see TCM
Ch. 8).
What training is needed to implement the TYS program?
·
·
Support Staff
Use of Recognition Cards
·
Teacher
Workshops Related to:
o
Basics of TCM
o
Use of
Behavioral Rubrics in the Classroom
o
(Additional
workshops are available)
·
Peer Mediator
Training in Conflict resolution
·
Additional advanced training is available in the
following areas:
o
Building School-Wide
Community
o
Creating a
Success Psychology in the Classroom
o
Working with
Challenging Students
·
ASSC also provides the School Climate Assessment
Instrument (SCAI) which provides a mechanism for school-wide improvement
Rationale for the Use of the Transform Your School (TYS) School-Wide Behavioral
Improvement Program
The goal of the Transform
Your School (TYS) Program is meaningful behavior change and sustainability. Can
we really say a behavioral improvement system has been successful, if it simply
bribes and shames students into acting in a way we prefer in the short term?
For a system to be truly effective it must work in the long term to change the
behavioral culture at the school in and out of the classroom. Therefore, an
effective system must work to teach new skills and make high quality behavior
more desirable and satisfying for students. Moreover, it must make teacher’s
lives easier. The TYS program endeavors to do this.
To better make sense of why
the TYS system is different from others, it is useful to examine it more
closely in a few key areas--motivation, core concepts, change in undesirable
behavior, and long-term effects.
Motivation within the TYS Program
The goals of the TYS system
are increasing motivation to behave in positive healthy ways and to have more
of that motivation coming from intrinsic sources. The means for doing this include
the use of strategies for meeting students’ basic needs and recognizing them
for displaying high quality behavior. Each student, as we know, has five basic needs
(see Appendix A from TCM): power, freedom, belonging/love, competence and fun.
The system promotes the satisfaction of these basic needs as well as promoting
the behavior that will help students gain what it takes to continue to meet
them throughout their lives.
In contrast to other systems
of behavior, the TYS system uses the distinctive idea of positive recognition
to support behavior change and growth in contrast to bribes for desirable
behavior. While the TYS system uses cards to symbolically recognize high
quality behavior, the use of the cards varies dramatically from other systems.
In many behavioral systems students are given cards as extrinsic rewards to be
later turned in for prizes relative to the number of cards obtained. The TYS
system simply uses the recognition of the behavior as the reward. So what is the
motivator for the student? It depends on the way that the school wants to utilize
the reward portion, but in sum it includes the satisfaction of being
recognized, the ability to tell parents and teachers of the recognition, and a
concrete and material reminder of a behavior that was valuable in and of
itself. In Appendix B from TCM the healthy use of extrinsic rewards is
contrasted to the less healthy form defined by bribes and tokens.
In the long term, using this
TYS motivational philosophy, behavior changes in a sustained way because it is
driven by intrinsic sources--it is meeting basic needs. The problem with the
way many systems approach motivation is that their basis on getting students
excited about turning in their tokens for a prize; as a result, over time the
prize inevitably becomes the purpose for the action. And as time goes on the
prizes lose their impact and the familiar conditioned behavioral patterns
return. And eventually the students demand more prizes because the system has
addicted them to being extrinsically rewarded for doing something intrinsically
healthy. In the students’ minds, systems built on bribes send the message that
“You would only want to make a high quality effort, treat others well, or act
responsibly because adults will give you something for an act that you would
never want to do otherwise.”
The Core Concepts of the TYS System
At the heart of the TYS
system are core principles. These principles are agreed to by the faculty and
staff and can range from five to twelve core concepts. These concepts typically
include such core values as effort, positive attitude, respect, responsibility,
listening, and being prepared. Successful character building efforts make
these abstract concepts both concrete and personally meaningful. In the TYS
system, the school’s core concepts are taught and reinforced across the various
aspects of the students’ school day and even into the home. When these concepts
are made concrete and meaningful students recognize that they are the pathway
to a more satisfying experience at school. When they are recognized for their demonstration,
students learn that the school genuinely values them when they are doing their
best and that the school is not simply concerned about test scores and focused
on students who misbehave.
Chapter
21 in Transformative Classroom Management helps outline these core concepts.
Creating Rubrics and Making the Core Concepts Clear
·
The core
concepts in TCM should be very clear and consistently applied across the
school. A useful practice for doing this is to create very detailed rubrics for
behavior. As outlined in Chapter
21 of TCM. These rubrics can be used
in the regular classroom, PE, art, music, assemblies, fieldtrips, and on the
playground. They provide a language for reinforcing behavior and a clear set of
criteria for assessing it. In contrast to behavioral systems that are based on
recognizing negative behavior, the TYS focuses on what is desired, not on what
is not desired. (For a detailed explanation regarding why not to use colored
card systems and tokens see TCM
Ch. 20.)
In a conceptual sense the
TYS “flips the rubric” when compared to the colored card systems, as shown in
Figure 20.C from TCM.
Figure 20.C: Descending Levels Model Rubric Structure--Used
in Public Shame-based Behavioral Systems.
Ascending Levels of Behavior Rubric – Used in Behavioral
Quality Assessment Systems such as the TYS School
So what difference does it
make which direction the rubric faces? It makes a great deal of difference. One
of the defining characteristics of a rubric is that it encourages behavior to
develop toward its open end. Therefore, when we use the Ascending Levels of Behavior
Rubric to assess student performance, we find that the quality of work improves
over time as it increasingly moves to the most clearly defined end (Shindler,
2002). In the ascending levels rubric, the open and most clearly defined level
is at the top, whereas the open and most clearly defined end of the descending
levels conceptual design used in public behavioral assessment systems is at the
bottom. In each case, we find a great deal of practical and psychological
incentive to exhibit behavior that is defined by the level at the open end of
the rubric.
Dealing with Misbehavior
In the TYS system, there is
no use of public recognition for behavior that is unhealthy or undesirable. If
a student’s behavior violates classroom, school, or playground rules, the
student deserves to be given a consequence. We recommend the use of withdrawal
of privileges or opportunities to participate as the primary form of
consequence in most cases. School beautification, helping the teachers, doing
tasks for the office, and other service-related activities should be left for
students who have earned the right to contribute as a reward.
We also encourage behavioral
contracts and individualized support for students who are struggling to make
healthy behavioral choices.
Contracts are outlined in Chapter
14 of TCM.
Working with Challenging
Students is outlined in Chapter
15 of TCM.
Appendix A: Meeting Students’ Basic Needs (from
TCM Chapter 7)
Intrinsic
motivational techniques cannot be as easily explained as separate techniques or
strategies when compared to the extrinsic techniques. Like any successful
methodology, they must be developed intentionally, but a holistic approach is
most effective. Much of the process of promoting intrinsic motivation involves
the removal of barriers to the students’ abilities to access their inner
motives and satisfiers. Rewards, pain-based motivators, meaningless tasks, learning
in isolation, and a lack of support all act to block intrinsic sources of
motivation. For one’s intrinsic sources of motivation to grow, the learning
context must support them.
It
may be most instructive and practical to examine many intrinsic motivational ideas
within a single structure--that of basic needs. Inquiry and Problem-Based
Learning, Increased Responsibility, and Achieving Personal Growth all make much
more sense when we examine them within the context of how they meet basic
needs. Unlike extrinsic forms of motivation, intrinsic forms are less about
adding something. For instance, basic needs simply exist, and we all have them.
During the school day they are either met within the context of the learning
environment or students will be forced to meet them in alternative ways. In
some cases, the alternate means students use to meet their needs manifest as
disruptive behavior and problems for the teacher or unhealthy habits for the
student.
Basic Needs
Each
of us has fundamental basic needs that we must find a way to satisfy (Glasser
1980). If we are unable to satisfy them, we will experience some type of
dissonance. While theorists vary slightly when identifying the core areas, the
basic human needs for love and belonging, power, competence, freedom, and fun
seem to be inherent and universal.
These
basic needs exist continuously both in and outside of the classroom. The
evidence that a student comes from a home in which their basic needs have been
met is usually quite apparent. Most likely, they act more confident, centered,
and trusting. The time spent at school can often have an even more determining
effect on students’ ability to meet their basic needs than their time away from
school. The activities in which they are engaged are more structured, limiting
their ability to meet their needs more naturally, and in many cases, meeting
one’s need is more challenging at school. As a result, we discover that
students find numerous creative ways to get their needs met during the school
day. Quite often these means lead to what is labeled “inappropriate behavior.”
As
teachers we have no choice but to recognize that students have basic needs, and
that those needs will manifest themselves one way or another. Most students
have the ability to deny their needs for a short period of time, but to do this
day after day would be intolerable. And more importantly, student should not have to endure a school environment that denies
their basic needs. For some teachers it may require a paradigm shift, while
for others it may help clarify their perspective. But a critical ingredient to
successful classroom management is to view all problems though the lens of
basic needs initially. For example, if we look out at our class and see faces
wrought with frustration, a common but highly ineffective response will be to
view that reaction as inconvenient to us and what we had planned. A more
effective reaction, one that will lead to a solution, is to ask ourselves,
“What basic need is lacking right now?” When we view student misbehavior within
the lens of “I need them to know that their behavior is inadequate,” it will
lead us down a management solution dead end. While we are not obliged to meet
every student’s basic need, when we examine the behavior and/or emotional climate
in our class through the lens of
basic needs, problems become illuminated, diagnosis gains coherence, and
solutions become more evident.
When
basic needs are not being met, the reaction by the student (i.e., the coping
mechanisms) can take the form of either an internal or an external reaction. As
each basic need is examined more closely, these reactions become more evident,
as well as how each basic need can be met in the classroom.
Love and Belonging
Each of us
needs to feel that we are loved and that we are a wanted part of a group. The
desire to be accepted by the group is considered by many theorists as the
fundamental human drive (Driekurs, 1974). Moreover, our sense of self
acceptance is greatly influenced by factors within our environment. If we feel
perpetually unloved, alienated or isolated, common internal reactions include a
sense of guilt, worthlessness, loneliness, lowered self-esteem, while common
external reactions include acting out, over-achievement, clowning, and
pleasing. Teachers can give students a greater sense of love and belonging by
recognizing unique qualities and talents, creating an emotionally safe
community environment, and showing genuine care and respect.
Power
Each of us
needs to feel that we have some control over our destiny. If we do not
experience a sense of “agency” in our lives we feel helpless. And as we will
discuss in the next chapter, a sense of power is fundamentally related to the
development of an internal locus of control. If we feel we do not have any power,
common internal reactions include becoming withdrawn and passive-aggressive,
while common external reactions include rebellion and hostility. Teachers can
give students a sense of power by giving students choices, giving
responsibility and opportunities for leadership, giving ownership for the
development of class procedures and the social contract, and refraining from
4-Style management strategies.
Competence
Each of us
wants to feel a sense of self-efficacy. We need to feel that we are capable and
have something valuable to contribute. Much of our identity is connected to
what we can do, and how well we can do it. If we feel useless, unvalued,
incompetent or unappreciated, common internal reactions include losing
motivation and/or a sense of inadequacy, while common external reactions
include bragging, acting overly competent, attention-getting, and
excuse-making. Teachers can give students a greater sense of competence by
focusing on progress and not products, removing conditions in which comparisons
among students are used, recognizing incremental achievement and original
ideas, expressing high expectations, and helping students achieve the goals
they have set for themselves.
Chapter Reflection 7-l: Recall a situation in which you
felt very competent. How did you act? How would you describe your level of
motivation? Conversely, recall a situation in which you felt little if any
sense of competence. How did you act? How would you describe your level of
motivation?
Freedom
Each
of us needs to feel that we are autonomous and have freedom of choice. We must
feel a sense of liberation to be able to express our individuality. If we feel
too restricted or imprisoned, common internal reactions are becoming withdrawn
or resentful, while common external reactions include fighting back, active
resistance and/or seeking paths around authority. Teachers can help students
experience freedom through supporting autonomy and creativity, avoiding
personal praise and disappointment, validating differing viewpoints within the
class, and fostering the attitude that the teacher does not have nor must have
all the answers, and the idea that everyone makes mistakes.
Fun
Each
of us needs to be able to have fun and experience wonder and joy. Fun may be
difficult to define. What is fun for one person may not be fun for another. Yet
we all feel the need to experience enjoyment and whimsy. If we are put in a repressive and/or tedious
environment, common internal reactions include boredom, frustration and
daydreaming, while common external reactions include making one’s own fun,
engaging the teacher in (off-task) games, and hostility. Teachers can promote
students’ sense of fun by the use of humor, providing opportunities for
creative play, making learning engaging and interesting and a thoughtful use of
healthy competition.
Chapter Reflection 7-m: The word “fun” draws different reactions from those
in different positions. Sometimes the idea that learning needs to be fun can
feel oppressive and fill us with guilt or disdain for those who tell us to make
things more fun (such as our students). But take a closer look at the idea of
fun. What makes you happy? What feels like fun? When do you see a look of joy
on the face of your students? Fun need not involve big laughs and a party. How
could you meet your students need for fun, without betraying your values as a
teacher?
As we examine the
conditions that meet basic needs we find that they have the effect of promoting
intrinsic motivation and vice versa. When we assist students on a path of
personal growth, we inevitably meet the needs of power and competence. When we
give increased responsibility, we are not so much adding something or giving
something to the student, we are allowing the basic needs for power,
contribution, and belonging to be fulfilled and the student therefore to bloom.
And as we examine the effect of instruction on motivation in Chapter 13, it
will be evident that creating a learning context in which basic needs are met
is a more effective means to achieving student motivation than bribing students
to do work they find meaningless and unsatisfying.
Appendix B: A Thoughtful Use of Extrinsic Motivation
From
TCM Chapter 7: Adopting a More Intentional and Effective Approach to the
Use of Extrinsic Behavioral Reinforcement
It is a
well-established reality that human behavior can be conditioned by
environmental stimuli. While we can debate the extent to which one’s behavior
is externally conditioned or has its source in more internal drives, as
educators we need to recognize the power of environmental conditioning. If we
examine an effectively managed classroom, we will see a teacher who understands
behavioral principles. That does not mean the teacher will overuse extrinsic
conditioning or even rely on it as a motivational strategy, but will understand
that the forces of behavioral conditioning are operating continuously.
The
starting point to making sense of behavioral conditioning is to understand that
in a conditioning situation there will be something that acts as a focal
event/action/operant and then there is something that happens afterward to
reinforce it. For example if we wished the family dog to consistently fetch a
stick that we throw, we might give the dog a treat each time he/she brought
back the stick, and only if he/she
brought back the stick. In this case the dog learns that when they do the
desired behavior (bringing the stick back), they will be reinforced (obtaining
the doggy treat). Yet, it is important to remember that in one’s efforts toward
behavioral conditioning, especially when it relates to humans, little or none
of the actual conditioning/learning that actually occurs will necessarily
resemble the conditioning/learning that was intended. For example if we examine
most punishments, the intention is to create a disincentive related to the
unwanted action. But what is actually learned is much more complex and
typically takes the form of a disincentive to interact with the source of the
punishment or the creation of a new set of skills to get around the punishment
in the future (we will examine punishments in more detail in Chapter 10).
When
we examine the use of extrinsic rewards in practice, it is understandable why
they are so popular, as well as why some would view their byproducts as
undesirable. In most cases, they work in the short-term to motivate behavior.
But there are several questions that should be asked if one is to use extrinsic
reinforcements for an extended period. They include the following:
- Is the motivation to perform
the behavior increasing, or just the motivation to obtain the reward?
- Will the schedule of
reinforcements be sustainable? Or will a greater amount of reinforcement
be needed in the future (see discussion on weed pulling later in the
chapter).
- What is ultimately being
learned?
- Like the children in the story
above, are we replacing an internal source of motivation with an external
one, and as a result extinguishing our students’ intrinsic motivation?
If you are
attempting to develop a student-centered 1-Style classroom, the frequent and/or
sustained use of extrinsic rewards will be inherently counterproductive. They
will work against the development of such outcomes as self-responsibility and
the inclination to reflect on what will lead to one’s personal growth and/or
the common good of the group--dispositions that are essential to the 1-Style
classroom. On the other hand, they can be part of a very effective
teacher-centered classroom and assist the teacher attempting a 2-Style approach
in his/her effort to promote more efficient student behavior.
For those
who feel compelled to include extrinsic forms of reinforcement among their
motivational strategies, it may be helpful to consider the following guiding
principles for how to use them effectively.
- Relate the reinforcement to a
clearly identified desired behavior. The primary focus should be on the
accomplishing the desired behavior rather attaining the reward.
- The more closely in time the
attainment of the reward is to the desired behavior the stronger the
effect of the reinforcement will be.
- Intermittent and/or random
schedules of reinforcement will be more powerful than regular and
predictable schedules of reinforcement.
- Reinforcements that are given
after the display of an “expected” behavior will be more effective than
arrangements and “deals” made before the desired behavior is performed.
- Avoid putting students in
situations in which they are competing for rewards, especially meaningful
rewards. Only use competition in cases where all students are in an equal
position to display the behavior if they so choose. Rewarding effort, good
choices, cooperation and other things that students can control can be
effective at attaining more of those behaviors. But competition that
includes rewarding winners for ability, personality, parental support,
and/or academic performance will undermine the level of motivation in the
class and can even backfire with many students when it comes to the desired
behavior change.
Following
these guidelines will not lead to higher levels of intrinsic motivation, but
they will likely be effective in changing behavior in the short-term. Moreover,
they will help reduce the dependency of students on rewards and make it easier
to remove them over time. When we do gradually remove the reinforcements, we
should be left with a substantial amount of new “learned behavior” and only a
minimal amount of “withdrawal” from the students who have developed a
dependency on the reinforcement.
Below are
three examples of typical but problematic uses of extrinsic rewards followed by
a more effective strategy in the same situation:
Typical
but Problematic:
“If you
all do your work, I will give the class a prize on Friday.” Problems include: the reward is too far removed in time; the
probability that a reward is going to be needed for every desirable behavior;
and when Friday comes, you will likely be in a difficult spot. It is a
certainty that some students will have met their end of the bargain and others
will have not. Do you see the potential problem?
Better
Idea:
“You
have just spent the entire period focused on a task, that is the first time you
have all been able to do that, I am going to give you all ___ (extrinsic reward
or removal of a negative reinforcer).”
This is better because it was random, immediate, and will cause behavior
change. The students know what they did, so they will likely repeat it. They
will not expect it, but will exhibit behavior that they understand may be
reinforced. A lesson was learned, when we ___
(e.g., do our jobs), the teacher will reward us (recall social frame
development in Chapter 2).
Typical
but Problematic:
“The
group that does the best job of ___ at the end of the day will get a prize.”
Problems include: this is competitive and there will be some resentful
people eventually; the work is done in anticipation of the prize – the prize is
primary and the purpose of the behavior is secondary; and the reinforcement is
not well connected any particular repeatable behavior (good reinforcement
promotes the repetition of desired behavior).
Better
Idea:
“I asked
you to put away ____ and take out ______, this table did it right away without
being asked again, so they will get (thing, time, being first, first choice,
etc).” This is better because: it will change
behavior, as the other tables will be much quicker in the future anticipating
that something similar might happen again; it reinforces your expectations –
real learning took place in a very concrete example; it was immediate and
clearly related both in time and causality; and the focus is on the “expected”
behavior first and the reward second.
Typical
but Problematic:
A “token
economy” or arrangements where students get points for certain behaviors and
the points are added up for some reward at the end of a certain period. Problems include: behavior done
primarily for extrinsic rewards. This is essentially paying students to do what
they should be doing and what we want them to love to do for its own sake. We
are destroying both of those goals.
The schedule of reinforcement is continuous. Continuous reinforcement leads to
a gradual decrease of motivation. It ends up creating a lose-lose decision, “Do
I increase the reward to maintain the motivation level, or do I slowly watch my
students begin to demand an extrinsic reward for everything and increasingly
avoid behaviors that are not rewarded (including just about everything that we
want them to care about in our class)?”
Better
Idea:
If you
are committed to the use of a point system:
- Use it for a short duration at
the start of the year (three weeks or less).
- Use it to clarify your
expectations. Relate your reward system to the critical expectations that
are necessary for the class to function, such as listening, cooperation,
efficient procedures. This process may be useful when attempting to shift
from a 2-Style to a 1-Syle classroom.
- Use only random and/or
intermittent reinforcement schedules. Random is the best. That is,
students realize what the desired behavior is supposed to be (working
cooperatively, listening, being on task, raising hands, etc.) but they do
not know when the reinforcement will occur (If you compare the level of
the desired behavior in a random reinforcement condition vs. a fixed
condition, you will be amazed at the difference).
- Give points and take points
away without warning. Warnings always weaken reinforcements.
- Do not give a large amount of
attention to the points. Attach your emotion to the accomplishment of the
behavior rather than the attainment of the points.
- The ultimate reward cannot be
meaningful or substantive. It cannot relate to grades, your affection, or
something of real material worth. In fact, simply achieving the most
points can be enough of a reward in and of itself, and may be a preferable
reward in our effort to emphasize that the process was the point, not who
won or lost.
- Make it a game for fun and
mutual entertainment, and focus on how it is leading to behavior change.
Again the extrinsic is always presented as a material reminder of
something of real and intrinsic value such as learning or becoming a
better class.
Incentives
Incentives
can take many forms such as prizes at the end of the week for successfully
performing a task or refraining from an undesirable task, or group privileges
for being first or best, or rewarding students who do well on one task the
chance to opt out of a further task. They concretize the non-verbal bargain:
“If you (the student) do something that the teacher has determined is good, you
will get something that you should like.” In this way, incentives can be
helpful in clarifying what is desirable behavior. At their best they can help
promote good habits and shape more functional patterns of action. For example,
if a mother provides a child an incentive to make the bed every day, the child
may become comfortable with that behavior and continue it throughout their
lifetime, even after the incentive is not longer present. In the case of
healthy behaviors that become intrinsically satisfying once they become habits,
this can lead to positive long-term benefits. However, with any extrinsic
reward, we must question whether the incentive has contributed to the
development of good behavioral patterns, or has just bribed students to do
something that they would not have done without the bribe, and will not do once
the bribe has been removed. And if over time the students do not experience any
internal satisfaction from the behavior being induced, the incentive will
eventually lose its power.
Chapter Reflection 7-d: Recall
situations in which you were given rewards for doing a task others wanted you
to do, or to do better. Were you motivated? What is your association with that
task today?
One popular
incentive strategy is that of Preferred
Activity Time (PAT) (Jones, 2000). PAT sets up the bargain that if you (in
this case, the student) apply yourself acceptably to an academic task now, you
will be given the opportunity to do something that you really like to do later. On the surface, this
strategy “works.” That is, it motivates the student to do what it takes to
attain their “preferred activity.” However, as we examine this strategy closer,
we discover that when put into practice, it has two undesirable by-products.
First, while it may work in the short run, like other bribes it will lose its
effect over time. Students will eventually return to their previous level of
motivation for the academic activity. Moreover, they will become accustomed to
the bribe and likely demand it. Second, it will reinforce the principle that
the work that is being done in the academic time is something that is
undesirable. If we bribe students with a preferred activity, we actually
generate the previously-unconsidered question, “preferred to what?” What is the
association that we are creating? Is it that academics are inherently
un-enjoyable? While this strategy is attractive, consider its costs and
long-term effects. And if you feel you need to bribe your students to engage in
learning, you may want to consider the alternative of making the learning
activities in your class engaging and inherently motivating (Chapter 13 will
offer ideas on how to do this).
Chapter Reflection 7–e: Reflect on the following parable:
There was once an old
man who lived by a park and worked the night shift at the factory. During the
day he liked it to be quiet so that he could get some sleep. He lived alone and
did not like children very much. So when the children began to play ball at the
park and make lots of noise, it made him very angry. He tried to ignore the
noise, but it did not work. As he reflected on his dilemma, he was struck by a
cunning plan. The next day, he went to the field and addressed the children. He
told them that he loved the sound of their play, and that he once had children
and it reminded him of them (neither was true, by the way). Then he told them
that if they came to play faithfully, he would pay them each a quarter. The
children were pleased, to say the least, and thought the old man was the greatest.
The next day the old man arrived and paid each child a quarter. He did the same
thing the next day. The children were very happy. The next day he arrived right
on time, but gave the children some bad news. He told them how much he loved to
hear their voices as they played and how it made him so happy (which was a
lie), but he did not have much money and could only pay them a quarter each.
The children were a little disappointed, but agreed to come back and play for
the smaller amount. As promised, he paid them a dime for the next 3 days, but
on the next day he again had some bad news. He told the children that he really
hoped that they would come out and play, but that he was out of money and could
no longer pay them. At this the children were very upset. After a quick
conference, the children decided that they could not play if they were not
going to be paid, and they left, never to return. The old man went home and was
able to sleep in peace and quiet that afternoon.
Do you think the story represents a valid reality? Can
you think of an example of this same principle in your own experience?
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