Last time I wrote a blog post, I talked about classroom management, specifically call and responses and songs, and how they could be used in the classroom. Today, I want to talk about another classroom management technique that I think is very effective: positive reinforcement. I observed positive reinforcement being used in my preschool classroom, especially in the form of stamps or stickers. One day a little girl was behaving very well, and she got to move her clip up to “I’m having a great day!” Although I do not agree with the clip chart idea, I liked how the child got rewarded for having a good day. She received a stamp and a sticker at the end of the day, which she was very happy about. I was interested in finding ways to incorporate more types of positive reinforcement into my classroom.
To get some ideas about other types of positive reinforcement I could use in my classroom, I did some research. In an article entitled Positive Reinforcement, I learned that praise is a great positive reinforcement technique. I also learned that it can be tricky when it comes to praising children because we don’t want to call them “smart”. Calling them smart implies that they do not need to work harder, however praising their specific efforts motivates them to perform those same efforts again. I always thought that it was okay to call children smart, but it actually is more damaging to them than beneficial.
Another idea for positive reinforcement that was provided
in the article is incentives. These incentives can include extra credit points or activities, such as a movie or extra center time. I think that children would be more likely to behave if they were working towards a goal of getting to do something they really want to do.
I also learned positive reinforcement can be something as simple as your body language. I never realized this before, but positive reinforcement can be found in your smile and in the way your tone of voice sounds. All those little gestures and facial expressions you make can actually have a big impact on the way a child learns and feels in your classroom.
I really like these ideas and will definitely be applying them to my future classroom. I think it is important to encourage the students to do their best as much as we possibly can! Thanks for reading again!
A future early childhood teacher!
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