We received a question once from an HC user who wasn’t sure how to navigate the waters of disciplining students on the same day as rewarding them for good behavior.
What happens if you tell a child that they were so respectful and they go and put an R and 10 minutes later they hit a child? Do they get to keep the first R?
This is a great question, because in a capitalistic society, even teachers are drawn to a bottom line mentality. What is the sum of the student’s actions — what is his behavior overall? And overall, on a day when he was respectful and hit a child, that would have been a bad day for him.
However, our answer to her was that the student should keep the original “R” (or a 1 for respect, if you are using the corresponding numbers). Even though the student should not have hit another child, his decision to do so does not negate or undo his initial good choice.
Also, this supports the principal of positive reinforcement. By praising a student’s respectfulness—both on a chart and in front of his peers—you encourage him to pursue the same behavior again.