Sunday, July 28, 2013
Week 2 Lesson Learned
In week 2, I learned that my original idea of having two committees work together to provide better student incentives school wide might have been too large of a concept. I am going to amend my action research project to something that I can do within my classroom, yet still pertaining to student performance, behavior and attendance. I have an idea to use a bead system. If anybody is familiar with Forde-Ferrier from San Antonio, you will know what I am planning to do. If not, the process is quite simple. Students are given a shoe string at the beginning of school. They earn beads for any number of behaviors or achievements. At the end of each six weeks, rewards are earned based on how many beads have been collected. It is a neat tie-in to math because students will have to keep a count of their beads and be able to figure out in future six weeks how many beads they earned. Subtraction will be helpful for this. I will be able to get local businesses to donate prizes on a smaller scale than on a larger scale. Who knows, at some point there may be other teachers who will choose to participate. My teaming teacher may come on board as well. Some will not like the idea that the beads are worn around the neck. Mine won't leave the room except for lunchtime. I am also debating whether or not to let both my classes participate. If one class did and one class did not, I would be able to have some data to compare and contrast as part of my ARP. PLEASE let me know what you think. I need to come to a decision quickly now! Any ideas or suggestions would be so welcome!
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I love the beads idea! My mom teaches math in Carrollton. Adding and subtracting beads could become math work for them. Such as, how many beads do you need to receive this prize? Who has twice as many beads as Johnny? There are many creative ways to go. This is a super idea. Are they elementary kids? It seems like even up to 8th grade would really enjoy that system. I use a Jar of Greatness where they put tickets with their names written, and we draw for prizes on Fridays. I think the beads are a great idea because it is a tangible concept. They will want the beads. I might have to use an idea like that for acts of kindness.
ReplyDeleteYes. They will definitely be used for math as well as incentives. I am still working through some of the prizes in my head and some of the "award" categories. I went to Hobby Lobby today and gathered just about one of every color available. I got the shoe strings to keep them on too. They are fourth graders. I believe they will love the idea. You are probably correct about students up through eight grade liking the idea.
DeleteI am a little concerned about how to monitor and evaluate success. I can pull testing data from DMAC and monitor my office referrals. Other than keeping track of how many beads each child earns per six week and looking for an increase, I am not 100% sure how to track it. I could have one of my classes doing the beads and not the other, but that is asking for trouble. I could compare my classes with some of the other classes, but again it is hard to compare a different set of students. Any thoughts or ideas would be welcome in this area!