What’s so great about this system?  It does not require:

-          you to keep track of each child’s behavior in order to penalize or reward.

-          the entire class to ‘behave’ in order to be rewarded

-          you to punish those who did behave due to the actions of those who didn’t

-          the same behavioral standards for everyone: all students have equal     

          opportunities to be rewarded for their own accomplishments

-          only behavioral improvements to be rewarded: those students who consistently

          follow the rules will be rewarded more often, rather than being overlooked

-          any money to be spent on candy or prizes

-          the staging of elaborate rewards

-          a complicated class helper system, because tokens assign many job privileges

-          class time that should be spent on academics

-          a lot of maturity in students: even preschoolers can participate

Here’s how to get the system set up:

-           Find some chips, tokens, cubes, or whatever else you can access.  Even small laminated slips of paper will work.  10-20 per child should be enough.

-          Assign PIN#s.  Each child in my class has a personal identification number (PIN#) used for filing papers and so on.   If yours don’t have one for other purposes, assign one for this. You could use the children’s names, but then you have to make a new  tokens each school year and whenever new kids transfer.

-          On each token (or whatever item you are using), write a PIN#.  Each PIN# needs about 10-20 tokens.  Keep each group of tokens sorted into separate containers of some sort, like a tackle box or craft supply organizer, to keep them separated by number.  This will take about a half an hour; you will never have to invest any more time in this system for as many years as you want to use it. 

-          Find or make a box or bag to put the tokens in when they are awarded.  I use a sparkly purple and gold drawstring bag I found from a dollar store a few years ago.  You only need one for the whole class.

Here’s one way to introduce it to your class (first grade and above):

-          Explain to your class that each teacher has a method for rewarding good behavior in students.  Ask them to recall some of the ways other teachers they have had rewarded them (stickers, play money for a class store, paperclip chain to earn a pizza party, etc.).   Be prepared to limit the discussion, as it will be a very popular topic!

-          Discuss with the kids how they might have earned those rewards in previous classes.  They may mention being ‘caught being good’, or when a compliment was given from another teacher, or when an especially good job was done on a project. Encourage specific responses.  This is also a good way to set behavioral expectations for the year, and check prior knowledge. You may want to list their ideas, or write down just the ones that you will be rewarding them for.  Decide ahead of time whether you will also reward academics with this system or if it will be purely social/behavioral.

-          Explain that this year, in their new class, tokens will be awarded to the child(ren) who exhibit the behaviors listed or other praise-worthy actions.  Stress that tokens may not be awarded every single time, but that you will surprise them and they never know when they will have a token added to the bag.  This is an important point so that they do not wait to be rewarded each time they follow directions.  You might also want to mention that if a child asks for a token, s/he will not be given one, no matter how good of a job s/he did.  You are the only person who determines when tokens will be awarded. 

-          Show the token organizer and your special bag or container for the awarded tokens.  Explain that when a token is awarded, you will take a token with the child’s PIN# on it and place it in the bag. 

-          Demonstrate how you will award tokens.  Tell a child that you liked the way she came in this morning, so you will take a token with her PIN# on it and put it in the bag.  Tell another child you noticed he walked quietly in the hallway, and make a big show of putting in a token for him.  Specifically praise each child in the class and add a token for each to the bag.  Tell the students that they will have opportunities to earn tokens every school day, all day long.

-          Demonstrate how you will pull tokens and give rewards.   Emphasize that tokens will be pulled whenever you have a special job in the classroom you need someone to complete, and how you might pull a token at any time throughout the day.   If you will also pull tokens at a set time or day, or to give specific rewards or prizes, explain that as well.  Begin pulling tokens for classroom privileges right away.  If you go to music class right after the discussion, you could pull a token to determine who will line up first, or who will carry the recorder money down to the music teacher.  Pull lots of tokens during the first few weeks of school so the children can learn how the system works and make connections between their behavior and privileges.

How to use and maintain your token system:

-          Whenever you see behaviors you would like to encourage, award tokens.

-          You can pull tokens from the bag anytime you have a natural opportunity to reward students.  If you need someone to pass out art supplies, or run down to another teacher’s room, or substitute for a classroom helper who is absent, work a problem on the board, participate in a role play, or any other situation in which you need to select a student for a privilege or special responsibility, pull a token.  This prevents you from having to recall who has ‘behaved’ recently, and whether you are calling on students equitably.  The higher the incidence of good behavior, the more likely they are to be given extra responsibilities and privileges.  It also simplifies your helper system- you don’t have to assign every conceivable job to a student, because occasional tasks can be assigned using tokens.  

-          You can pull a set of number of tokens on a certain day or time, such as every Friday at dismissal, to distribute additional rewards.  If you give your students candy or prizes, this would be a good way to do it, but this system does not require any tangible rewards or expense on your part if you don’t want it to.

-          After you pull a token from the bag, put it back into your tackle box or organizer, rather than back in the bag.

-          Empty out the bag every week, month, or quarter, depending on how many tokens you have and how often you want your class to have a fresh start.  Any grade level of kids should be able to sort the tokens by number back into the organizer for you during indoor recess or other down time.

Alternatives and ways to extend the system:

-          You may want a Token Helper to put the tokens in the bag for you so you don’t have to worry about it, once routines are established.  The Token Helper could also be that responsible child who reminds you in the classroom to add a token that you awarded at recess or in the hall.

-          You can also have children put in their own tokens for especially great accomplishments. This can become distracting if done when a token is awarded during instructional time, so I would not recommend it as a regular routine.

-          Students can nominate each other for tokens.  During your morning meeting or at dismissal, for example, you could ask for two volunteers to tell about how someone in the class was a good friend or role model, and have that child put a token in the bag for his or her classmates.  This has lots of benefits, from encouraging the children to look for appropriate behavior in their friends to applying a little positive peer pressure to follow the rules.

-          You may want to tell your specials teachers about this system so that they can note the names of any kids who they think have earned them. I told my students that if I heard another teacher or administrator compliment them, I would add tokens when we got back to the classroom.  My grade-level team always knows my behavior mod plans and they make sure to comment when they see exceptional behavior at recess or in the hall.

-          You can make tokens that say “Whole Class” to occasionally reward excellent group behavior.  Whenever a ‘whole class’ token is pulled, a special reward can be given instead of the purpose you pulled the token for. (If you pulled a token to see who would run an errand, it would not be feasible for the whole class to do it, anyway.  Announce the whole class token, then pull another token to select who will run the errand),  The whole class token could mean:

*five minutes of free time at the end of the day

*extra recess or computer lab time

*extra singing or finger plays during the next morning meeting

*ten minutes of self-selected reading with friends or their choice

*time in class to begin homework, or

*any other reward you are comfortable giving every day that you pull the ‘whole class’ token and that the whole   class enjoys. Again, no tangible rewards are necessary, unless you prefer to give candy or toys.  49 ideas which do not involve tangible rewards can be found at this link to CanTeach.

-          Assign a Star of the Week for when you are too busy to pull tokens and when you are out of the classroom.   Sometimes at recess or in the hall or at an assembly, a child needs to be chosen for a small task, such as taking a note to another teacher or retrieving something from the classroom.  Your Star of the Week, or VIP, or whatever name you choose, can serve this role.  There may also be an unassigned task that pops up during a lesson, and rather than distract the class with tokens, just ask the Star to do it.  This seems fair to children and they do not question it.  Each child usually gets to be Star twice a year, and gets to hold his or her regular monthly job during the Star week.  I like assigning the Star job for a week so that I can remember who it is, which would be hard if it changed daily.  The Star can also share favorite books and poems, bring in an item from home (like a show-and-tell), eat lunch with you, or any other special activity that draws attention to that child and builds self-esteem.

Examples of Tasks That Can Be Assigned Using Tokens

Calling students to line up

Running irregular errands

Doing problems on the board/ overhead

Choosing read-alouds

Completing small tasks for other teachers

Monitoring behavior when you are out of the room

Helping Star of the Week

Bringing you something from another part of the room/school

Carrying things

Holding posters and charts while you teach

Sitting in a special seat

Reading from texts to the class

Sharing journal entries

Group leaders for activities

Any other spontaneous task that you have to choose a student to complete

Combining the Token System with Classroom Helper routines