Classroom Incentives

Do you ever feel like you are just handing out bribes to get your students to work and show the correct behavior? 

Do you get frustrated that the students expect a REWARD when they should just DO THE WORK? 

These are common struggles for teachers when trying to reinforce positive behaviors with students in their classrooms.
So.......how can you make it work better? 
Step back and look at your students in your class. What really motivates them? Is it another new pencil or a piece of candy? Would they rather have quality time with you at lunch or sit at your desk during instruction? Think outside the box with your rewards and incentives. Every prize does not need to be a tangible reward. There are so many ways to use classroom incentives without spending any of your money or using little prizes. 
I like to do Friday Lunch Parties in my classroom. My students know if they did not earn any checkmarks during the entire week, they can eat lunch with me and spend recess in my class if they choose. They LOVE this! We eat, talk, sometimes watch a movie, listen to music, have a dance party, etc. This is also a way to build those relationships with your kiddos and get to know them better. During our remote learning the past few months, I missed our Friday lunches the most. So, what did I do? We had a lunch party over Google Hangout and ate our lunch, played a few games, and just took time to talk and catch up.  It was absolutely wonderful!
Some other ideas that are quick and easy to use for classroom incentives are :
1. Give tickets throughout the day for good behavior and have a drawing at the end of the day to sit at the teacher's desk, bring a stuffed animal to school, or eat lunch in the classroom with a friend the next day. 

2. Earn Compliments: When other teachers recognize your class is doing the behaviors you expect in your classroom and tell you, the class earns compliment points. When they earn a set amount of points, the class can pick a type of reward party such as: bring your device to school, PJ day, extra recess, or a movie break. 
3. If you are working on a specific skill like walking in the hallway, you could try to using the "Mystery Walker" tool. When you line up your students, you pull a chip out of the bucket with a student's name on it. The class does not know who you chose. You watch that child all the way to the location you are going and if they showed the skills you were looking for, they can earn an extra ticket toward the raffle or earning classroom cash. This is such an easy and fun way to reward a behavior you are working on. 

Now...it is still ok to give the occasional piece of candy, little toy, or sticker. Some kids are just really motivated by those types of things.  Just try to remember to incorporate other types of incentives with those students too. You don't want them to think they get a prize for everything they do in the classroom. Remember: Praise and positive words work with everyone!

There are so many ways that teachers can find to reward their students that do not involve giving them a toy or candy every day. Be creative! Think outside of the box!  I would love to hear your ideas. 

Token economy

Are you looking for a way to decrease a specific behavior with one of your students? Does the child talk out when they shouldn't? Are they having trouble keeping their hands to themselves? Are they finishing their work? 

One strategy I like to use is a token economy system. I have a student who does not like to finish his work and is very easily distracted. I decided to try a token economy system to improve his work completion and time-on-task.

First, I needed to find what the student was interested in. The little guy I work with is very interested in the army.  He loves anything army so I knew this would be motivating to him.  I made tokens that were like the army men from the movie Toy Story. It can be hard sometimes to use the child's fascination when it could be considered inappropriate. We talk daily about how he can like the army but we have to play and talk about it safely and respectfully at school.  Here is an example of what the tokens looked like. I copied the tokens on cardstock and double laminated them to help make them last. 

This is also the time to talk to the student about what they want to earn when they meet their goal. 

Next, I added the soft side of velcro circles to a plastic photo box. I bought the photo boxes at Michaels. 

Inside the box are 6 tokens for the child to earn. I also put the reward in the box if it is small enough or I write on the top of the box what he is working for with a wipe-off marker. The box says: I am working for___________ and the velcro circles are under the writing. 

Then, I put the rough side of the velcro on each of the 6 army tokens I made and I put the tokens in the box. I keep the box in front of him at the table where we work. When he is working on his assignment and staying focused, I pull a token from the box and put it on the top of the box. When he has all 6 tokens, he gets the reward in the box.  Rewards can be simple: a package of fruit snacks, stickers, or a little toy. Other options can be iPad time, extra recess or free time, lunch with the teacher, etc. The most important thing is that the reward is motivating to the child. Once the child has met their goal, you can put the tokens back in the box and start again with the next assignment or work activity. 
Token economies are quick and easy to make and use. They give great data for the teacher on specific skills and children enjoy using them. There are many ways to modify this token economy. Instead of the photo box, you can use a clipboard, a laminated index card, or any way you find that works for you. I like this system because it has a place for the tokens, it is small enough to transport, and prizes can fit inside.
So....what do you think? Will a token economy work for you? If you need help creating one, please let me know and I would love to help you out. Once you have it made, you can use it for any behavior. 
Have a GREAT DAY!

Daily behavior chart

As a special education teacher, I help many classroom teachers with students that are displaying inappropriate behaviors in classroom settings.  One of my go-to interventions is a daily behavior sheet that focuses on the specific behaviors that need to be worked on first and that impact the child the most. I LOVE this intervention because it is easy to make and implement, it gives you data, and this chart is a great way to communicate behavior to parents daily. 
What do you need to make a daily behavior chart? This is the best part, I simply make my charts using WORD or Google Docs. Here are the steps to get you started: 

1.  First, I insert a table that follows the child's schedule throughout the day. I break up the day by class or activity into individual rows. **I like to break up the day into morning and afternoon to give the child a chance to start over if their morning did not go well.**  

2. Next, I have the classroom teacher pick 2 or 3 behaviors that they want to focus on first and I put those behaviors in the columns at the top of the chart. 

3. Then, I have the teacher interview the child and see what toy, tv show, video game, superhero, etc. motivate them and I add those pictures as a watermark to the chart. 

 4. Next, I set up the criteria and goals for the chart. This can be done in a few ways. One way is adding a simple happy or sad face or circling yes or no for each behavior during each class period.  You count up the happy faces or YES's at the end of the morning/afternoon and see if the child met their goal. I like to use 80% accuracy, but sometimes you need to start with a lower accuracy so the child sees success with the chart and is motivated to use it. 

Another way is to use a point system, 2: No prompts needed, 1: 2 or fewer prompts needed, 0: more than 2 prompts were needed. (I like to use this system when I have specific iep goals that I'm tracking.) Again, you will count up the points for the morning/afternoon and see if the child met their goal you set. 

5. I also have the teacher interview the child to see what they would like to earn if they meet their goal. This is where you can get creative and add your own twist.  For me, it depends on the child. Some students need an immediate goal for the morning and afternoon. Some students can earn a sticker on a sticker chart if they meet their morning goal and afternoon goal. Once they fill a row, they can pick a prize. I also have a prize when they fill their ENTIRE chart. There are many ways to work the reward the system. 

6.  At the end of each day, you record the data and make a copy of the form and send it to the parents. This is a great way to include the parents in the plan and keep them up-to-date on their child's behavior. Many parents will add a reward at home if they meet their goals and this also helps with buy-in with the plan. 

So....what do you think? Do you think this could help you with a student?  It takes a little time to create the form but you can easily edit the form for different students and behaviors.  Here a few forms I have used to give you ideas:

Here is a template to help you get started:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1TMh-p4YheW9Qdd7zWvg0N8PGtpjMfjv16WqeLaMyhHg/edit?usp=sharing

If you would like any help creating a daily behavior sheet, please reach out to me in the comments. I would love to help you out.  Have a great day!

Talk-outs

I'm not sure how many times a day I hear, "Mrs. Thompson", "Mrs. Thompson", "Teacher", "I need help", yelled out in my classroom.  To be honest, I was doing a walking workout video the other day and I swear the background music was saying "Mrs. Thompson" several times throughout the song.  I told my husband I needed to somehow tape it and show my students what they sound like.  LOL :) 
So....what do you do about CONSTANT talk-outs in your classroom? Talk-outs cause many of the checkmarks my students receive in our RtI behavior system. I try to be consistent with classroom procedures, give visual and verbal cues, and reward students that are not blurting out, but I still have a few kiddos that are not catching on.
I have found a few things I like to do to help decrease talk-outs in my classroom. The first thing I do is read this book in the first or second week of school.  The book is Lacy Walker, Nonstop Talker written by  Christianne Jones and illustrated by Richard Watson. There are some fun character education lessons that go along with this book on teachers pay teachers. I like to read the book and then I have the students tell me the characteristics of a good listener. We make a chart and I keep that chart up all year long. I also have each student make their own "Lacey Walker" owl and then they write a goal of how they will listen more or work on talking out. It is a fun way to start the school year while working on an important skill needed for the classroom.

Another idea I like to use is giving the students talking tokens at the beginning of each week. I saw this idea on teachers pay teachers and created my own version. I give each student a certain amount of talk-out tokens on Monday. If they have at LEAST one left on Friday, they earn a small prize from me. The prize is usually a piece of candy, a sticker, or a little trinket. The students have the tokens on their desk.  When they talk out, I walk by and take a token or they have to give it to me. I do differentiate this for students who really struggle with this skill. Those students will start with more tokens each week or they have an individual daily goal with their tokens. This has worked really well for me. I also give a homework pass or a certificate for certain incentives in the classroom if students keep ALL of their talk out tokens. This is also an easy way to keep data for individual behavior plans for tier two or three interventions for RtI.   

I have another book I really like to use with my students. This book is called, My Mouth is a Volcano by Julia Cook. My Mouth Is A Volcano takes an approach to the habit of interrupting and teaches children a fun way to help them manage their thoughts and words. This story provides parents and teachers with a way to teach children the value of respecting others by listening and waiting for their turn to talk. I like to make a class book after we read this story. Each child will draw a volcano, and they will finish the writing prompt: 
"When I really want to say something, I can _________________". The students love to grab the book during the year and read it to each other. 

These are a few ideas I like to use to help with talking out. I do have to say after doing remote learning the past months, I would have LOVED to have heard a few talk-outs. I sure missed being in the classroom with my students and feeling and hearing the buzz of learning from my classroom. I did find an easy way to work on talk-outs during Zoom or Google hangouts.....the joy of the MUTE button. :) Unfortunately, there is not a mute button in the daily instruction of little lives.  If you have any ideas you love to use for talk-outs, feel free to email me. I love to learn new ways to help my kiddos!  Have a HAPPY FRIDAY!