Critters: Rewarding Positive Behaviors
According to Intervention Central, the Critters intervention rewards students for positive behaviors and can be used with small groups or the entire class. Critters provides children with prize slips that they can redeem with the teacher for classroom privileges. This strategy involves the element of surprise and creatively designed reward slips as additional student motivators (n.d.). Materials needed for this intervention include the Critter Prize Slips Sheet (see visual representations below).
Preparation (according to Intervention Central):
According to Intervention Central, steps in implementing Critters include:
1. Introduce Critter Slips. Reserve 10 minutes of class time to inform students about the Critter Slips intervention:
Preparation (according to Intervention Central):
- Define a set of classroom expectations. Using input from students, define a set of up to five expectations for appropriate behaviors. These should be stated in positive terms. Select a mix of academic and behavioral goals. Define these expectations in terms students can easily understand and post them in the classroom so students can review them.
- Generate a list of classroom privileges for which Critter Slips can be redeemed. Decide what classroom privileges a student can earn with Critter Slips. List each privilege and note next to it the number of Critter Slips a student must redeem to earn the privilege. For example, students can use one Critter Slip to purchase 5 additional minutes of free time or redeem 5 Critter Slips for the privilege of avoiding a grade-penalty for a late homework assignment.
According to Intervention Central, steps in implementing Critters include:
1. Introduce Critter Slips. Reserve 10 minutes of class time to inform students about the Critter Slips intervention:
- Explain to students that every day you will select a different behavioral expectation to reward from the posted list. (Review these expectations briefly with students.)
- Tell students that throughout the day, you will randomly reward children who engage in the day's target behavioral expectation with a Critter Slip.
- Show students the list of privileges for which they can redeem Critter Slips. Explain to them terms for when and how frequently they can redeem slips (at the end of each day or just before lunch period on Fridays, for example).
- Emphasize that you are the sole and final judge of how many Critter Slips are handed out daily and when and how they can be redeemed.
- Select a behavioral expectation from the posted list. Tell students you will be 'secretly watching' for examples of this positive behavior. Tell students that, maybe, when they least expect it, they could earn a Critter Slip.
- Put a predetermined number (e.g., 10) of Critter Slips into your pocket. During the day, make a point to hand out all of the slips to students displaying the target behavior. Each student receiving a slip should write his or her name on it and store it in a safe place until he or she is ready to redeem it.
- At whatever time interval you have set with the class, give students the chance to redeem their Critter Slips for privileges or rewards.
- Once the Critter Slips program is effective and stable for several weeks, you can begin to 'fade' it. Hand out successively fewer slips each day. (For example, over a three-week period, you might gradually reduce the number of slips rewarded to the class from 10 to 4 per day.)
- Choose days (e.g., once per week) when the intervention is not used. Slowly taper the program off until you are implementing it only occasionally (e.g., once every two-three weeks). If student behaviors begin to worsen during the fading period, put the program back into effect at full strength until behaviors improve. Then repeat the fading process, this time at a somewhat slower pace.
Student Profile
In my classroom at my field experience site, there is a third grade student who has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). This student often has difficulties concentrating on a single task and tends to move out of his seat to other areas of the classroom when he is feeling fidgety. At times, he also needs reminders of ways to self-regulate his behavior. This varies depending on the particular situation. Rewarding positive behaviors would help improve this particular student's behavior. He would have clear behavioral expectations described and posted for referral in order for him to clearly hear and see what he needs to do in order to earn a reward. By implementing the Critters intervention, this student would be encouraged to respond to given situations rather than react to them by getting frustrated or displaying negative behaviors. This student loves doing IXL math and Raz-Kids, so one of his rewards after redeeming a certain number of Critter Slips could be 5 extra minutes on the computer. Teachers can alter these rewards depending on what motivates the particular student.
Visual Representations
The images above are examples of Critter Slips that might be used in the classroom for this intervention. Teachers hand out Critter Slips to students as a reward for displaying positive behaviors. Students can keep their Critter Slips in a safe place in their desk until they are ready to redeem them for a special privilege. Teachers can create their own reward slips to use as well. At my field experience site we use White Tiger Tickets as part of the White Tiger Pride PBIS in place. Specialist teachers at my field site also use an additional reward slip to record the number of positive classroom behavior points, which gets reported back to classroom teachers.
Content Area Examples
Critters is a versatile strategy that is meant to be used schoolwide for classroom management. This strategy can be used throughout the entire school day in any or all content areas including reading, math, social studies, science, and more, to reward students for positive behaviors. Critters can also be used in specialist classes by physical education, media, music, and art teachers. Teachers can each have their own set of Critter Slips and behavioral expectations that are reviewed with students prior to beginning the intervention.