Plan Title: How to be part of the Union: a participation exercise Name: Scott Dollen ID# 7

Undesirable Behavior Targeted: Interrupting or blurting out when the teacher is talking and not
participating when prompted for discussion. Examples of what this might look like: Interrupting,
talking out of turn, not participating, silence, mumbling answers under breath, frantically waving their
hand, not listening to others when they are speaking.
Desirable (expected) Behavior Targeted: Students should have their head up when someone is talking,
and be looking toward the speaker. When a question is posed, or a comment is made, then the student
will raise their hand, wait to be called on, and speak out (keep it under 30 seconds). 12 different
students should do this every class, and every student must be called on during the course of a week.
Absences will be taken into account.
Types of positive reinforcements - Reinforced when & how?
1. Immediate R+: Each time a student participates successfully, I will mark down their name on a dry erase
version of the roster on a clipboard that I will be carrying around, while noting to the class and to the
student that was a good job participating.. At the end of each class, I will see how many students
participated well, and let the class know if they reached their goal of twelve for the day.
2. Ongoing R+ : If the class reaches their goal of twelve for the day, and every student per week, I will let
them know on each Monday that their states constitution has been accepted and that they are now
accepted into the Union. My goal is to have them complete six successful weeks, with 10 states
represented on the map (the Confederate states after the Civil War) and so we will have the double
up on states some weeks. The state will be placed on the big map at the front of the room, and when
all 10 states make it onto the map, then we get to have our big debate.
3. Overall R+ : The Interactive Learning activity will be a debate centering around one of two major
questions that we will encounter in the spring semester: Did Reconstruction work or What was the
Cause of the Civil war.
4. This will be easy to mark down during the course of class on the dry erase roster, and telling students
that they have done a good job participating is not a difficult or time consuming task.
Interactive Learning Activity If we start this BCP in February, then that gives the students about 6-12
weeks to reach their goal of the debate while still having relevance to the content we are covering. I
realize that there is no technical time limit on these BCPs, but this is just a practical consideration for
my own usage. I will not let the students know the topic of the debates, but will plan for them to be
over one of these two topics:
TEKS: (9) History. The student understands the effects of Reconstruction on the political, economic,
and social life of the nation. (7) History. The student understands how political, economic, and social
factors led to the growth of sectionalism and the Civil War.
Teach the Desired Behaviors: We will spend one half of a class period brainstorming what it looks like to
participate well, and putting that list on the board. I will make sure all necessary steps are covered.
When we have our list, then I will to offer good and bad examples of participation, and ask students to
note whether it was good and bad. Then I will offer the class a chance to do the same.
Teach the Plan: Once we have a good feel on what constitutes good and bad participation, I will outline
what the steps are to reaching their goal by using the board. I will then give the class a chance to have a
sample day, where I will briefly stop after each example of good or bad participation and give the class a
chance to note what was good or bad about it, and then tell them and show them how I would have
marked it on the roster. Then, I would fast forward to a Monday and let the class know that every
student participated over the course of a week, and that they reached 12 different participations each day,
and thus they would gain a new state on the map. I would show them what it would look like to gain that
state on the map.
Provide options: Implementing this BCP across class periods would be easy to accomplish, because it
contains the full spectrum of difficult behaviors seen in my classes. The GT classes tend to over
participate, and my other classes tend to not participate as much. I might have to change the topic of my
interactive learning activity depending on the class (some will finish quicker than others) but I could
feasibly use this in all my classes.

When the Union is whole again, we get to have a debate!

What does good participation

look like?
1) Head up, look toward the speaker
2) When a question is posed, or a comment is
made, student will raise their hand.
3) wait to be called on, and speak out (keep
it under 30 seconds).
4) 12 different students should do this every
class,
5) every student must be called on during
the course of a week