Well I can safely say that the new Token System.... works!!! I hope it will last and that blogging about it won't jinx anything, but so far so good ;).
I explained to the kids which behaviors get tokens. I pulled out each item from my store and made a huge deal about it (the students complied by oohing and ahhing). I added that they could save up for something big-- 200 points for an extra recess one day!-- or a movie at lunch! And each child promptly declared they were going to save up for something big.
And then for the next 2 hours that I had them they were total and complete angels. I mean, it was mind-blowing. I was like "who are you and what have you done with my awful, awful students?". I opened the store at 10:40 (right before they go back to their general ed classrooms) and gave them all an opportunity to spend their tokens--they had each gotten about 20-25.
Despite their good intentions of saving their tokens, they all broke down and bought something. Someone bought a miniature slinky. Someone bought a mechanical pencil. Someone bought a spinning top. "Brandon" was the one who bought the top. After I put the store away, Brandon was fingering his new toy while everyone packed up to go to their next class. He asked me: "What this do again?"
I spun the top around on the desk to show him. He watched it spin, looking at it doubtfully. Then he said: "Can I have my tokens back?"
Buyer's remorse! I had pity on him and gave him his tokens back. Within the next three minutes, my other kiddos wanted their tokens back too--I guess they changed their mind about saving for something big!
Not Modern Enough to Use Modern Conveniences
1 month ago
5 comments:
Cool idea and great to give them a long(er) term goal and a lesson in self control :)
You should contact General Motors or the owner (President Barack Hussein Obama) and help them with a token economy...
What a riot!! The customer is always right!
Yes, take it from me, the customer is ALWAYS right, even if the returned sweatshirt smells like overdose perfume to cover up cigarette smoke... yah.
Skinner was definitely right on some points! Glad your class is going better...maybe you need a big reward at the end of the week too! (I'm sure your administrators would be glad to oblige--NOT.)
Love, Brenda
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