Responsive Practices Toolbox
December 2020
INTRODUCTION
Now that we are approaching the winter break, student engagement and behavioral momentum is critical. The following strategies in this edition will help keep students engaged and motivated.
In this edition you will find:
- Building Behavioral Momentum
- Explore Motivation Systems
- Essentials for Motivation Systems for Remote & In-person Instruction
- Parents Connections
- Restorative Practices
Building Behavioral Momentum
Behavioral momentum is a behavioral strategy that entails making requests that are easy for the student before making requests that are more challenging or difficult. By following a pattern of two easy tasks before one difficult task, will increase the student's motivation to engage by building in many opportunities for success.
Behavioral Momentum Planning
- Identify specific incidents of non-compliant behavior. Determine which specific task are the student is avoiding. Then decide whether it occurs within that task or in transitioning to that task. Finding the specific point of non-compliance will help determine where to frame the high-probability tasks.
- List high-probability tasks to give yourself a visual cue. The tasks should be brief and should correlate to the main task. Depending on ability range, high probability tasks may range from, "Touch your nose, Write your name on the paper, copy the title," to more complex tasks including, "share your opinion or write something interesting you know that relates to the topic."
- Create activities with embedded high-probability tasks. Within a series of challenging tasks embed high-probability, easier, tasks within the assignment to help the student maintain confidence throughout the entire task. Embedding high-probability tasks routinely in your assignments will help decrease non-compliance.
- Presenting the activities. As you deliver directives, make sure to incentivize and acknowledge each completed task. Providing repeated praise for completion will assist in preventing non-compliance and increase students' confidence as they encounter more challenging tasks. Make it a routine! When students are continuously receiving praise in your classroom the likelihood of their compliance will increase and with it their time spent learning will increase.
Here are some examples of high-probability activities:
Transitioning with Academic Tasks
- Elementary Example: During independent work, two 2nd grade students were directed to copy a letter several times (a high-probability task) before being tasked to copy a while word (low-probability task) (Lee et al., 2004).
- Middle School Example: Four middle school students were presented with flashcards containing math computation problems. The students were to read and solve each problem, flip the flash card over to check the answer against their own solution, and then advance to the next flashcard. For the activity, the teacher first created a series of flashcards containing low-probability math problems that were less-preferred because of their difficulty level. Then, before each low-probability problem, the teacher inserted flashcards with three easy high-probability math problems (Lee et al., 2004).
- High School Example: A 10th grader has a difficulty time initiating independent chemistry assignment. The teacher complied a list of high-probability requests related to the chemistry assignment that the student would typically respond to for example, "write your name on the worksheet", "grab a pencil", "take out your favorite notebook for the assignment", "look over the first question". If the student ignores a request, the teacher can simply deliver another request for the high-probability list until the student has successfully complied with 3 high-probability requests. Then the teacher can deliver the low-probability request: "Begin your independent assignment" (Wehby & Hollahan, 2000).
This video shows a situation where behavioral momentum is used.
Motivation Systems
Tier 1: Simple Incentive Systems
IMPORTANCE OF TIER 1
- Students are apt to work for something they want.
- Some students need outward motivators.
- It helps keep students engaged.
- Provides encouragement.
- Provides visual and tangible indicators of progress, success, behavior, performance, etc.
- Increases motivation, buy-in, and sustained effort.
- Gives students goals and milestones to work toward and for.
- Creates a positive and motivating “buzz” among students.
Incentives and motivation systems should be a regular part of all classrooms.
REASONS TO IMPLEMENT
When students:
- Need motivation, encouragement, and incentive.
- Exhibit low motivation and interest.
- Lack an internal drive to succeed.
- Increases positive behaviors and student outcomes.
- Boost students’ self-esteem and self concept.
- Provide the class with something to work toward when a task or assignment is boring, difficult or tedious.
WAYS TO IMPLEMENT
- Have the class take the Forced Choice Reinforcement Menu to determine what sort of incentives the students want most.
- Have students write down 3 things they would work for on an index card and collect these cards.
- Identify what behaviors students will earn incentives for displaying and make a list of these behaviors, posting them in a place where everyone can see them.
- Track behavior daily and incentivize students who earn enough points for a given incentive.
- Incentivize at the end of each day or week, having those students who qualify choose from the incentive list.
- Consider using school dollars to track behaviors. Students can earn school dollars for displaying the expected behaviors on the list and use these school dollars to buy incentives in a school or class store at the end of the day or week (e.g. snack items, pencils, erasers, listen to music, etc.)
Motivation Systems
Tier 2: Incentive Systems
- Increases motivation, buy-in, and effort.
- Provides students with positive feedback.
- Students respond to positive reinforcement best.
- Helps reinforce positive behaviors and expectations.
- Produces immediate and quick results.
- Provides a visual concrete reason for students to work toward behavioral and academic goals.
REASONS TO IMPLEMENT
When students:
- Exhibit chronic behavioral problems.
- Demonstrate low and persistent motivation, effort, and interest.
- Refuses to do work or follow behavior guidelines.
- Have poor attention and focus and/or impulsive.
- Consistently fail to meet behavioral and academic expectations.
- Frequently break the school and classroom rules.
- Have difficulty getting along with others or interact inappropriately with others.
- Have frequent incomplete and missing work.
WAYS TO IMPLEMENT
- School Incentive Dollars (simply type in your school name to customize them!).
- Give the student the Forced Choice Survey to determine what type of incentive they prefer and will be most likely to work toward.
- Token economy where students earn a token, check mark, sticker, etc. for meeting predetermined goals, which they can use to buy or earn an incentive after receiving the predetermined amount of tokens.
- Earning privileges and free time for meeting expectations.
- Small items as incentives for following rules and procedures, including stickers, erasers, trinkets, pencils, crayons, snacks, drinks, books, etc.
Considerations for Motivation Systems
RELEVANCE
Class incentives must be something students will work towards. It's best to begin by using a reinforcement survey to determine what type of incentives your students prefer.
ATTAINABILITY
As we all know marathons are not won in one night. Progress is gained with small steps. If students perceive a goal as impossible they will not give effort towards that goal. Set reasonable goals and increase their difficulty as the year goes on. As students make improvements, praise the class for their continued effort.
STRUCTURED
The motivation system must be structured and understood by all involved. All goals must be clear and measurable. Create a visual of their progress to reference when praising good behavior or redirecting. Verbally praise progress made toward the goal and encourage continued effort.
For more information about incentive systems click on the links below:
Essentials for Motivation Systems for Remote and In-person Instruction
While we hope all students would be intrinsically motivated in every subject, some students need outward motivators to achieve their highest potential.
An effective motivation system can provide the whole class with motivation, buy in and sustained effort. It can reinforce positive behaviors and increases positive interactions between teachers and students.
Your motivation system must be relevant to your students, reasonably attainable and structured. With all the benefits of a motivation system, the hardest part is getting started.
Click on the image on the right for resources on motivation systems.
Strategies for Motivating Students
Few teachers can deny that motivated students are easier to teach. Students who are interested in learning, in fact, learn more. In both remote learning and in person learning, motivating students can be a challenge. However, as educators we have to develop intentional interventions to bring our students back on track when they are unmotivated to learn.
Here are some strategies that can be used in the classroom to motivate students:
- Promote growth mindset over fixed mindset. We can promote a growth mindset by emphasizing that abilities and talents can be cultivated and improved through hard work.
- Develop meaningful and respectful relationships with your students. Develop ways to get to know your students. In order to truly inspire students, we must know them on a personal level. Learn about their interests and hobbies, who they hang out with and ask them about their family.
- Grow a community of learners in your classroom. Students should know that their environment is safe. This will allow students to take risks and to feel safe to ask for help when they are struggling. Classrooms should have students helping each other and collaborative group work.
- Establish high expectations and clear goals. When expectations and goals are explicit, students know where their learning is headed and are motivated to get their because the path is clear.
- Be inspirational. Be the teacher that inspires, challenges and motivates their students enough to be memorable years later.
Reference:
Watch this video to see an example of how a growth mindset can be achieved in your classroom.
PARENT CONNECTIONS
Parents as Partners
Click on the picture for more information.
Watch this video to learn more about how you can bridge the learning from school to the home environment.
RESTORATIVE PRACTICE
RESTORATIVE CIRCLES
A circle is a gathering technique used to connect individuals, show support for each other, and help resolve conflict by developing bonds of trust within a school community. There a many different types of circles in restorative practices. Most are similar in structure but the goals are different. All circles should encourage restorative procedures, empathetic listening, and appropriate dialogue to reassure positive feedback.
Virtual Circles
The majority of the work we do in Restorative Practices requires direct contact. However, Virtual Circles allow us to stay connected to our community using technology. Creating virtual spaces allows individuals to remain connected, explore a particular topic, and problem solve using dialogue.
The same core principals of Restorative Circles apply to Virtual Circles except the focus is on maintaining healthy relationships and staying connected using technology in response to a separation. Virtual Circles encourage individuals within a community to come together to help strengthen our real-world bonds and provide an additional platform for support and guidance.
To learn more about Virtual Circles, click here
Circle Structure:
• Have students meet in a circle – preferably without desks.
• Have a topic to discuss and a script prepared.
• Have a Talking Piece.
• Have circle guidelines posted in the classroom or in the center of the circle to remind participants of what the expectations are during the circle process.
• If a circle is used to resolve conflict, it is necessary that individual needs be addressed for those who have been affected by the harm caused. The focus is on repairing harm and problem solving, and showing support for all members who are participating in the process.
Circle Keeper- is the one who facilitates the circle process. A Circle Keeper is also known as, a Peace Keeper. A Peace Keeper’s role is to help keep the peace. A Circle keeper’s role is not to resolve conflict between participants but rather, the keeper’s role is to initiate a space that is respectful and safe, and to engage participants in sharing responsibly for the space and for their shared work. (The Little Book of Circle Processes, Kay Pranis 2005)
To learn more about circles, please click here
Social, Emotional and Academic Development (SEAD) and Restorative Practices Department
Email: bparham@saisd.net
Website: www.saisd.net
Location: 439 Arbor Place, San Antonio, TX, USA
Phone: 210.354.9565