Episode Details

Chris Wejr, an elementary principal in Canada, explains why reward tickets can undermine PBIS and what to do instead. He moved from a high-poverty school outside Vancouver to a higher-income one, and says belonging and taught skills work better than prizes.

Wejr tells how a ribbon for helping a hurt classmate backfired, because the child grabbed it and ran back to the playground. He shares the bouncy ball, Lego and checkers he used to calm kids, and how he coached one boy who once threw a checkers board at him.

What you'll learn

• Ask what happens when a reward is removed, and what a ticket says about the behavior it pays for.
• Give a struggling student a purpose, such as starting each day with 20 minutes helping in a grade one classroom.
• Use a bouncy ball, Lego or checkers to get a flooded child talking, then return to class.
• Pinpoint the times of day a child struggles, coach them before the meltdown, and pre-teach the skills they need.
• Keep the system side of PBIS, with skill teaching and only the data you need, and drop the rewards.

Chapters

• 0:00 Chris Wejr on PBIS and moving schools
• 3:28 From a high-poverty to a higher-income school
• 5:50 Why rewards backfire on the task itself
• 9:26 How tickets became the mascot of PBIS
• 14:21 Belonging and lagging skills come before rewards
• 19:26 Buying time without bribing kids
• 21:15 Bouncy ball, Lego and checkers to calm kids
• 26:48 Why Wejr would keep the PBIS system

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Questions this episode answers

Do rewards and tickets improve student behavior?
Wejr says kids are driven by rewards in the short term, so you have to ask what happens when the reward is removed and what a ticket says about the behavior. After one ribbon for helping a hurt classmate, the child ran off to play and left her behind.

How can you help students with behavior problems without rewards?
Wejr starts with belonging, making the classroom welcoming, then looks for lagging skills by asking when, around whom and why the behavior happens, an approach he credits to Ross Greene. He says it can take two years of tapping into kids' strengths and interests.

What is the difference between a program and a system in PBIS?
Wejr says you cannot run a standardized program with kids, but a system gets everyone on the same page. He regrets ignoring PBIS because of the rewards, and says he would keep the skill teaching, trim the heavy data collection and drop the prizes.

About Chris Wejr

Elementary school principal in Canada who writes about discipline and behavior and moved from a high-poverty school to a higher-income one.

Links and resources

• Sanebox sponsor banner
• Sponsor: Sanebox
• Transformative Principal website
• Transformative Principal on Stitcher
• Refer a principal form

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