Here are five ways to reinforce positive behaviors:

1. Positive attention is the best reward. Ignoring a child’s effort is one mistake

some parents make, and when you are getting home from work, trying to get dinner on
the table, it’s easy to miss this. Time it – a minute may be all it takes to review a
worksheet, admire a picture or ask a question about a quiz.
2. Praise the process rather than the result. If a child shows you a tower of
blocks that has taken them some time to build, the parent should praise the child with
expressions like, “Look at the effort you put into that!” “Good job” rather than “What a
beautiful tower.” The same should apply when a child brings home schoolwork.   
3. Look for rewards that reinforce good behavior. Before promising a trip to the
zoo as a special reward, a parent should make sure that the child is actually interested
in going to the zoo. To reinforce good behavior, rewards should always be personalized
and meaningful to the child. The value the child places on the incentive is more
important than the value placed on it by the parent.
4. Vary the frequency of incentives over time. Studies show that if parents slowly
stretch out the frequency of granting incentives for good behavior (say from every two
times the behavior occurs to every four times, then every six times, etc.) the child is
more likely to eventually repeat the behavior without receiving reinforcement at all. The
goal is self-motivation.
5. Divide ambitious goals into smaller tasks. Dividing large goals into smaller
tasks and rewarding the achievement of smaller tasks is an effective method to
encourage good behaviors. For example: learning to dress by yourself can be daunting
for some little kids. Start them with putting on underwear and letting them master this
new skill. After a few days, work on pants. And then a shirt.  Praise after each step and
soon they will be getting dressed by themselves. (No promises about what they choose
to wear matching!)  

Be fair, positive and consistent. Be the kind of person young people can like and trust
—firm, fair, friendly, courteous, enthusiastic and confident. Keep your sense of humor.

Provide a list of standards and consequences to parents and students. Make sure

they are consistent with district and building policy. When in doubt, ask a colleague or
your principal.

Keep your classroom orderly. Maintain a cheerful and attractive classroom rather

than a disorderly one which might encourage disruptive behavior.

Get to know your students. Learn their names quickly and use them in and out of
class. You will soon develop almost a sixth sense for anticipating trouble before it
begins, but don’t act as though you expect trouble or you will almost certainly encounter
some.

Let the students know you care. Determine jointly with the class what is acceptable in
terms of behavior and achievement and what is not. Show interest in what students say,
whether or not it pertains directly to the lesson.

Benefits of Positive Discipline

Using positive discipline techniques can help teachers overcome the many
challenges in the classroom and help students learn and make better choices in
the future. In fact, using positive discipline in the classroom not only increases
academic success in the classroom but provides many other benefits, including:

 Students show respect for the teacher

 Students are on task and engaged
 Less disciplinary measures are needed
 Fewer suspension and expulsions
 Students see rules as fair
 Attendance improves