incentives

one balance that i am struggling to find in my classroom is using incentives. i have put into place a system of logical consequences that seems to be effective and is a visual cue as to how the students behavior has been. however, i feel that in order for this to be even more effective, i need to have incentives to give them a reason to make good choices in the classroom.

i have found this very difficult for many reasons. first, the space i am in does not lend itself to having some kids working and other having free time, playing a game, etc.... not only because of how small it is, but also because of the shared classroom. also, i do not have a full-time para, making it difficult to have some kids being supervised doing one thing and the other group also being watched. i would really like to be able to show a movie every once in awhile, maybe even as often as once every week or couple weeks. this is very difficult because i have a shared classroom, i am in the basement which means i can't get a tv in my room. we used the music room once, but only were able to because she was absent. there is also no dvd player downstairs and we had to use the computer.

even with these complications, we have been able to have free time, play games, and watch a movie once. along with these activities have come problems. they can't handle it.

maybe i need to model correct behavior, but i don't think that is the problem. they get overwhelmed with the ability to make their own choices. even with the movie, people had a very tough time watching it and not complaining about it. when i told them we were going to watch a movie because they had done a very nice job with their testing, one student, with a bummed out look on his face, asked me "can we talk during the movie?". what? what the hell? why can't you just watch an f-in movie. would you rather do work?

again today, we were playing multiplication fact around the world. i went over what we would be doing before we started, let everyone know what is expected, and a full overview of the schedule before lunch. i was lenient with behavior, letting them chat a little, little smack talk. it was kept under control. and then 4 or 5 just started yelling and calling out, ruining it for everyone. it was frustrating to see because we couldn't keep playing because those students will still do the same thing. the immediate consequences wouldn't be enough to deter them. the more longterm consequences of the reflection paper, office visit, and call home would not be pleasant for them, but they are not thinking that far ahead.

so, work towards creating more consistent incentives, more short term and visible incentives to give them a reason to work towards making good decisions.