consequences vs. prizes

Home

Chat

Blogs

Collection

Directory

Home : 2001 : August : 16

consequences vs. prizes
By Julianne

I agree with you that a prize every week seems like a lot of prizes. And to have to write home each time a child doesn't get a prize seems a bit over the top as well.

There are plenty of good discussions on these boards
about classroom rules and consequences. You can get some ideas and try them out. Basically what you're looking for are a few simple rules that will cover the vast majority of misbehaviors you might encounter. "Keep your hands, feet and mouths to yourself" is a good example. No need for a separate rule about talking out of turn. That's keeping your mouth to yourself. The point is to

make it easy for students to remember what they must do to be in compliance. Once you have set your rules you need two forms of reinforcement - positive reinforcement for good behavior and punishment or consequences for poor behavior. Try to weigh in more heavily on the positive reinforcement. That DOESN'T mean you have to give prizes every week. In fact, it ruins the effectiveness of prizes when you hand them out so freely. Other positive reinforcers - a smile, a word or praise, a nod, a pat on the back, a privilege like extra recess. Give these liberally. My partner and I use prizes only occasionally. Your consequences for poor behavior should be immediate, absolute and ideally a natural result of the behavior itself. An example would be removing a child from an art activity because he was misusing the materials. The natural consequence of misusing materials is the inability to create the art. Often in school settings our consequences aren't very natural. They can still work if you are consistent. Some good consequences - miss a recess, sit out of an activity, sit away from the group, lose a chance for a reward, a frown, a shake of the head, having a conference with parents.

A discipline plan gives students the framework within which a class operates. It should be fine tuned regularly. Drop things that aren't working and add something new. Novel ideas keep the students' attention and will be effective for a while just because they are new. And finally, remember that your expectations are a very important part of the equation. If you expect the students to behave they will try very hard to prove you right. If you expect misbehavior they will still try very hard to prove you right. So try to tune your attitude toward "Great Expectations"!