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What was implemented?
What was implemented?
A token economy reward system was chosen for my classroom in order to help my students decrease problem behaviors inside of the classroom. A token economy is defined as being a behavior modification system that helps students to improve their behaviors by earning tokens that can be traded in for a reward after all tokens are earned. My students struggled to follow routines and procedures and simple directions inside of the classroom. Each one of my three students have a behavior goal on the Individual Education Plan. Student one's goal is related to following routines and procedures, following limits and expectations inside of the classroom, and balancing the rights and needs of himself. Student two's goal is related to following routines and procedures, balancing the rights and needs of himself, and solves social problems. Student three's goal is related to following routines and procedures and following limits and expectations. I decided that a token economy would increase their motivation to earn tokens and rewards, so the problem behaviors would decrease. The rewards that they were able to earn were a video break on the whiteboard or IPad, a piece of candy, the swing or a break to play with a favorite toy. The rewards that the students earned were chosen by them. I showed them visuals of what they were able to earn and they selected what they were working for. The token economy consisted of one to five tokens that they had to earn in order to receive the reward. I decided how many tokens each student would earn based on their understanding of the token economy and their motivation to earn the tokens. I was able to determine what was motivating to the students by allowing them to choose what they were working for and then I was able to see if they wanted to earn tokens to get the reward that they picked. Each student had their own individual token board that they could see and transfer from place to place.
When was the token economy reward system implemented?
When was the token economy reward system implemented?
This study was implemented over five weeks. Data was taken starting January 21st and went through February 28. Data was collected every thirty minutes inside of the classroom throughout each day during the study.
How were the diverse needs of my students addressed in this study?
How were the diverse needs of my students addressed in this study?
Diverse needs were accounted for by allowing a smaller number of tokens to be earned depending on the student's need. This allowed each student to work and progress at their own pace. I decided how many tokens each student would earn based on their understanding of the token economy and their motivation to earn the tokens. I also looked at their progress each day to see if I could increase the amount of tokens they needed to earn and still keep them engaged in what they were doing. I looked at how I could support their learning even more by allowing them to pick their tokens and where they wanted to keep them. If the student needed to take the tokens off the wall and put it on their own boards, then I let them do that in order to help them understand the concept of the token economy.
How did my study support culturally responsive practices to positively impact student learning?
How did my study support culturally responsive practices to positively impact student learning?
My study supported culturally responsive practices to impact student learning because each student had an equal opportunity to learn and improve their behaviors inside of the classroom. They each were able to earn tokens and rewards at their own pace, so it is appropriate for each individual student. I used language that is friendly and easy to understand for these students, so they knew what was expected of them. I also picked tokens that were something that they were interested in, so that was another way that I practiced culturally responsive teaching inside of my classroom. Each student had a choice as to what kinds of tokens they wanted to earn. One of my students is interested in space, so I gave him the choice of earning the planets as his tokens. Another student is interested in animals, so I gave him the choice of earning animals as his tokens. Each student had an equal opportunity to earn tokens based on their good behavior inside of the classroom.
How were internal and external stakeholders involved in my study?
How were internal and external stakeholders involved in my study?
Both internal and external stakeholders played a very large roll in my study. My building behavior specialist came into my classroom multiple times to observe how the token economy reward system was working with my students. She offered me many different suggestions to make little changes throughout the entire study. One suggestion that she offered me was to place the tokens they had not earned yet on the back of their token box, so they could visually see, in two places, how many tokens they had left to earn. This suggestion helped my students to stay motivated to earn all of their tokens in order to earn a reward. I had to collaborate with my two paraprofessionals many times throughout the study to ensure they understood what was expected of the students and of them. Collaboration with my pre-school team allowed me to implement my token economy reward system inside of their classrooms when my students would integrate into their classroom. They provided me with advice to make this effective inside of their classroom with my students. My cadre associate came into my classroom to observe the use of the token economy reward system many different times. She helped me to increase or decrease the token's that individual students were using as she could tell they were ready to increase or if there was no improvement, to decrease. She also helped me to explain the reward system in a different way that would help my paraprofessionals understand how to use it. Her help allowed me to make improvements in my token economy, which decreased my students problem behaviors even more. I collaborated with my cadre cohort and instructors to get advice on how to best fit the needs of my students. I also reached out to the Director of Preschool Programming in my district to help me implement this into my classroom and see if she had any background knowledge of using this with young students. She helped me to implement this to the best of my ability. Without the collaboration from my internal and external stakeholders, this study would not have been as successful with my students as it was.
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