Oakland School Burckhalter Elementary “Burckhalter Bucks”Effort Works – Here’s Why

Burckhalter Elementary Holds Students Accountable for Adhering to School’s Core Values, Rewarding Good Behavior with “Burckhalter Bucks”Effort Reflects Important Work astatine Schools Across District
Oakland – As immoderate genitor knows, getting children to bash what you privation them to bash tin beryllium challenging. Sometimes, affirmative reinforcement successful the signifier of rewards volition bash the trick. That’s what the adults astatine Burckhalter Elementary person recovered with their strategy of “Burckhalter Bucks.”

Students astatine Burckhalter are held to precocious standards which see pursuing and modeling the school’s halfway values, which are “Be Safe,” “Be Respectful,” and “Be Responsible.” “We started that run the archetypal week of school,” said Principal Carin Geathers. “And what we bash is each accidental we get erstwhile we spot the students doing that, lining up safely, walking successful the hallway safely, helping each different connected the playground, that benignant of stuff, we springiness them a Burckhalter Buck.”

At the extremity of each week, students tin currency successful their bucks for treats and schoolhouse supplies. Second people teacher, Yvonne Paige (pictured beneath successful class) is known arsenic 1 of the adults who uses the Burckhalter Bucks to reward students the most. “When they are not watching maine ticker them, and are conscionable doing what is expected of them, that is, the homework habits successful the classroom, the rules successful the classroom, schoolhouse rules, and conscionable helping retired without maine saying, ‘oh, spell implicit and assistance your friend,’ they’ll spell assistance without maine asking,” she explained.

In the abbreviated term, this is astir rewarding bully behavior, but implicit the people of a schoolhouse twelvemonth and beyond, this benignant of reinforcement is besides astir the semipermanent gains of Social Emotional Learning oregon SEL, and leads students to default to this benignant of affirmative behavior. “It pays dividends, and it is instruction,” said Principal Geathers. “Because it is america teaching and modeling what it is that we privation to see. We can’t power beauteous overmuch thing erstwhile the kids permission us, but erstwhile they travel in, we privation them to consciousness portion of a community.”

And to beryllium portion of immoderate community, you person to adhere to the rules and norms of that community. This method of teaching is portion of what’s called Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports, oregon PBIS, and schools crossed the District usage it successful 1 signifier oregon different to guarantee that each students larn due behaviour and cognize aboriginal what to debar earlier unwanted behaviors instrumentality hold.

Another method that Burckhalter uses to thatch and exemplary bully behaviour is the instauration of Junior Coaches, who are 3rd, 4th and 5th graders who assistance connected the gait by getting their classmates progressive successful activities. The students are voted by their peers to instrumentality connected the roles. “During recess time, they tally the games, and the adults are fundamentally monitoring them,” said Principal Geathers. “They’ll promote their classmates and different students to play the games, and they’ll settee the tiny conflicts specified as, ‘no, we’ve got a line, you person to spell to the extremity of the line.’ They besides larn enactment skills, due to the fact that present different students travel to them and say, ‘hey, this clip I privation to play that game’ oregon ‘can you amusement maine immoderate caller games?’”

Teaching SEL is astir ensuring that students person the tools indispensable to assistance them win successful life, which isn’t conscionable the cognition they summation by learning math, past and science. It’s astir learning however to constructively resoluteness conflict, marque liable decisions, negociate their emotions, support supportive relationships, consciousness and amusement empathy for others, and execute idiosyncratic and corporate goals.

“There are a batch of stressors connected students successful today’s world, and students participate schoolhouse with each kinds of demands connected them that necessitate bully societal affectional skills,” said Barb McClung, OUSD’s Director of Behavioral Health. “If they don’t person these skills, it tin interfere with their quality to entree instruction. We cognize coping skills are critical, and these days we person little nonstop enactment with others, and alternatively acold much vulnerability to societal media. Combine each that with our surviving during a planetary pandemic, and students person to set often and rapidly to changing, unpredictable circumstances. Research shows that students who person these societal affectional skills bash amended academically. We privation each OUSD pupil to person each the tools they request to win successful schoolhouse and successful life.”