How to reinforce students

The following information is from Unit 11 of the book Teaching: A Course in Psychology by Wesley C. Becker, Siegfried Engelmann, and Don R. Thomas. 

Note: Science Research Associates published the book in 1971. I am unsure if the publishers reprinted the book or if it is available to buy. I found it through a university inter-library loan program. I suspect that Becker or Engelmann use the book or some form of it in their special education teaching classes at the University of Oregon.

• Types of reinforcers
• Social reinforcers: behaviors that act as reinforcing consequent stimuli
• Use the lists of examples to add more examples, link the reinforcers to appropriate classroom behaviors, and to role-play with the reinforcers
• Verbal praise examples
• “Thank you.”
• “That shows a great deal of work.”
• “You really paid attention.”
• “You should show this to your parents!”
• “Show the class this work/picture/etc.”
• “See how well that student is working.”
• “He got to work right away after recess; he’s going to finish on time.”
• “Let’s all give him a round of applause.”
• “That was kind of you.”
• Facial expressions examples
• Smiling
• Winking
• Nodding
• Looking interested
• Laughing
• Proximity examples
• Walking among the students
• Sitting with a group
• Joining the class at recess
• Eating with the students

• How to make praise work
• Some students need descriptive praise much more than evaluative praise because they need to hear how they did work well
• Example: “I saw you work on your math for twenty minutes. I checked all the problems and all of them were right. And your writing is neat and clear!”
• The students are not used to hearing people tell them they are successful and they are not sure of how to be successful
• The praise needs to explain how students show good working, good listening, good talking, good responding, and good thinking
• You can use phrases like “good” or “great” by accompanying the phrases with descriptive statements of what the student did
• Later on the phrases will not be empty if you pair them with explicit descriptions

• Activity reinforcers
• Behavior that occurs frequently can be used to reinforce behavior that occurs infrequently
• Use contingent reinforcers (privileges) to motivate your students to complete work
• Example: “She finished her work first so she can help me collect papers”
• Example: “You improved in your work today. You can pick the game for recess”
• Playing teacher as a reward to sustain attention through long and repetitive tasks
• Example: “If you work all the problems on your paper, you can be teacher and write a problem on the board”
• List of privileges
• Use the list of examples to add more examples and link the reinforcers to appropriate classroom behaviors
• Presenter for “show and tell”
• Group leader
• Go first
• Run errand
• Collect materials
• Excuse from test
• Help clean up
• Get to sit where desired
• Take care of class pets
• Lead flag salute
• Tell a joke to the class
• Be in a skit
• Supervise a group outside of class
• Play teacher
• Compete with another class
• Perform for parents
• Decorate something in the classroom
• Take the class pet home for the weekend
• Sing songs
• Be team captain
• Read to principal
• Be called on to answer questions
• See a movie
• Go to an assembly
• Read a book
• Watch TV
• Listen to music
• Play game in class
• Play game at recess
• Have a party
• Make puppets and puppet show
• Do artwork related to studies
• Build construction projects
• Go on a field trip
• Have outdoor lessons
• Choose game for recess
• Teach younger students
• Go home early
• Make puzzles
• Earn extra recess
• Set up equipment
• Study with friend in class
• Spend time in library
• Have extra lunch time
• Put up school flag
• Help another student

• How to implement token systems
• You need reinforcing activities, prizes, or food appropriate for your students
• Give each reinforcer a point value
• The cost should be high enough the students will work for the reinforcers but not so high they struggle
• Have the students help you with reinforcers
• Examples of reinforcers for token systems
• Reinforcers that parents can give at home
• Foods
• Candy
• Ice cream
• Popcorn
• Small dried fruits like raisins
• Play materials
• Toy animals
• Boats
• Cars
• Blocks
• Badges
• Marbles
• Jump ropes
• Airplanes
• Picture books
• Paints
• Crayons
• Coloring books
• Chalk
• Clay
• Paper
• Mechanical toys
• Dolls
• Kites
• Balls
• Puzzles
• Comic books
• Balloons
• Playing cards
• Games
• Bean bags
• Yo-yos
• Play dough
• Noisemakers
• Possible tokens
• Marks on the blackboard
• Marks on a paper or card on the student’s desk
• Star stickers
• Numbers on a paper
• Marks on a ladder
• Marbles in a jar
• Plastic chips that go on a ring
• Poker chips
• Pennies
• A counter with a light or buzzer
• Tickets
• Punches on a card
• Determine the payoff procedures
• Is the reward to be given when it is earned or at the end of the day?
• It might be better to give immediately depending on the need of the student before you give at the end of the day
• Is the payoff delay to be built up gradually or not?
• You might want to require the students to gradually work for longer periods (example: two, three, four, or five days) before the payoff
• Is the payoff based on group or individual performance?
• If you want to use a group performance, and you have a student or students who might punish the group by their behavior, then put the student or students on separate systems
• Is the payoff to be given to the group or to the individual student?
• One student can earn a party for the whole class
• Procedures to operate token systems
• Explain to the students how the system is to the operate
• Allow students to participate in the final design
• Keep records or a chart of who earns what so evaluation can be made to see if the system works
• Start out by attempting to reinforce all new successful responses
• Work to unpredictable intermittent reinforcement
• To reduce the need for special reinforcement systems in the future, pair tokens with social reinforcement

• Traps for using reinforcers incorrectly
• Example: the plan is to decrease thumb sucking
• The student is reinforced for taking his thumb out of his mouth
• Thumb sucking increases
• He was reinforced for putting the thumb in his mouth so he could get reinforced to take it out of his mouth
• Example: the plan is to increase washing dishes
• The student says he won’t do the dishes
• His mother says she’ll pay him if he does it
• The protesting increases
• He was reinforced to protest by the prospect of money
• Example: the plan is to decrease a student’s tantrums by decreasing peer attention on her
• The teacher gives candy to the peers who do not pay attention
• Some peers tease her to make her tantrum more often
• They were reinforced to antagonize her for candy