Recess and Behavior Problems Part II: How to Use Behavior Modification Caringly
So what do you do with the tough kid who drives the class crazy with their behavior when you can’t use recess as a carrot? When I say “behavior modification” a lot of people will run out of the room. There is something unsavory about the idea of controlling behavior.
Most of us, for example, are repulsed by those “march-in-line” charter schools which strictly enforce behavior mod. using punishment.
But, I learned, like probably many of you, that the use of behavior modification whether we know it, or admit it, can be used effectively to help children learn self-control. And we can use it for good, if we are careful and kind people. Parents can use it well too.
One can observe parents in public, and some teachers, using behavior modification in terrible ways, negatively reinforcing the heck out of children. So it seems to me, it is better to understand how it works and apply it positively.
To really learn about behavior modification, taking a class or at least a reading a book about it is helpful. There are also some online sites that might give a good overview, but I’d stay focused on the positive aspects of behavior modification.
And while it may seem like cross purposes, I also own and very much appreciate Alfie Kohn’s Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A’s, Praise, and other Bribes. I think the overuse of rewards and linking them to what a child learns without helping them to understand and obtain satisfaction for the sake of learning is wrong. I especially cannot stand rewards for reading, since reading is a Recess and Behavior Problems Part II: How to Use Behavior Modification Caringly: