Hey Everyone! I think I am a week late for my blog post.... sorry about that, but better late than never I suppose.
I
was wondering what all of you do about rewards/ consequences in your
classroom. I struggle with these for a couple reasons. First of all, I
feel that my time with students is so limited. I haven't yet found a
system that I feel is consistent but that takes essentially no time.
Even spending 15 seconds to put down whatever instruments I'm holding or
walk back to the other side of the room to record something feels like
too much to me, is so disruptive to the flow of class, and takes my mind
out of the lesson. Secondly, I feel that there are a lot of rewards
offered all the time to kids and that, to a certain extent, children are
not interested in showing their best except for some immediate "prize" -
candy or a movie or something. At my urban school this is particularly
the case and while I am very reluctant to give in to a system such as
this, I notice that almost every other teacher does that sort of thing
and by not doing it, I am at a disadvantage. This seems especially the
case in this kind of environment since parent phone calls are much less
effective than they are in my suburban school. I have had some success
with having classes earn game days by collecting points, but I also find
this is a distraction to the students at times and they spend all their
energy worrying about whether they get a point for each and every task.
Of
course we all know the best classroom management is a good lesson and
this takes care of a lot, and so as my teaching gets better, my
students behavior does as well, but I still feel I have failed to
consistently draw that line that allows students to understand exactly
what is okay and what is not.
Do you give rewards for good behavior? What are your consequences for acting out?
Thanks everyone! Have a good week!
Katherine
P.S.
Does anyone else feel that the things that you struggled with in your
development are your strengths as a teacher and the areas that you did
not struggle are your weaknesses as a teacher? It seems to me that
everything that was a challenge to me as a kid or young adult is so easy
to explain or help students through but those areas in which I did not
struggle I feel less equipped to address as a teacher. I struggled in
plenty of areas as a child but behavior was not one of them. I was just
well behaved because I wanted my teachers to love and respect me. In
fact I was terrified to ever do wrong, but I would love the insight of
some of you who pushed the boundaries as a kid. What worked for you?
Katherine,
ReplyDeleteI think reward systems are a pain, even though they can be effective!! I have tried several different things... stickers, stamps, a checklist. I think the main problem for me is not the students, but my OWN inconsistency. I can NEVER keep up with the stickers (my regular go to system) and then I just get lazy. Like you said, you might be really into something, then it's all of a sudden time to line up, and you don't have time or just forget to put a point/sticker or whatever on their chart.
And then they keep bugging you about it!!
I think it's important to point out what you said about they are already bombarded with these reinforcers that adding another one to their plate may seem ineffective. There is this Effective School-wide Discipline program where the entire school participates with the same system; in theory, it sounds great to have it all the same across the board. But the one school that implemented this method when I was teaching there kind of hyped it up at the beginning and let it fizzle... again, consistency is the key, I suppose.
This year so far I have not implemented a reward system and things are going okay without it. So I'll keep my sanity for now!!
I have no reward system in place at this point. My district forbids the use of food or movies as rewards. We are never allowed to give candy. About the only things that I can offer are stickers or a "game day." I don't usually use the game day idea, since I have a hard time following through when it's not a convenient time to set their other work and projects aside.
ReplyDeleteI'm so interested in your assertion that we tend to be better at explaining and maintaining the the things that we struggled with as kids. I have had a similar theory about this in relation to my own struggles with theory, ear training and reading notation. It's strange, but I seem to be able to get my kids to understand it much better than I did until I was in my college music program. Isn't that embarrassing? But I struggled so much, that I think that I learned to analyze and break things down better because I had to work so hard at it.
Annie, I definitely agree with you and I feel somewhat annoyed that the culture in one of my schools seems to put pressure on me to have something like that. Rob, I like that your district doesn't allow it. I think that's the way to go.
ReplyDeleteAs I said, I think there are too many rewards out there sometimes. I'm not at all interested in implementing anything in the school I'm at most days. The vast majority of discipline issues there are handled easily enough by taking away an instrument for a few minutes or something like that. But I have to admit that I am struggling with two classes in my urban school. A kindergarten with 26 kids, some of whom don't speak English well and many of whom struggle to follow any directions regardless, and a 4th grade of nice kids but who are just all over the place, and extremely apt to be noisy even when I keep them active, assign them seats carefully, etc. I'm open to ideas and suggestions if you have any!
And Rob,
ReplyDeleteYes, isn't that so true? Everything I felt to be more of a challenge for me I feel I can explain so easily now to anyone else. Just proof that those struggles aren't for naught!
Katherine--
ReplyDeleteI made these silly "gold slips" printed on yellow paper that students earn for right answers occasionally (not every time), end-of-class review, and helping out. I am convinced they'll do anything for these things! Students hold on to them, I collect them quarterly, and they get 2 points each on their lowest grade of the quarter. This works beautifully in the middle school setting, does not require record keeping on my part, and requires the student to be responsible. I also saw MUSIC MONEY on Pinterest!
I think it's important to be clear on behavior management vs. rewards. Having a behavior management plan is important for your class. Music is, in itself, a powerful reinforcer, and can be very successfully incorporated in your behavior management plan. Some students may benefit from something concrete like stars, or Karen's gold slips (great idea Karen) - I use cut out stars, and raise these on my board after every transition and reflection on what we have done. They reflect the classes success at teamwork and completing our lesson objectives. Another point, is reflection - I try to incorporate self-reflection somehow in every grade level I teach. With middle school, I had a chart that students would give themselves point (1-4 scale, 4 being the most) on what they accomplished that day. I would use those points towards their participation average. It was interesting, students were much harder on themselves than I would be. But I have used similar ideas based on that theme. I feel that the more the students are involved in their own "reward" process - as Karen said, with more responsibility - the more success you'll have with classroom management. Also, no - down - time. Sequencing, is crucial. I sing directions in between activities, to keep the flow.
ReplyDeleteI would love to observe you.
Delete