by Melvin Palmer

Created on: November 25, 2009

Education has changed in my thirty years of teaching. My career has seen the end of spanking and the start of behavioral management. Professionals have moved from guilt and humiliation to love and guidance to motivate students. Talking, finishing work, and getting out of their desk are problems that have been presented to teachers for generations.

Pro-active approaches to modifying behavior are more effective than reacting to unwanted student behavior. One of my most favorite behavior modification techniques is the 'timer game'. This simple game significantly reduces all three of the above behaviors by supporting 'on task' behavior. This approach is used on the entire classroom population.

The timer game is simple. When the timer goes off students earn a point if all of them are working. The students don't know when the timer will go off. The teacher varies the time set on the timer, never exceeding the target time. Target time will be explained in a few paragraphs. If a student or more is off task then the teacher says something like, 'Not everyone was working so I will set the timer. Everyone get working.' The teacher does not point out individuals who were off task. The teacher may also reset the time if a student is observed as being off task. The instructor also says the above.

When a class earns enough points they get free time. Free time can be anything they choose from a menu. The class votes for one of the free time activities. Some examples are: 10 minutes extra recess, 15 minutes of game time or15 minutes of educational television. The game time is a classroom activity and uses checkers, Connect Four, and Guess Who to develop cognitive, problem-solving skills.

The instructor needs to obtain a baseline of on task behavior for the class. Using a timer, observe students during an independent work time. When someone talks, gets up, or sits and does nothing write down the number of minutes the class was working. When this happens say something like, ' This is independent work time, everyone needs to be working.' The timer is set to zero and started again. After doing this several times obtain an average time for on takes behavior. Subtract a minute or two and that is your target time.

Start the game after explaining the objective and the rewards. Also use the same independent work period you observed the students for the baseline. The points needed for free time should only take 3 days to earn. If this is not happening then lower the time needed to earn

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