Knapp Teacher Uses Positive Reinforcement to Guide Behaviors, Learning in Classrooms

The use of positive reinforcement has come a long way since B.F. Skinner tested his theories in the 1930s and 40s. While the ideas and techniques are much the same, teachers are using the techniques to make differences today in the academic and personal lives of their students.

Sierra Anthony has spent the past five years teaching first grade at Knapp Charter Academy in Grand Rapids, Mich. Her use of positive reinforcement guides most of her actions and reactions in class with one goal: for students to be the best possible versions of themselves.

“One of my mantras for this year is to ‘feed the positive and starve the negative,’” she said. “It could be words of affirmation, or it could be the promise of working on a special project with me. Kids are just so motivated by knowing that they're working towards something.”


Anthony said she uses about eight positive motivators throughout the school day to keep students focused on doing well for themselves and the class. She keeps track of these moments by adding gumballs to a gumball machine. When it’s full, the class can spin a wheel to select the prize – oftentimes a whole class party. She also hands out blue tickets to students making exceptionally good choices, then uses a clipboard to “clip them up.”

“We’re about 30 days in, and I've had zero kids clip down because I only use it as positive reinforcement, so they get to move up.”

She does this by keeping an eye on kids who are having an especially tough day and praises them when they make even the smallest, good choice. According to Anthony, clipping them up can be the turning point they need in their day to set them back on the right track.


“I do tell the class I will move their clip down at some point if they make an unwise choice. They’ll need to take ownership of that. If you throw a pencil across the room, then you made your choice.”

Anthony also hands out four bigger awards at the end of each day: Moral Focus leader, Hallway Leader, Behavior Leader, and Listening Leader.

“These are usually for the kids that are quiet leaders, ones that don't get recognized as much. I'm very intentional with my quiet leaders, I want to make sure they're seen, they're affirmed, and they're heard.”

Across the state in Detroit, another teacher has found a unique way to provide a reset for students struggling with behaviors: “lunch detention.” Flagship Charter Academy Fourth-grade Teacher Lisa Jackson-Clayborn is in her 30th year of teaching and realized if she shares some of her individual time with students, they start the second half of their day with a new perspective.


“Students have found that lunch detention is not really lunch detention,” Clayborn said. “It's more of a time to talk with me. They get to find out what I like, and we get to listen to jazz music and just reset our day. It’s because I don't want them to look at it in the negative, it's just a reset. Maybe your morning started off rough, but you know what? We can do something else for the afternoon.”

That short window oftentimes reaps quick benefits. Students go out of their way to say hello to her in the halls and ask how she’s doing. The positive moments spent with her improves their general temperament.

“We don't always have to make things so difficult or so hard for students. It's really about them getting to know you and seeing that you have their best interests at heart.”


She also performs occasional check-ins with her former students as they move on to the next grade.

“I expect them to do great things in the classroom, and I do check on them. I talk to their teachers and sometimes I'll say to them ‘hey, you remember we're doing great things in the classroom this year,’ and they smile, and they laugh, and nod their heads.”

Recently, a student from last year’s class approached her in the hallway, excited to tell her he decided to become a leader this year, a stark contrast to the previous year.


“I sleep well at night knowing that I give a hundred and ten percent in the classroom, and I don't just teach academically, I'm pushing in on character. I'm helping them build that character. So, it makes me feel very emotional and proud to see the great things and the possibilities in them."  
About Knapp Charter Academy
Knapp Charter Academy is a tuition-free, public charter school in Grand Rapids, Michigan, serving students in Young 5s through eighth grade. It is part of the National Heritage Academies network, which includes more than 100 tuition-free, public charter schools serving more than 65,000 students in kindergarten through 12th grade across nine states. For more information, visit nhaschools.com.

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