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Module 7

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Positive Classroom Practices: Acknowledging and Reinforcing Behaviors

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Positive Classroom Practices

Summarizes evidence-based, positive, and proactive practices that support and respond to students’ social, emotional, and behavioral (SEB) needs in classrooms. 

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Center on PBIS. (2022). Supporting and responding to student’s social, emotional, and behavioral needs: Evidence-based practices for educators (Version 2.0). Center on PBIS, University of Oregon. www.pbis.org.

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Supporting and Responding to Students’ SEB Needs 

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Practices to Create

Positive Teaching and Learning Environments

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Provide Specific Feedback

Consider Other Response Strategies

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Let’s focus on Acknowledging and Reinforcing Behaviors

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Provide Specific Feedback

Consider Other Response Strategies

Acknowledging and Reinforcing Behavior: �Critical Features

1. Provide specific feedback to encourage SEB and academic skills (specific praise) and decrease errors (specific correction).
2. Provide at least 5 praise statements for every error corrections (≥5:1 ratio); increase this ratio for students demonstrating SEB risk.
3. Engage students in providing specific praise to each other and themselves.

• Provide specific feedback to encourage SEB and academic skills (specific praise) and decrease errors (specific correction).

• Effective specific praise names the skills/behavior, provides sincere positive feedback, and matches students’ preferences.
• This can be for SEB skills (e.g., “Kind Greeting!), academic skills (e.g., Yes, great response!), and contextually appropriate behavior (e.g., “Nice walking!).
• Effective specific corrections briefly signal the error, quickly redirect to the contextually appropriate skills, and may provide an opportunity to practice with feedback; corrections are delivered privately in a calm and supportive manner.
• This can be when a student makes an academic error (e.g., “This sounds is /a/, what sound?”), or SEB error (e.g., “Please raise your hand”).

2. Provide at least 5 praise statements for every error corrections (≥5:1 ratio); increase this ratio for students demonstrating SEB risk.

This helps build a positive, trusting relationship with the student and improve classroom climate overall.

3. Engage students in providing specific praise to each other and themselves.

Elementary

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• Use a “praise around” for students to practice providing praise to each other.

Secondary

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• Teach students how to give specific feedback, engage students in providing specific feedback to each other and track their own positive to corrective feedback ratio.

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Let’s focus on Acknowledging and Reinforcing Behaviors

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Provide Specific Feedback

Consider Other Response Strategies

Acknowledging and Reinforcing Behavior: �Critical Features

• Adopt procedures that celebrate, acknowledge, and reinforce (increase) use of SEB, academic skills, and contextually appropriate behavior.

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• Adopt procedures that prevent or respond instructionally, respectfully, and supportively to SEB errors, academic errors, and contextually inappropriate behavior.

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1. Adopt procedures that celebrate, acknowledge, and reinforce (increase) use of SEB, academic skills, and contextually appropriate behavior

Possibilities include

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• Good Behavior Game
• Group Contingency
• Token Economy

2. Adopt procedures that prevent or respond instructionally, respectfully, and supportively to SEB errors, academic errors, and contextually inappropriate behavior

There are all different ways to provide positive reinforcement and acknowledge appropriate behavior!

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1. Social Reinforcers: Praise, nonverbal recognition

• Thumbs up, smile
• Behavior specific praise
• Specific - identifies what the student did correctly
• Contingent - occurs immediately when earned
• Sincere and credible

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There are all different ways to provide positive reinforcement and acknowledge appropriate behavior!

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2. Activity Reinforcers: This includes access to preferred games, computer time, etc. and is especially powerful if choice is involved.

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There are all different ways to provide positive reinforcement and acknowledge appropriate behavior!

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3. Tangible Reinforcers: This category includes stickers, trinkets, and awards. Awards can be in the form of certificates, displaying work, and letters home to parents commending the students progress.

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There are all different ways to provide positive reinforcement and acknowledge appropriate behavior!

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4. Token Reinforcement: Token reinforcement involves awarding points or tokens for appropriate behavior. These rewards have little value in themselves but can be exchanged for something of value.

Acknowledging and Reinforcing Behavior: Examples

Token Board

Group Contingency: Secret Student and ClassCraft

Non-contingent reinforcement: Breaks

Acknowledgement Planner

Acknowledging and Reinforcing Behavior: Activity

• Reflect on students that may require more corrections than average. How can you ensure they still receive a 5:1 ratio of specific praise to gentle corrections? Write down your reflection with specific examples (e.g., provide scaffolding materials and praise students for each little accomplishment).
• Revisit the Acknowledgment Planner. What reinforcement and acknowledgement systems do you have in your room? Are there elements you might consider adding?
• Share your ideas with a colleague!

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Thank you!

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Please contact Lindsay Fallon, Ph.D. (lindsay.fallon@umb.edu) with any questions.

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Created by Lindsay Fallon, Adam Feinberg, Julia Kausel, Diana Laenen, Andrea Molina Palacios & Emily Romero

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April 2023