Using a classroom based reward system...
Provides a clear common incentive
Increases sense of community
Gives flexibility in structure
Overview
Reward system must be explained and whole class based where any student can help continue to the reward.
Token economy
Link system
Mr. Potato head pieces
Referee competition
Core Components
Must reinforce expected behavior
Expected behavior must be communicated and known by students
Is consistently monitored
Has a clear path to earning incentive
Proactive Implementation
A classroom based reward system can be introduced in the initial classroom management system where students are fully aware and participate in the creation of group incentives and how to earn the incentive.
Responsive Implementation
Responsively introducing a classroom based reward system requires the supervising adult to work with the student, group, or class to determine an incentive that the whole class could benefit from and allowing the student to help craft how the incentive will be earned. This can be done individually where the student is earning the reward for the class or as a whole group.
Connection
If the need is connection then the whole class should work together to determine the reward. This may look like adding missing letters to the incentive when members of the classroom show expected behavior.
Skills Training
If the need is skill building then the ways of earning the reward should be boiled down to 3-5 expectations and when a point or a step is taken closer to earning the reward, the reasoning is explicitly tied to which expectation earned it and why.
Awareness
If the need is awareness then the student should begin to journal ways they are able to earn the classroom based reward and hold a class meeting in which the ways are shared.
Emotional Regulation
If the need is regulation then a way of earning the classroom based reward may be to use a coping strategy in a point of contention.
Consider Factors Prior to Start
Student factors-
Gender, race, function, topography, family dynamics, interpersonal relationships
Contextual factors -
Resource availability, classroom instruction, physical space, time, technology
Intensifying or Fading During
Duration
Frequency
Feedback
Reinforcement
Goals
REMINDER
Make a note to document when you're starting this intervention.
After 10 consecutive school days of implementation, use collected data to determine the intervention's effectiveness.