Implemented A Group Contingency Plan Assignment

Participant 9

Participant 9: Interview

Name of participant: LAZ

Teaching Certification(s): Elementary K-6;

Education Level (Highest degree attained) M.A.

Total years of teaching experience: 12

Years of teaching students in preschool through third grade? 9

Date &time of interview: 8/3/18- 5:00

Are you currently or have you ever implemented a group contingency plan to manage your students’ behavior? (If the response if “yes” then ask all questions-; if the response is “no” then proceed to use questions 8-10.)

No

PROBE: Why have you not implemented a group contingency plan? Please describe the specific reasons why you have not implemented a group contingency behavior plan with your students.

I feel that my students would not benefit, at the age and skill level that I teach, from that type of reinforcement system.  Most of the students entering have very few skills. I need to teach basic readiness skills which need to be broken down and reinforced immediately.  I am fortunate enough to have and always have had enough support in my classroom to have a staff/student ratio of 1:1 or 1:2 so that readiness skills can be taught and reinforced immediately in an individual format, rather than a whole class approach.I also feel like the students need to have some sort of social awareness of others for a dependent or interdependent group contingency plan to work.  They need to realize that their behavior affects everyone else and care about that fact.

Have you ever implemented an individual contingency plan?

Yes, so I use a token boards for all my students for work completion. It could be for different things. Initially, clearly the children have to understand how a token works. So usually I would do a 1:1 token for a response and then maybe move to 5 or 10 responses. Then you would just change the ratio of how you would reinforce.

You can also change the number of tokens before a child earns a reward. it also could be a time based like you’re going to earn tokens over a certain amount of time. So, I have done it different ways, it depends on the student. so, there is usually a choice board, so they can choose what they want to work for, I would have a visual. And that would go on the board somewhere. And when they earn the token, they would receive their reinforcement.

The CST and the other teachers help me. I mean I think really everybody on the team, the related service providers, um you know are valuable in their own way. It can be based on their experience, or um you know whatever their expertise is. Sometimes there might be behaviors related to their area. So, if we are doing a gross motor activity and there is a problem, I can ask the OT or PT for suggestions to see if there is something I can do. I mean it’s really everybody that helps.

What behavior management resources/supports are currently available to you for managing classroom behavior?

The school psychologist and the school social worker have provided a lot of the resources that I use on a daily basis. These are very helpful to me.

Are there any final thoughts or feelings concerning behavior management you wish to share?

I think in my type of classroom if you can’t get the behavior under control, then it… that’s primary, you have to do that first or else you are never going to get to teach. And I also look like its that it is preschool and that social/emotional component um is almost more important in the very beginning than teaching the letters and the numbers.

 I mean it’s almost secondary to focusing on behavior and how you…just generally thing about the behavior. And the other things like sitting in a chair, participating, those kind of learner behaviors. As well as refraining from hitting and screaming and all those things.

That primary and has to be focused on first before you can even get to anything else. I kind of feel like when we focus on those other things (not that they are not important) but it just like not accurate, if that can show all those skills, but can’t behavior, then those skills are not functional. You can’t use it if you can’t behave. So, it’s really… l I feel like my job with the kids I have, is to getting the behavior as under control as a I can in order to start teaching things other preschoolers may be learning.

This research participant did not complete a critical incident report since she does not implement group contingency plans