Positive Rewards

Positive Reinforcement at Mill Park

We have defined our expected student behaviors. We have taught our expected student behaviors. NOW it is time to ENCOURAGE those behaviors through positive reinforcement!

Reinforcement Needs to Occur at Various Levels:

  • Individual
  • Classroom
  • Grade Level                          
  • School-wide   
  • Home

Individual Level:

  • Verbal Praise
  • PAW Tickets
  • Student of the Week
  • Student of the Month 
  • Self-Manager

Classroom Level:

  • Verbal Praise
  • Classroom Goals and Awards
  • Class PAW Ticket Drawings
  • Panther Tokens and Token Parties
  • Specialist Awards

School-Wide Level:

  • Assemblies
  • Cafeteria PAW Ticket Drawing
  • Assembly PAW Ticket Drawing
  • Spirit Days
  • PAW Ticket Celebration Wall
  • School-Wide Celebrations

Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports at Mill Park

Acknowledgement System

PAW Tickets

On a daily basis, a student can earn “PAW tickets” when they are caught being Safe, Respectful and/or Responsible by a staff member. There will be many instances when a student will receive verbal praise instead of a PAW ticket. The staff member may choose to give a PAW ticket so as to have greater impact.

All staff members have the opportunity to hand out PAW tickets whether they teach that particular student or not. This is a school-wide effort to positively reinforce student behavior.

PAW tickets are designed to be user friendly. They are small enough to hopefully fit into a pocket and will only take a quick moment to fill out.

Golden PAW tickets are to be given out by substitute teachers. These special PAW tickets are worth double and come with extra privileges in the cafeteria and assembly drawings.

How does the process work?

  1. A staff member observes a student displaying one of the behaviors outlined on the expectations matrix.
  2. The staff member hands a completed PAW ticket to the student while complimenting the student, linking the behavior to a school rule (…you were being very respectful when you…) and identifying the specific behavior that earned the PAW ticket.
  3. The student brings the award back to his or her classroom to place in his or her pencil box or class container.
  4. A student can turn in 10 PAW tickets for a picture on the PAW ticket celebration wall. Once the picture is posted, a student can turn in 10 PAW tickets for a gold star on their picture. All PAW tickets are returned to the classroom teacher for the weekly drawing.
  5. Teachers will hold a PAW ticket drawing every week in the classroom for a prize.
  6. PAW tickets are placed in a container (one for K-1, one for 2-3 and one for 4-5) for a drawing at assemblies. Golden sub PAW tickets are drawn for a chance to spin the wheel for a class prize.

In addition to the weekly drawings, Mill Park will also be holding monthly assemblies to build community and encourage positive behaviors.

Panther Tokens: Panther tokens are an acknowledgement system for the entire class. Tokens can be given to a class for following expectations in the classroom or other location in the school. Teachers collect tokens in a container in the classroom. Once the container is full, the class earns a classroom reward. The tokens are then emptied into the panther pillar in the cafeteria. These go towards whole school spirit days. Some of the spirit days earned are hat day, pajama day, crazy sock day, backward day, twin day, class color day, and sport day.

Self-Managers

Students who consistently demonstrate school expectations can earn a self-manager badge. Students will fill out a document demonstrating their ability to follow all school expectations. Once completed, students bring the document to all specialists around the building. If the staff member agrees that the student is a self-manager, he/she signs the doucment. The principal is the last to sign. Once completed, a badge is made with the student’s picture and is announced over announcements on Fridays or at the monthly assembly. Self-managers use their badge as a hall pass, can be the first to lunch, recess, and specials, and earn the privilege to participate in self-manager parties.

Behavior Incident Response Procedure