Action Research Project
...This is my first year teaching a gifted class. I have three classes of Math
students. I was distressed to find that one of the classes had students who were
very critical and often made unkind comments to each other. I wanted to find a
strategy to implement in the classroom that would help to build a team building
approach that would result in a more positive atmosphere in the classroom.
Recently, our parish has adopted the Positive Behavior Support program that
is part of the No Child Left Behind Act. Our school has just completed In-service
on this program which also includes the Fish Philosophy and CHAMPS program.
I had already designed a program to implement in my class which I call Celebrate
Success. Therefore, I will be combining all of these in my team-building program
for my class.
The question that my action research project will attempt to answer will be
“Does positive reinforcement of group behavior influence the learning
atmosphere of the classroom?” This will not only be important for the academic
reasons and classroom management, but also for the social/emotional attitudes of
the individual students.
Research
Students need to control their own behaviors and become decision
makers. They need to learn meaningful ways to shape their behavior. There is
usually success when rules and structure are put together. The school-wide
rules give a clear layout of the expected behaviors. I also have expectations
for my classroom routines. I have found through research that a token
system can be used to address some of these issues. There are different forms of
token systems that have been designed as...
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