Hi, I'm new to teaching...and dealing with children who are six years old(first and second special ed). Today was the first time my kids were able to choose an item from the treasure chest. The way our incentive program works is if they have five star stickers on their incentive sheet(one for each day) they get an item from the treasure chest at the end of the week. I made this clear over and over to them--that only those with five stars would get an item. The way a "star" is earned is by ending the day with their name in the "smile" or "super smile" section of our behavior chart(it has four levels--super smile, smile, sad, crying) Anyways two children(who behaved horribly this week on most days) were crying b/c they did not get to choose from the treasure chest! I'm wondering if I should rethink this program if it's making my kids cry and feel bad about themselves........or is this normal given their age? Any thoughts?
When you don't do well, you aren't supposed to be all warm and fuzzy inside. Feeling shame for misbehavior is not necessarily a bad thing. Not feeling bad is the reason a lot of kids these days don't have a conscience. I have a crying kid this year and I'm sick of it already. She cries when I ask her to stop leaning back in her chair or when she didn't catch a football at the pep rally.
I think it is fine if the kids who don't deserve a reward don't get one. But, if you are asking if your system is appropriate for the level of your kids, then that is a different thing altogether. Ideally, your expectations should be just challenging enough for your students, but not so difficult that they can't see the possibility of success. If you think the goals are possible for the ones who messed up this week, then continue. If you think that they will be demotivated by the plan, then tweak it.
I think you have to wait/give it time, to see if it will cause them to improve their behavior in the upcoming week. So what if they cried the 1st time they didn't get a prize. Let's see if they'll improve their behavior next week...now that they know you mean business.
Do they have to get five stars in a row to get a prize? In other words, if they get 2 stars this week and 3 next week can they get a prize? Because if they have to have a "perfect" week to get a prize, some children will never be able to achieve that. I think that tears the first few times is normal. You can remind them of how sad they felt next time they need to make a smart choice. But, as someone else said, the prize has to be ultimately attainable for all students.
I do the 5 stars and a reward thing in my classroom too (with 2nd graders). I do, however, make it 5 stars cumulatively (stars carry over from week to week). It seems to be a real incentive for my kids who've not earned their daily star to see the other kids earning their 5 and getting rewarded for it. My question is...with your special students who are having behavior problems, is waiting for 5 stars too much to ask them to do? Maybe a daily reward (something small) so that they are rewarded immediately for a good day, and then a HUGE celebration when they earn 5 stars?
Thank you all for your help! My stars do carry over--so they don't have to start over if they dont have a perfect week--three stars from this week will carry over to next week so some will get treasure chest priviledges mid-week! I have a couple children who may need to see more immediate rewards so I may establish another daily rewards system on a smaller scale--I'm going to see how next week goes!
When I have had special needs children I found a whole day too long, (they'd never get a sticker!) so I started to give stickers for each class (about an hour) and they had to score 10 stickers to get a reward. So with 25 hours in a week, 25 chances to score, the kids had a fair chance of getting a reward (which was often computer or game time). Stickers were never taken off and could be carried over, and often a warning like, "Do you think you will get a sticker for this lesson?" was enough to get them on the straight and narrow. Of course there were different requirements for various kids - some had to finish their work, some just had to have a fair go - you know your kids. I think I would use the tears as a teaching opportunity for the kids. Depending on their verbal ability (I teach older kids so this may not work for you) I make them tell me what happened. Something like: Why are you crying? (Didn't get computer time). Why didn't you get computer time? (Didn't get enough stickers). Why didn't you get enough stickers (Either - I didn't do what you said or, my favorite, you wouldn't give them to me!). Why not? etc etc etc. What do you need to do to get stickers? (Do what I am told, or whatever). Will you do that today/now/after lunch? (hopefully yes). Do you want me to remind you?.... I like the way you have started off with positive ideas (rewards instead of punishment/consequences), and you sound really cued in - hope all continues well for you, Miss P.
I would start off small at the beginning of the year. Maybe go 1/2 days the first week to catch the hang of the system and reap rewards....then move to 1 per day.........then one for every two days.....etc. By November, I would move to all week and see how it goes. There are ALWAYS going to be a couple of kids that your system doesn't work for. I tweak it for them....even down to every half hour(but the rewards are smaller)
I teach a K-2 sp. ed class and personally I think that students do not need to receive "treasure box" every day or every week. Make a big deal about their getting a sticker and working towards the treasure box. Children need to learn that they can't get everything that someone else has. I always tell my older students that life is not fair and that sometimes you have to work harder to get something and sometimes things will be really easy for them. It sounds like your students were fine with not earning their daily star but did not really understand that they would not get to go to the treasure box without 5 stickers. Give them a couple of weeks so they can see that even though they did not get to go the treasure box one week, that they could go the following week. I give out tickets throughout the day for making good choices. So they don't do things just to get a ticket, some days I may give out tickets 5 times throughout the day and sometimes it is just once. On Friday's my students can count their tickets and trade them in or save them. 8 tickets=a treat (granola bar, fruit snack; 10 tickets=treasure box; 15 tickets=treat and treasure box. I am trying to teach them delayed gratification by saving their tickets for an extra week to get a treat and the treasure box. If my students are on "loss of priveleges" they cannot trade in their tickets. I find this a lot cheaper than having them choose from the treasure box each week.
True. And, anyway, you don't want them working just because they get treats. However, they do need positive feedback of some sort. Did you see the thread about the Easy button from Staples? The kids love the opportunity to ring it. A simple bell would work, too, as would a chance to toss a foam ball into a bucket, to give themselves a check on a chart, etc.
I am looking for a mini reward system for a specific student and this thread sparked some ideas for me. I LOVE the foam ball in the trash can. I could get the Walmart smilie face small ball. It's fun, quick and immediate reinforcement. Perfect for teaching this kid he "CAN" do it by himself. I love it!! I also thought about getting the walmart smilie multicolor pen and after 10 stickers (max 5 per day..for different times of the day) he could do a paper using this "teacher" pen. How about copying those mazes and puzzles (or something online theme related) fun pad pages. For this student I thought I could use ribbon award cut outs (paper) and write "I CAN" and then let him spend 10 min decorating it at the end of teh day and wear it home to mom. (I'm thinking this might get old though). This student didn't really earn many class reward dollars. I fudged it and added a few to his pouch just so he had the exact number to get a reward. I know that's bad, but I didn't want ANY student to go home without a reward on the first week. He really does have a heart and just has independence issues. Later in the year we do see some students that don't have enough. We help them see that they did earn some good behavior that week, but needed to work on xyz, but we believe in them and know that they can do it the next week. Some students would even hold their money and wait especially when during the second half of the year we do it auction style (great concepts!). It's funny to watch them bid $40 on a $1 glow stick.
I agree with Usapdaisy - sometimes working towards earning 'things' sends the wrong message - our society is so materialistic as it is... I have my kids earn towards a reward - but it's not something tangible... I had them brainstorm possible individual ideas such as: -being first to select classroom job for a week -having lunch in the classroom with a friend and the teacher (this is a big one) -picking the story for storytime for a day You get the idea... these rewards are very valuable to the kids - but somehow they don't elicit the same 'jealous' affect of actual prizes. Just my 2 cents.
