Title: Acting Through Time

Cameron King #7
Undesirable Behavior:
Interrupting while the teacher is talking, leaving the class without permission, using classroom materials without permission,
talking without raising hand, borrowing classmates materials without permission. This behavior interferes with learning by
drawing attention away from the lesson and creating a disruptive environment in which students are easily distracted.
Expected Behavior:
1. Show Respect to the Teacher: remain quietly seated while the teacher is giving directions; raise hand and wait to be called
on before asking a question. 2. Be Respectful to Peers: ask classmates for permission to borrow their materials. 3. Have
Respect for the Lesson: ask teacher for permission to use classroom materials; ask teacher for permission to leave classroom
(nurse, restroom).
Types of positive reinforcements - Reinforced when & how?
Immediate: When students demonstrate the expected behavior listed above, they will earn fuel tokens which the teacher will
hand out to the student. Ongoing: Students will monitor their progress by watching a water jug (time machine) be filled with
cups of water twice a day (midday & end of day). Each fuel token a student has earned will represent one cup of water he or
she gets to add to the water jug. Inside of the water jug, a plastic ball will float on the surface to allow the class to easily view
their progress. Novel Interactive Learning Activity: Students will earn the final reinforcement once the floating ball is
touching the top of the water jug indicating it is completely full. The interactive learning activity will allow the students to act
out a short play depicting an important event in U.S. history.
Interactive Learning Activity
5th Grade Social Studies TEKS 113.16: 5) History. A) analyze various issues and events of the 20 th century such as
industrialization, urbanization, increased use of oil and gas, the Great Depression, the world wars, the civil rights movement,
and military actions. The Interactive Learning Activity will be a short play depicting an historical event aligned with the listed
TEKS. Potential topics will be written on different pieces of paper and placed into a box which the teacher will use to
randomly select an event. Divide the students into small groups and assign various tasks for creating the play (script, dialogue,
props, etc.). Acquire historical childrens books from the library to use as a guiding script for the play. Once the play is
created, cast acting roles to speed up the process and to avoid any casting disputes between students. The class can then
perform the play for the school staff, parents, or another classroom. Be sure to rotate the various theater roles for future plays
in order to allow each student to experience different roles.
Teach the Desired Behaviors:
1. Introduce the topic of classroom behavior using the book Dont Behave Like You Live in a Cave by Elizabeth Verdick.
The book teaches students to make smarter choices regarding behavior and self-control both in and out of school. 2. Students
get into small groups (3-4) and will create a list of appropriate and inappropriate behavior found in the book. 3. Reverse the
roles of the classroom and ask students to present their findings in the front of the class as if they were the teachers. While
different groups are presenting, the teacher will interrupt the presentations in various ways: talking without being called on,
using the pencil sharpener without permission, leaving the classroom without permission, using other students pencils. 4.
Hold a class discussion on how the teachers actions were inappropriate and then watch a YouTube video on classroom
behavior: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Wna3p4On1A 5. As a whole class, create a list of the desired behaviors onto a
bulletin board and mount it in the front of the classroom. 6. Before starting various activities throughout the day, hide/conceal
the bulletin board and ask students to submit a list (on piece of paper) of desired behaviors for the upcoming activity in order
to assess each students understanding and to provide feedback.
Teach the Plan:
Introduce the plan by scaling down the process in order to model it quickly. Use a regular water bottle as the time machine
instead of a large water jug to allow the process to cycle through much quicker and lead up to a demonstration. Explain the
plan to the students and then ask them to raise their hands for any questions they may have. Assuming students will have
questions about the plan, add a cup of water to the bottle every time a student raises their hand to ask a question. If students do
not raise their hand before asking a question, point to the bulletin board to remind them of desired behaviors. Once the bottle
is full, model the rest of the plan by drawing a planted piece of paper out of the box which will list an historical event. The
script for the play must already be planned out beforehand to quickly demonstrate the plan. After the short play, then introduce
the class to the water jug that will be used instead of the water bottle.
Provide options
Adjustments can be made by: A. Creating a new bulletin board or adding onto the original to account for new behavior. B.
Focusing on a specific behavior or time of day by rewarding tokens only when that behavior is displayed, or a particular time
of day by rewarding tokens only during that period. C. Creating a custom list of desired behaviors for an individual student
through a teacher-student conference. D. Final reinforcement can be adjusted to focus on a different subject such as reading
(acting out a piece of literature) or science (acting out a science experiment). E. Size of the water jug can be adjusted to
increase or decrease the time it takes to reach the final reinforcement based on classroom size or behavior frequency.