After meeting with my CFG, I felt inspired to truly get down to the nitty gritty and start a plan of action started right away. That afternoon when I returned to my classroom from my college classes, I had a brief discussion with my CT about my ideas and she thought what I had in mind was a great idea. I pulled the student aside and started the conversation off positively. I asked him what he likes and we wrote down his interests. These are what I would use for his rewards. He told me that he really liked sports, especially football, and dancing. I asked him if he would like Ms. Weber to teach him a dance and he loved that idea. I also told him that I have a alot of sports books I can bring in and we can read together because Ms. Weber loves football too. He thought this was all terrific. He was so happy! But I told him that we need to have a conversation about behavior. I told him that I had noticed that the classroom point system wasn't effective for him and that I wanted to help him. We started to discuss his behaviors and and actions and he told me that when he gets upset, he gets very angry and I told him that we could set up a behavior system to help him with his anger. He really liked the idea. I wanted to give him as much responsibility and control of his actions, so I allowed him to set up his own system. He came up with the system pictured above. Getting a smiley face and a sad face in each subject area and after lunch getting a reward for 3 smileys and at the end of the day getting a reward for 2 smileys.
His new behavior plan he put into place got me thinking, what does it take to earn a smiley face and what would it take to earn a sad face. I had the student come up with his own ideas of what he would need to do to earn a smiley face and had him determine what behaviors would get him a sad face. The list he made is pictured above. In the smiley face column, the student listed calm down. When I saw the student right this, I asked him to list some ways to help calm himself down. He wrote: take deep breaths, count to ten, and sit in red chair (chair in classroom that faces away from other students). I told him that he could refer to this paper if he ever needed to remember how to calm down. I put his behavior system and checklist in a folder and titled it _____________'s Secret Folder. He felt special and like he could do this. Later that day, he did use one of the calming down strategies and I praised him for doing so. I thought this system could actually be effective. But....
I knew with this plan, the first time he got a sad face and couldn't earn his reward, there would be a meltdown, but I would have to follow through with this system because he created it. Day 1 of this new plan was put into effect on Friday. The student earned a smiley face for morning work, science, and when it came to math, he couldn't understand it, so he started banging his desk and pouting. After math was over, I walked over and asked him what he deserved, he said nothing. I put a sad face in that section and asked him what actions led me to put a sad face. He said nothing. He was furious. It hurt me to know that he couldn't get his reward, but when he does earn it, it will make the reward that much more meaningful.