The school as a whole practices being SMART, which means to be: Safe, Mindful, Accepting, Respectful, and Truthful. SMART is part of the school wide PBiS which is a school wide “Incentive Program” where students receive SMART cells when they demonstrate one of the qualities of SMART. This is an example of positive reinforcement. These cells are placed into classroom jars and once the classroom jars are full they go into a larger school container, which is in the shape of a head and the cells make up the brain. When that container is full they receive something special, such as extra recess. This is a way to encourage and foster the positive behaviors that are expected in school and in the community.
In the classroom there is a system in place so students as well as adults can keep track warnings and other behavior modifiers including behavior plans which are used school wide. The system in place is a three card system. The chart is organized by students’ numbers so people who are not part of the classroom or are unaware of the numbers will not know which student is having a difficult day behaviorally. Students all start on green each day. If a behavior gets out of hand students are asked to flip their card and they go to yellow. Yellow indicates a warning. If the behavior continues a student may be asked to flip their card again and this time they go to red. Once a student reaches red they need to write a Behavior Plan. This is an example of negative reinforcement, there is a negative consequence for actions in the hopes they will stop.
I feel that students and teachers really enjoy the PBiS smart cells and get excited about them. I have seen them used very effectively and have seen a shift in behavior, especially in the hallways. I think the negative reinforcement used with the cards is not really liked by the teacher or the students, but it is effective for most of the students.
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