This week was the second round of VSC Math Tokens. I am happy to say that this system is still running strong and stable. I have to schedule a few lunches with students on Monday, but aside from that, it's still manageable. Class 603 is running strong, with the entire class obtaining 4 gold tokens for the week. Quite impressive! I am happy to say that all of the groups from the other classes have a high mixture of gold and silver tokens (i.e. 3 gold 1 silver, 2 gold 2 silver, 3 silver, 1 gold, etc.)
While my goal is for each group to earn 4 gold tokens, I have to be quite consistent with my expectations for what type of behavior/classroom performance earns a gold token. On Wednesday, I had to take ALL tokens away from class 602, and spend time practicing lining up outside of the room and entering the class. What was interesting to me when this occurred is that I did not seem to be affected by it at all. Last year, I would be very distressed about this type of situation, but now I know the answer to this situation. That is, we have to review and practice expectations before we proceed any further (with anything). We had a discussion at the end of class about what we needed to improve on and why I took tokens away. They were flawless the next day (Thursday, double period) and I was very impressed. Unfortunately, I did not return their lost tokens. I gave each group a fruit snack except 2 groups that actually met the expectations on Wednesday.
The life of this reward system is more about my consistency than their behavior. I am happy that in 1 month, I've only had to have 2 classroom discussions. Class discussions seem to be VERY effective. I am actually amazed that a mere dialogue about what we've done wrong, and what we need to do as a class can shift students to do the right thing and earn/reclaim their tokens. I want students to understand that tokens are just representations of what their group is capable of.
No comments:
Post a Comment