Levi Scherschel Rachel Reynolds English 106 April 16, 2014 Does Everyone Really Win in The Good

Behavior Game? Teaching children can be one of the most stressful careers a person can have. Imagine trying to teach a group of children that are, some day, going to be the leaders of our country. Just knowing this can put a lot of stress onto one person to try to make a difference for everyone. In Renee E. Lastrapes article, Using the Good Behavior Game in an Inclusive Classroom, she describes how to use the Good Behavior Game and she says why it is so effective with references to many credible sources. The Good Behavior Game uses a mix of positive and negative reinforcement techniques to promote good behavior. Instead of a punishment for behaving badly, the instructor simply takes away a gift that wouldve been given if the class were to behave. This can include early dismissal, free homework pass, etc. It sounds like a good deal to most of the class, but what about the children that always behave well not because of a reward, but because they know how to behave appropriately in class. It seems like the children that never misbehave, are the ones that are getting the short end of the stick in The Good Behavior Game. One of the biggest challenges of being an educator is connecting with your students. But imagine if you teach students with mentally disabilities that make teaching even more difficult than it already is. Students with Emotional or Behavioral Disorders (EBD) can be extra

challenging to educate and can create a lot of stress for both the teacher and the student. In Renee E. Lastrapes article, she describes how to utilize the Good Behavior Game and how it works for students with EBD. In Lastrapes first section, she talks about students with EBD and the different laws that have been passed to help those students. She then explains how to play the game and how the game works to encourage good behavior with a special reward system for the good behavior. She also appeals to her ethos by providing quotes from experts in the field. In her next section, she goes on to provide the negative critiques that the Good Behavior Game has gotten and provides alternative solutions to these proposed problems. Afterwards, she describes the benefits to the game by explaining how it makes it easier for teachers to stay in control of their classroom by helping the students help themselves. In her conclusion, Lastrapes restates her focus topic and why its such a helpful technique for teaching. She provides a clear explanation with easy-tofollow tables and makes 14 references to highly respected experts in the fields of Special Education and Child Psychology. With the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act of 2004, more students with emotional or behavioral disorders (EBD) are being taught in general education classrooms, rather than special education classrooms. To provide an environment suitable for learning without disruptions from students, The Good Behavior Game has been known to decrease the amount of disruptions in the classroom by 50% according to Lastrapes. This is done be creating a game that puts the students against the teacher. The students must go a set amount of time with the least amount of disruptions and if they are able to make the amount of time with no more than five strikes the students will get some predetermined reward. This reward can include extra recess time, a homework pass, etc. In this game, a student can only gain, not lose.

But what is to be done about the students that are always on their best behavior because they know the difference between what is acceptable classroom behavior and what is not. In The Good Behavior Game the students must work together against the teacher to behave well. That is, every student must behave well in order to get their reward. The game is designed to give incentive to the students that cause disruptions to behave well. Then there are the kids that never cause problems in the classroom. In The Good Behavior Game, the students all make up the links to a chain, if there is one weak link, the whole chain suffers the consequence. So, one disruptive child can ruin the game for everyone. This isnt fair to the students that have put in the effort to get their reward. Now, what is to be done about this game? Instead of making the game a reward-only system, there should be a mixture of rewards and punishments. Students should also have their own individual scoreboard, this way, one students cannot ruin the game for the entire class. Points should be given to students that exhibit outstanding behavior such as sharing, helping, or scoring high grades. Students that make a quota of points by the end of the week will be given the reward and students that dont meet the quota simply dont get the reward that the well behaved students got. The children the behave badly and create disruptions will get points taken away and will give them incentive to make up for lost points in the future. In this scenario, the students will win the game without the risk of misbehaved students bringing their team down. Students with EBD deserve to be taught in an equal environment and with these updates on the new Good Behavior Game, students will help them help themselves to learn to work with their EBD. This way, students will have an incentive to behave well and to learn in the classroom rather than be disruptive and distract the other students from learning. These students are the

ones that are going to be running our country in the next 45 years or so and teachers need to be passionate about what they do for the future. Treating students with disabilities as if they are insubordinate to everyone else will set them up for failure. Every child deserves to have the same education as everyone else.