This week, my mentor teacher and I decided that we needed to try a different tactic for one of our problem students. She has been off and on in terms of her behavior since school began. To motivate her to do her work in the classroom, my host teacher had this idea to put a letter of her name on the board and praise her for her work and/or attempting to complete her work. The first day that we enforced this new idea, it worked amazingly well. The student was excited that she was being praised, and that se had something special between her and her teachers. On the second day, it did not go well at all. She came to school, and was upset, unmotivated, and not willing to even attempt to do her work. We were surprised that it had worked so well one day, and then the very next it had no effect at all on her what so ever. My teacher told me that that is usually the case. The method you use, will have to be changed a lot in order to keep the student's attention and to improve her behavior in the classroom. We decided that we are going to stick with the method, so that she can have some consistency in her life.
"She came to school, and was upset, unmotivated, and not willing to even attempt to do her work."
Did you talk with her about why she was upset when she came into to school? It appears that something had happened even before she reached your classroom. Perhaps, her unwillingness to work had nothing to do with the "praise" technique you had implemented the day before. I wonder if the child got into trouble with parents, siblings, or classmates on her bus. I'm glad you want to continue your plan, because one or two days do not give you enough information about the success/failure of the technique. I thought the original idea of using her name as the reward plan is excellent. Nothing is more important than one's name. I'd love to see my name appear on the board! I'll have to try that myself. Thanks for sharing.
This week, my mentor teacher and I decided that we needed to try a different tactic for one of our problem students. She has been off and on in terms of her behavior since school began. To motivate her to do her work in the classroom, my host teacher had this idea to put a letter of her name on the board and praise her for her work and/or attempting to complete her work. The first day that we enforced this new idea, it worked amazingly well. The student was excited that she was being praised, and that se had something special between her and her teachers. On the second day, it did not go well at all. She came to school, and was upset, unmotivated, and not willing to even attempt to do her work. We were surprised that it had worked so well one day, and then the very next it had no effect at all on her what so ever.
ReplyDeleteMy teacher told me that that is usually the case. The method you use, will have to be changed a lot in order to keep the student's attention and to improve her behavior in the classroom. We decided that we are going to stick with the method, so that she can have some consistency in her life.
"She came to school, and was upset, unmotivated, and not willing to even attempt to do her work."
ReplyDeleteDid you talk with her about why she was upset when she came into to school? It appears that something had happened even before she reached your classroom. Perhaps, her unwillingness to work had nothing to do with the "praise" technique you had implemented the day before. I wonder if the child got into trouble with parents, siblings, or classmates on her bus.
I'm glad you want to continue your plan, because one or two days do not give you enough information about the success/failure of the technique.
I thought the original idea of using her name as the reward plan is excellent. Nothing is more important than one's name. I'd love to see my name appear on the board! I'll have to try that myself. Thanks for sharing.