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Students are more motiviated by positive rewards than negative consequences.
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I agree totally! NOTHING works better for me at circle time, when I have a few kids who don't want to listen, for me to say, "Johnny, I love the way that you are sitting and listening to me. Thank you so much you make my heart feel happy." then I'll choose another kid who is modeling the correct behavior. Without a doubt, the kids who were acting up will sit up, look up, and wait for me to say that I LOVE how they are sitting. (grant it, I teach preschooler, but it illustrates the fact that kids want to hear the good.) And honestly...kindergarten kids and older preschooler, are not that much different. (especially at the beginning of the year) Now, I am not saying that this is the ONLY thing that I do...cause we do have consequences as well. I think part of my job as a teacher is to teach children that sometimes the choices we make lead to consequences we don't like. Hey, that's life....speed, get caught, you get a ticket. The key is to make sure that the consequences and the expectations are DAP. (developmentally appropriate practices)
I have been thinking A LOT about the whole walking the fence thing...and I can say that I see both sides of it. The whole idea of walking it for that length of time is appauling. Not DAP. I wonder if the teacher gave the child a choice...you can either sit on the bench and think about what you did..or you can walk the fence and think about what you did....would that make it less "mean" as some see it? That way, if the child IS active...and NEEDS to release that energy somehow....they have that option. I don't know!!!! I guess it boils down to what I've said before...that when we are discipling a child we should be teaching them WHY...and not just dishing out consequences...that we need to get to the root of the issue, or we will just continue to struggle with the same behavior OVER and OVER....