Module 4 Unit 5 Activity 1: Applying Classroom Rules and Procedures

It seems obvious, but Marzano (2010) reminds us that for rules and procedures to be effective, there must be positive and negative consequences. In the real world, if the speed limit is set at 60 mph but there are no police present, then quite soon drivers will edge past 70 and even 80 if they think they can get away with it. The same is true of the classroom and Marzano is adamant that teachers must use both positive and negative consequences frequently. Students all of ages should be praised when they follow the rules, but violations should never be left unchallenged. Students appreciate consistency and time spent reinforcing the behaviour you want to see in the classroom will pay dividends in the long run.


Positive Consequences:

Marzano (2010) warns us to be careful with rewards and make sure they are appropriate and an effective motivator rather than the sole focus of the students. There are a variety of options when it comes to positive consequences and teachers may be best served by using a pick and mix approach. If they consistently use the same form of reward then they may find its effect lessens with time. Teachers can use simple verbal and non-verbal acknowledgement. They could offer tangible rewards, such as small snacks or drinks. Activities or privileges, such as playing a game or being first in the lunch line, can also be effective.

Teachers can also set up some form of token economy system, with the students receiving tokens for good behavior and losing tokens for bad. Students can then use these tokens to purchase snacks or activity privileges. Marzano’s review of the research literature indicates that token economies are the most effective form of positive consequence that a teacher can use. This may well be true, but another good idea is to keep the lines of communication open with your students. If you got the students to help in drafting the rules and procedures, then why not get their input for the consequences as well. One idea might be to think of five types of positive reinforcement and have students rate them.

Teachers also need to be aware the frequency and timing of the positive reinforcement. This may vary depending on age of the students. Teachers should always aim to praise good behavior as soon as it occurs, and initially they should try to praise students as often as possible. Once the students have established patterns of good behavior, and so as not to lessen the effect of the praise, teachers may want to reduce the frequency of their praise.

 Teachers should also keep in mind the age of their students when they give praise. An elementary school student might welcome verbal praise that the whole class can hear, but this could be quite embarrassing for a high school student. With older grades teachers might be best served offering praise quietly so that only the target student can hear, unless the praise is aimed at the whole class. Students may also need to learn how to accept positive reinforcement. Some students may reject praise because they have low self-esteem or have suffered dome form of abuse. Bain (2007) identified the problem of ‘sandwiched praise’ where a small amount of praise is given between large chunks of negative feedback. With these types of students Bain recommended using ‘drop praise’, where the teacher spots some good behavior and while walking past the student ‘drops’ the praise and walks away, leaving the student unable to reject or argue against the praise.

Taking all this into account I now have a good idea of how to go about using positive reinforcement in class. It’s good to see that token economies are considered to be effective as we use a similar system at my current school, although in place of tokens we use credit and penalty points. Teachers can award the credit points when they feel that the students have made a special effort on a project or homework, or they can be given as a reward for a high test score. Teachers also use them as rewards for games and activities that they play in the classroom. The students can’t exchange the credit points for homework, but they can be used to cancel penalty points that they have picked up for poor behavior. Two credit points cancel one penalty point and at the end of the each week the points are tallied and the students with the highest number of credit points are rewarded with a break from the dreaded morning exercise. Korean schools are very keen on having the students exercise at 6am every morning, but you can imagine that these exercise sessions are less than popular with the students. This reward serves as a good motivator for the pupils, without being overly extravagant.

In the classroom then, I use a mix of verbal and non-verbal methods to convey praise and I also use the credit point system described above. Giving tangible rewards like stickers or candy to high school students would not really be age appropriate. As an example, I have a student in my AP Comparative Government class who is very talkative. He is a very bright student but he often seeks to lead the class off at a tangent simply because he is enthused by an idea, or he wants to share a news story he read. With time being quite critical in these AP test prep classes I have to rein him in, but I don’t want to force all the students to raise their hands every time they want to speak. After class a few weeks ago I asked Simon to stay behind and we had a short chat. I told him I appreciated his enthusiasm and wished that we could explore certain parts of the course in more detail but time was a key factor. I asked him to try to focus exclusively on the textbook material for the first 45 minutes of class and promised that I would set aside the last 5 minutes of class for more open discussion. Simon responded very well to this chat and I used positive reinforcement whenever I could to reward him for his cooperation. I could see that on occasion in class he would start to go off on a tangent and then catch himself and suggest we talk more about that issue at the end of class. I would give him a thumbs-up or quietly say well done as I passed his desk. I also made sure to give him credit points as a reward whenever he suggested a newspaper article that was particularly relevant to our studies.


Negative Consequences:

Marzano (2010) makes it very clear that the most effective way of stopping bad behavior is to be proactive. Most discipline issues are minor in nature and can be nipped in the bud very quickly if the teacher is switched on (withitness), and aware of what is happening. Marzano also recommended arranging your classroom so that you are never more than four steps away from any student and this should help the teacher to occupy the whole room. By constantly circulating and making your presence felt you will be able to notice problems early and take avoiding action before the problem spirals into drama.

Marzano also recommends using a series of graduated actions and I have found this approach to be very effective in the classroom. If I’m lecturing at the blackboard at the front of the room and I notice that two students are talking at the back of the class I will first try to make eye contact with them while continuing to talk. If this is not successful I will then start to walk towards their desks, which will be effective in nine out of ten cases. If I still haven’t caught their attention then I will quickly say the students’ names and we will move on. The interruption to the class should be kept to a minimum and only in very rare circumstances have I had to interrupt the class for longer than a moment. Last year I was drawing a graph on the board and had my back mostly to the class. With my back turned and due to the fact that I was talking I hadn’t noticed that two students had started niggling each other about an issue that had occurred before class, but was still festering. By the time I realized there was a problem the two boys were engaged in a minor tussle at the back of the room. I had to completely stop the class, take both of the students outside, get them calmed down, and then issue punishments. In total we probably lost around fifteen minutes of class time, all because I wasn’t with it. I now draw all my graphs turned sideways to the students so I can keep an eye on what is going on.

Marzano (2010) further recommends using direct cost consequences like timeouts or loss of privileges. At my school we use the penalty and credit point system that I have already described, and these penalty points come with a direct cost that escalates as they accumulate. As I already mentioned, two credit points can cancel one penalty point, but at the end of the week if a student has more than five penalty points in total then they receive a single detention. If they have more than ten points the students receive two days of detention and lose their cellphone privileges for three days. If they receive more than fifteen points in a week they will be asked to speak to the Disciplinary Committee, composed of three teachers, where they will be counseled on how to improve their behavior or offered help if they are struggling. If students commit a serious offence, such as bullying or cheating on a test, then they will be sent directly to the Disciplinary Committee. The committee may decide to involve the parents at this stage (home contingency), and the student may even receive a three day in-school suspension or a one week at home suspension.

In practice I use the series of graduated actions I described above and then the penalty points as a last resort. In the example I gave above of two students talking at the back of class, if I had moved towards them and they failed to stop taking then I would interrupt the class very briefly by saying their names. If I had to do this again I would warn them that any further talking would result in penalty points. Only in very rare instances would I have to follow through on this threat.

Marzano also recommended having an overall plan for discipline issues and the teachers at our school spent a good deal of time in the first year drawing up a disciplinary policy that clearly states behavior that is unacceptable and how many penalty points will be given for each infraction. The disciplinary policy is given to each student at the start to the year and is also posted in every homeroom in English and Korean, so the students have no excuse for not knowing what is expected of them. I am the teacher in charge of liaising with the student council, and we take on board feedback from the students through the council and tweak the disciplinary policy each semester. This ensures that students buy into the policy. For example, some of our younger students reported to the council that older pupils were coming into their dorm rooms and ‘borrowing’ their laundry cards at the weekends. Once we received this news from the student council we agreed to change the disciplinary policy and banned students from entering the dorm room of a pupil from a different grade for any reason. We also agreed with the council that ten penalty points would be a reasonable deterrent. I’m happy to say that this seems to have solved the problem.


Here is a link to my flowchart
https://www.mindomo.com/mindmap/positive-and-negative-consequences-60e88a44a2aa4769a89182151367f9c1


References:
Bain, K. (2007). Positive reinforcement. Retrieved December 09, 2017, from http://www.learnalberta.ca/content/inspb1/html/6_positivereinforcement.html

Marzano, R. J. (2010). The art and science of teaching: a comprehensive framework for effective instruction. Alexandria, Va: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.