6. p o s I T I v e r e I n f o r c e M e n T

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1 6. p o s I T I v e r e I f o r c e M e T The way positive reiforcemet is carried out is more importat tha the amout. B.F. Skier We all eed positive reiforcemet. Whether or ot we are cosciously aware of it, reiforcemet is the reaso we cotiue to do may thigs. Eve as adults, we look for positive reiforcemet to exted our motivatio to do thigs. A idividual who is tryig to lose weight is motivated by the fried who gives a complimet o his or her appearace. How may of us would cotiue to work at our jobs if our employer stopped payig us? Providig Maitoba studets with somethig they value i order to icrease a desired behaviour ca be as simple as offerig a smile or as complex as settig up a toke system. Persoal recogitio lets studets kow that teachers are iterested i them ad how they behave, ad are cocered about supportig them i makig positive chages i their behaviour ad learig. Positive reiforcemet also helps to build positive relatioships by modellig appropriate ways of iteractig with others. choose effective reiforcers Effective positive reiforcemet is age-appropriate is at the studet s level of fuctioig has admiistrative ad paretal support is geuie Eve extravagat rewards caot motivate studets to demostrate skills they have ot leared or do ot uderstad. Positive reiforcemet works best whe give immediately after the desired behaviour, or as soo as possible. If the desired behaviour icreases as a result, the the reiforcemet was positive. If ot, the reiforcemet did ot occur. May teachers set up a moitorig system to measure whether desired behaviours are icreasig. For more iformatio, please see Key Elemet 8, Gatherig Data to Uderstad Classroom Behaviour. s u p p o r t i g p o s i t i v e B e h a v i o u r i M a i t o b a c l a s s r o o m s 45

2 Watch for uiteded cosequeces. For example, if studets egage i egative behaviour to get attetio ad the teacher s respose provides that attetio, the egative behaviour will likely icrease. Equal is ot always fair. For some studets, the educator will eed to approach disciplie i a maer that cosiders the studet s exceptioal learig eeds, icludig whether the studet was able to access the iformatio the studet could uderstad the policy or rules the discipliary actios used for the majority of the studets are appropriate for the studet (Maitoba Educatio, Citizeship ad Youth, 2006a, 18) Specific reiforcers that work for oe studet or oe group of studets may ot work for aother. Fidig appropriate reiforcers requires careful attetio ad a uderstadig of idividual studet eeds. Be alert for studets iterests. Typical reiforcers iclude extra recess time, extra computer time, carig for a class pet, or usig special art supplies. Ask studets, parets, last year s teachers, ad other staff what might be a effective reiforcer for a particular studet. Studets of ay age ca complete a checklist of reiforcers to idetify the rewards they would like to ear. Alteratively, teachers ca create a reiforcemet sampler from which studets ca choose. A sampler meu cotaiig a variety of reiforcers also keeps studets motivated. See Tool 5: Elemetary Reiforcer Meu ad Tool 7: Secodary Reiforcer Meu for sample reiforcer meus. Also see Sectio 6: Disciplie Strategies ad Itervetios Support Materials i Towards Iclusio: From Challeges to Possibilities: Plaig for Behaviour (Maitoba Educatio, Traiig ad Youth, 2001) Always give the reiforcer after the desired behaviour, ever before. If the desired behaviour does ot occur ad the reiforcer has already bee give, the result ca be coflict ad oppositioal behaviour. 46 T o w a r d s I c l u s i o

3 Effective reiforcers are cosiderate of the age ad stage of the studet ad idividual eed (i.e., some studets are extremely self-coscious ad do ot wat attetio draw to themselves) are provided immediately after the behaviour has occurred are provided frequetly are paired with a clear verbal descriptio of the behaviour are delivered with ethusiasm are varied eough to maitai iterest are delivered cotiuously at first, ad the more itermittetly later o ca happe o a fixed schedule (e.g., every time a behaviour is observed or every third time a behaviour is observed) or o a variable schedule (e.g., radomly give o the first respose, the the fourth, the the secod, but averaged to a predetermied umber) fade out over time begi combiig material rewards or privileges with social reiforcemet o a cotiuous schedule, movig toward a icreasigly itermittet schedule; gradually move from artificial to more atural reiforcemet social reiforcemet A smile, commet, ad/or complimet ca go a log way toward icreasig or maitaiig positive studet behaviour. May studets eed sigificat amouts of social reiforcemet ad positive attetio. Walkig aroud the classroom gives the teacher opportuities to socially reiforce positive behaviour (ad to aticipate ad proactively hadle problems). Beig at the door to greet studets as they arrive ad spedig at least half the class time walkig amog studets as they work are perhaps the easiest ad most proactive approaches a teacher ca take to reiforce positive classroom behaviour. Build aticipatio Positive reiforcemet builds motivatio (ad possibly excitemet) aroud a expected behaviour. Whe studets kow what reiforcemet they ca expect if they demostrate a particular behaviour, the desired behaviour is likely to occur more quickly ad more ofte. Aticipatio strategies come before the behaviour occurs ad serve to icrease or maitai that behaviour. Tell studets what types of behaviour you are lookig for. Tell them what will happe if they demostrate this behaviour. s u p p o r t i g p o s i t i v e B e h a v i o u r i M a i t o b a c l a s s r o o m s 47

4 Whe they demostrate the behaviour, give them immediate positive feedback ad the reiforcer. Some schools have successfully built aticipatio related to positive reiforcemet whe developig their school-based positive behaviour support ad itervetio usig The Pricipal s 200 Club ad Mystery Motivator strategy (Jeso et al., 2006). I The Tough Kid: Pricipal s Briefcase by Jeso et al., the authors propose establishig a Pricipal s 200 Club, which works o the priciple of Catch Them Beig Good. All staff participate i recogizig studets by givig them 200 Club Tickets as they are successfully followig the expectatios/ demostratig the target behaviour of the school. Studets use the tickets to put their ames o radomly chose squares o a 15 x 15 grid. Whe the grid has a row, colum, or diagoal of 15 wiig ames, the lucky studets get to come dow to the office to receive the Mystery Motivator. The Mystery Motivator is, as its ame implies, a mystery to all the studets up util the wiers are declared. It is a large evelope with a questio mark draw o the outside ad posted i a very visible, iaccessible spot i the school. Iside the evelope, the positive reiforcemet is writte, idicatig what the wiig 15 will receive. It ca be as elaborate or as simple as you wat to make it. The secret of success for the mystery motivator is whe studets do t kow what it will be. They ca t say Oh, I already have oe of those or Who wats to have luch with the pricipal ayways! It builds aticipatio because of the ukow. Iterdepedet Group Cotigecies Iterdepedet group cotigecy programs require a etire group of studets to reach a desigated goal i order to receive reiforcemet. There are several advatages to usig iterdepedet group cotigecies, makig them a appealig optio for teachers. They have bee foud to be cost-effective, time efficiet, ad easy to implemet. I whole-group cotigecy programs, either oe or all of the studets meet the goal ad receive reiforcemet. This makes it less complicated procedurally ad, at the same time, allows for more activities to become available for reiforcemet. I ay type of iterdepedet cotigecy program, cooperatio ad ecouragemet are more likely to occur because it is i everyoe s best iterests to meet the goal. 48 T o w a r d s I c l u s i o

5 A Maitoba teacher shares these iterdepedet cotigecy techiques, which have bee used successfully i the classroom: (1) 30 Days of No Blue Cards = Field Trip or Class Afteroo Party: I had a card chart i the classroom with each perso s ame. If oe of the five classroom rules were violated, a card was flipped uder that studet s ame. Yellow card = warig, red card = 15 miutes after school, ad blue card = 30 miutes after school ad a call home to parets. I tallied each day that o blue card was flipped o the board, ad we cotiued to do this util 30 days were reached. The the class got to pla a field trip. We reached 30 days three times throughout the year. (2) PARTNER POINTS: The studets were seated i parter groups, which chaged at the begiig of each moth. Each parter group was awarded poits for a variety of thigs. The group with the most poits at the ed of the moth received a prize (games, books, gift certificates). I made the prizes very motivatig ad this techique maitaied its usefuless throughout the year! This techique was most beeficial i promotig smooth trasitios betwee subjects, keepig studets o task durig work time, ad keepig the classroom/desks orgaized. May of the teachers i our school (who believe i group seatig versus rows i the classroom) use this tool with MUCH success. The PIZZA PARTY was used specifically for homework checks ad work completio. I set the umber of checks (50), put studets ito homework groups o the chart, ad the summarized the umber of homework checks each group had at the ed of the set period of time. This system of groupig them o the chart istead of doig it idividually ecouraged studets to help their teammates had i the work, fid it, remid each other that thigs are due, etc. Ay studet who got all the checks (eve from a differet group) were also ivited to the pizza party. The Good Behaviour Game is a evidece-based classroom maagemet strategy that rewards youth for ot egagig i aggressive ad disruptive behaviours. Studets are formed ito teams, which are proportioately mixed by geder ad behaviour. Each team receives a check mark wheever a team member exhibits disruptive behaviour, ad a poit for every period of time without (or with few) disruptive behaviours. Iitially, the team with the most poits at the ed of each game period ad week receives a tagible or activity icetive. Later, teams receive more abstract rewards. S u p p o r t i g P o s i t i v e B e h a v i o u r i M a i t o b a C l a s s r o o m s 49