When to Use Rewards to Boost Your Behavior Management – And When Not To [episode 103]

Emily

Hey there. Thanks for joining us today. In today’s episode, we’re diving into managing classroom behavior at chaotic times.

Heidi

We start our episodes with a morning message just like we used to do at morning meeting in our classrooms. This week’s morning message is what two accessories would a teacher action figure come with? Emily, what would your action figure need?

Emily

I think a teacher look that stops bad behavior in its tracks. Yeah, I know that’s not really an accessory. It’s more like a superpower. But we’re gonna count it. And a good pair of scissors that the students aren’t allowed to use. Can’t touch my good scissors. What about you, Heidi?

Heidi

I think my action figure would need a healing damp paper towel. Oh, yes. Every every superhero teacher knows. And maybe eyes in the back of her head. Oh, yes.

Emily

That would be terrifying but good. We have some clever responses from our community. Jessica said a teacher bag and a coffee cup. And lots of teachers said a coffee cup was an essential the bigger the better. Tina said dry erase marker and whiteboard.

Emily

Dana ran with the superhero theme and said a book shield and a pencil sword. Helen said a glue stick and a storyteller hat interesting and can need more info there. Marsha said a flair pen and a lanyard and Melinda said a Stanley and a laptop. If you have a Stanley you’ll need Tracy suggestion of a huge bladder. Don’t we all need that; it’s a hidden feature of these action figures. But they all have one. We’d love to have you join the conversation over in our Teacher Approved Facebook Group.

Emily

Today we’re jumping into the last in our three part series on classroom behavior management. In Episode 101, we talked about how to prevent behavior problems from happening at all, every problem we prevent is one less headache at the end of the day.

Heidi

And last week’s episode episode one or two, we shared lots of ways to handle the problems that still crop up. Even when we expressly asked them not to. I know so rude. So make sure to check out episodes 101 and 102 if you missed those.

Emily

Today’s episode adds a different spin to classroom behavior management, we’re talking about predicting when your regular management plan won’t be enough, and how to increase the structure of your class management by introducing rewards.

Heidi

As we have mentioned before, effective classroom management is proactive. That means we’re using our seating chart to prevent problems during work time. And we’re teaching clear procedures to prevent problems in the hallway. And when we do have to react to a situation, we’ve decided ahead of time, what we’ll do when you know those little darlings are fighting at recess or goofing around at math centers.

Emily

So now we’re just going to extend that proactive approach to predicting the rough patches to.

Heidi

Once you have taught a little while you get pretty good at predicting those times when they kids are going to be a little bit harder to manage. I was gonna say bonkers, but harder to manage sounds more professional.

Emily

Yeah, but bonkers is a good description. We kind of roll our eyes and make jokes about how it’s so hard to teach in December or in May or whenever the last month of school is for you. But we don’t always make a plan to address the problem.

Heidi

Guilty here right here. Because it was a temporary problem, I just white knuckled my way through. Yeah. And I ended up raising my voice more than I’d like. And I was exhausted at the end of every day. But I told myself it was fine, because it’s only two more weeks, right? And then I get a break. So just make it through.

Emily

But what if we didn’t have to spend those two weeks completely drained from the effort of management? What if we could enjoy the seasonal fun or the last few weeks together instead of counting down the days?

Heidi

That’s where the art of predicting behavior problems comes in. Who our teachers superhero action figures need to come with these special? What am I trying to say superhero skills there? But in order to predict problems, we first have to return to our favorite topic of structure and novelty.

Emily

We come back to this idea so much because a positive, productive nurturing classroom relies on student engagement, and student engagement requires the balance of structure and novelty.

Heidi

So as teachers, we are constantly assessing what’s going on what needs to change in order to get the results I want. As the youth might say, teachers have to read the room. Do the youth say that? Didn’t know that, you know, I am hip with the kids today. Kids still say hip? Probably no, no.

Heidi

We like to picture engagement as an old timey balanced scale. The bucket on one side is labeled structure, the bucket on the other is labeled novelty. If we have too much structure, the kids tip into boredom, if we have too much novelty, the kids tip into overwhelm.

Emily

Bored kids, or overwhelmed kids can’t engage in meaningful ways. So when that happens, everything that matters in your classroom breaks down. If the kids have been in their seats a while and they’re getting a little restless, the structure is too high. So it might be time to add some novelty, maybe we let them work on their math page with partners.

Heidi

Oh, now they’re playing around, and they’re not getting their work done. The novelty is too high. So it’s time to add more structure, we break up the partners and we have them work on their own. But maybe we let them choose somewhere around the room to do the work. That has given us increased structure, but it’s also allowing room for some more novelty.

Emily

That skill of monitoring and adjusting can take a while to master but it eventually becomes second nature. Good teachers are constantly assessing the balance of the room and tweaking a little here and a little there.

Heidi

But sometimes those little tweaks won’t be enough.

Emily

Most of the times we can do a lot to control the levels of structure and novelty in our classrooms. But some things are just outside of our control. So when novelty is high as the teacher, it’s your job to supply the needed structure.

Heidi

Right, we have to remember we’re dealing with kids, and they just haven’t developed the ability to be able to function normally when they’re excited, you’ve probably noticed. So they are relying on us to counteract their overwhelm by increasing the structure in the classroom.

Emily

How do we make this tug of war between structure and novelty part of a larger management plan? This is where past experience comes in handy. Start by asking yourself when your normal behavior plan won’t be robust enough to manage the situation you’re in. If you’re a new teacher, you might want to chat with a mentor.

Heidi

Or, you know, we could save you some time and tell you that December, last month of school and any week before a big holiday are going to be trouble spots for you.

Emily

Those are definitely the biggest culprits. But there are lots of smaller offenders too. Anytime there’s an interruption to your routine, you need increased structure.

Heidi

So let’s say there’s an assembly today, everyone’s favorite right? Now the bus isn’t going to be as high as st for Halloween, but it’s still going to be there creating problems for you. And one way you might increase structure is by doubling down on your regular classroom routines, making sure that everything is just flowing as normal as possible to help balance the novelty of the assembly.

Emily

You always want to be thinking through how you’ll increase the structure on days with interruptions. But also figuring out what to do when your students are in a situation where expectations are unclear or unenforced.

Heidi

Yeah, think of the situations when you are not the one in charge. You know how quickly things get out of hand when there’s a guest speaker who answers a shouted out question and then is just shouted out questions the rest of the time. Or think of how wild your normally well behaved class can get for a specialty teacher who maybe doesn’t know as much about management as you do.

Emily

Part of an effective management plan includes ideas for how to increase the structure anytime someone other than you is teaching. Maybe you need to develop some signals for your students in assemblies. So I taught my students that if I wave you over to me, you are not making good choices. And now you have to sit by me. And I’m not that fun. Or maybe I have to pick my students up for music class and walk them back to the room because they don’t behave in the hallway for the music teacher.

Heidi

Now what do we do with those times when we are in charge that the kids are still out of control? Like every back to school nightmare I have. This is where rewards come in. A reward system is a way to increase the structure in your classroom. We’re putting firmer boundaries in place so everyone is clear on what’s expected.

Emily

Rewards aren’t the only way to do that. We can set firmer boundaries with threats and punishments, but that really sucks the joy out of the room. And I would much rather have students who are happy than students who are afraid, or afraid of how much they love me.

Heidi

A lot of classroom management systems revolve around rewarding students for good behaviors. But if you have listened to our first two episodes on management, you may have noticed that we didn’t mention rewards at all.

Emily

That’s because typically, we are not the biggest champions of a reward based system, not because rewards are bad, but because they just don’t work in the long term.

Heidi

And let me jump in to say that when we talk about rewards, we are not referring to any student who has a specific learning plan that calls for a reward system. Yeah, we mean that type of thing. Like if you earn 50 Smart bucks, you can come to the movie party at the end of the month.

Emily

The reason that teachers turn to rewards is that they do provide immediate results. So it’s easy to feel like you’re crushing your classroom management problems. But the downside is that those results have a short lifespan. If you reward students for complying, and then you remove the reward, well, guess what they stop complying. Also, very few rewards are motivating for very long.

Heidi

Yeah, a student will do a lot for a sticker in September, The stickers are gonna lose their power by November, you have to keep upping the price to get the same results.

Emily

If your management plan relies on students being continually motivated to earn a reward, you’ve got a big hill to climb come April.

Heidi

There are significant drawbacks to a reward based system. So you might be surprised that we’re suggesting that you might want a reward system.

Emily

I know. And that’s because classroom rewards do have their place, we just have to make sure we use the drawbacks of rewards to our advantage that turns them from roadblocks into tools.

Heidi

That’s an important distinction. Rewards aren’t necessarily good or bad. They are just tools. You can use any tool and negative ways. But that doesn’t mean you should never use it. You just have to be a good judge of when to use it.

Emily

And we also can’t confuse the tool with what it can do. A hammer isn’t a house, and rewards aren’t our management system. They are just one way that we are able to shape our management system.

Heidi

So how do we use rewards as a tool if they are only a short term solution? And the answer is that we only rely on rewards as short term solution. Ding!

Emily

This is where we come back to predicting classroom problems. When is your normal behavior plan not robust enough to manage the situation you’re in? That’s where we want to consider adding rewards.

Heidi

So maybe you have a reward specifically for assembly behavior. If your class can go the whole assembly without you having to remind anyone to stop talking, then the class earns five minutes of extra recess that day.

Emily

Assemblies are a short event where the novelty is high and the structure is low. So they’re a great candidate for a reward. But for times of high novelty that lasts a little bit longer than an assembly say, the last two weeks of school in December, you might want a whole reward system.

Heidi

Whatever system you design, you’ll want to be sure it includes five key features. First, you want it to be motivating for the kids, you want it to be visible, you want it to be class wide, you want to allow for students to lose something as well as earned something and you want something that you can eventually phase out.

Emily

We promise even though we just made it a five step plan, it actually is easier to implement than this sounds.

Emily

Let’s say it’s the last few weeks of school. The kids are totally checked out and you’re barely holding on by a thread. So step one is to choose a reward that’s motivating for the kids. Since it’s practically summer, you’re going to need a bigger reward than you could get away with the week of Halloween. Maybe you decide you can earn a glow in the dark party. Step two is making it visible. So I decided to print the letters and glow in the dark party and let the kids earn a letter at a time.

Heidi

Earning a letter at a time is a great reward system. Because it’s class wide, and the kids can lose letters by being off task. Having something that can be taken away is an important feature, even though it sounds a little mean because it means that the kids will pressure their classmates to behave.

Heidi

That frees you from having to nag them to behave. When the kids are getting out of hand you just slowly and casually walk toward the letters on the board and they will very quickly start telling each other knock it off. You do not have to be the Enforcer.

Emily

Plus, once they’ve earned the reward the system is complete. You can reset it if you want to start with a new reward, but it’s not an ongoing thing you have to manage forever.

Heidi

As we’re headed into that time of year where novelty is running high. Consider your plan for counteracting squirlyness with increasing structure, adding novelty and considering a reward system.

Emily

And in next week’s episode we’ll be sharing lots of teacher approved ideas for how to manage class behavior as we head into the holiday season. You won’t want to miss that. So make sure you’re subscribed to this podcast so you don’t miss out.

Heidi

We would love to hear how you predict and manage your classroom problems. Come join the conversation in our Teacher Approved Facebook group.

Emily

Now let’s talk about this week’s teacher approved tip. Each week, we leave you with a small actionable tip that you can apply in your classroom today. This week’s teacher approved tip is leave a reward system for your sub. We love our subs. Thank you. What can we do to help them Heidi?

Heidi

Well, perhaps now more than ever, we know the value of a good substitute teacher, if you can get one. That’s just the first hill to climb. So we want to make their job as easy as possible. If you have joined us on this deep dive, you know that classroom management is layered and nuanced in a way that makes it impossible for someone else to just step into your system and run it effectively.

Heidi

And things are complicated by the fact that having a sub in your classroom is going to shoot that level of novelty right up to the roof. With all of that working against them, you might want a special reward system for your sub to use.

Heidi

A good system will use the five key features that we mentioned earlier in the episode: it will have a motivating reward, it will be class wide, so the students are helping keep each other in line, it will be visible so it’s easy for the kids to see how close they are to earning the reward. Plus, they can see if they’re losing progress. And the fifth characteristic is that it can easily be phased out.

Heidi

Since this is just something for the sub to use, you don’t have to worry about your students becoming reliant on external rewards in your day to day classroom. There are lots of different systems you can use to deliver a reward. You know, earning tally marks is probably the simplest and you don’t need any extra materials. But you could set up something like the students earn a puzzle piece by being on task and once the picture is complete, they earn the reward.

Heidi

Or maybe they have to move a magnet across a row sticky notes on the board like a game board. Keep it simple so your sub can implement it easily.

Emily

One thing to keep in mind is the age of your students. If you teach the little ones, you might need multiple rewards in the day to keep them on tasks. Telling students they can earn 10 minutes of heads up seven up at the end of the day might not work for them. Those little guys need more immediate reinforcement.

Heidi

Yeah, for this to be effective, you definitely need the right rewards for your students and in the right frequency. But figuring all of that out for your sub will just be so helpful for anyone who is willing to take over your class.

Heidi

To wrap up the show we’re sharing what we’re giving extra credit to this week. Emily, what gets your extra credit?

Emily

I’m giving extra credit to the Shashibo shapeshifting box. That is it’s just it really is so it’s this like fidget cube I guess I would say a magnetic fidget cube that you can make like apparently like 70 Different shapes with I’m pretty sure we’ve only found like 10 differentiate, but apparently 70.

Emily

And my kids got these from their grandma, I think last year, maybe even two years ago and they have remained a well used toy at our house, especially because they’ll lose them and then one person will find theirs and then everybody’s fighting over the one that got found.

Emily

And it is strangely satisfying to do like, I will sit and play with this thing forever too. It’s got really good magnets so it’s got makes like a nice clicking satisfying sound while you’re trying to make the shapes. They’re not cheap. I will say that but I’m sharing this now in case you need a really good idea especially for that like tween teen age kid.

Emily

But keep an eye on them on Amazon because they do tend to be like special Lightning Deals around the holidays especially if you get them full price. They’re 25 bucks, so not cheap has been super duper fun and they come in tons of different designs. So just a fun idea to tuck away for your holiday shopping. That’s handy. What are you giving extra credit to Heidi?

Heidi

Well my extra credit goes to Crayola super tips markers. Okay, these white coloring so much easier. You know kids like the skinny Crayola markers because they’re easier to hold and they have that fine tip. Yeah, so they’re good to write with but they are a pain to color with. But then the other alternative are those wider markers that are really good for coloring. Not great for writing and kind of uncomfortable to hold.

Heidi

But these super tip markers are the best of both worlds. They can do both thick or thin lines, but they color smoothly like the wider markers do instead of you know that annoying scratchiness, thin markers have when you try and color with them. Oh yes, I know exactly what you mean. Tears up the yes, this is So much better. So I really didn’t know I had such big feelings about marker widths. But here we are. Super tip markers are the way to go.

Heidi

That’s it for today’s episode. When your normal behavior plan is not robust enough to manage the situation you’re in, consider adding rewards. And don’t forget our teacher approved tip to leave a rewards based management system for your sub.