The major parts of Jones' system are his, limit setting, PAT, and PPL (praise, prompt and leave). Select, describe and critique ONE of these parts. Unfortunately, the Charles textbook gives a rather poor description of them, so you'll have to locate a more thorough version.
Early in my teaching career, I was very critical of any type of incentive program. I felt that students should not need to be "bribed" to behave or do an assignment. I still feel that way...however, that is probably only feasible in a perfect world. Though they should not need this type of motivation, many students do. I have expressed my dissatisfaction with rewards before. In lesson 1, I pointed out that in rewarding a difficult child for good behavior, the "always well behaved" children are somehow punished for always doing what they should. (Langellier par. 4) In Fredric Jones' PAT system however, all are rewarded for their team effort at behaving or getting an assignment done in an efficient manner.
Preferred activity time (PAT) is an amount of time that is set aside for an activity that the students would prefer to do over the usual class time lessons. This time can be earned in a variety of ways. Mr. Jones is quick to point out though, that these activities should have educational value. (Charles p. 59) How does a teacher justify spending 30-60 minutes every friday on a popcorn and movie party? I once knew a teacher that did just that, and I was appalled. (Langellier 1999?) It is just this type of misinterpretation of PAT that most people object to.
As Misty pointed out in her essay, quoting Jones: "there are two different types of PAT which deal with two different types of motivation in the classroom. One is for instruction, and the other is for discipline." (Mapes) I would like to talk only about discipline, as I teach in a music classroom and don't have to deal with homework assignments and seat work. For thirteen years, I was teaching band exclusively and didn't have nearly the discipline needs that I do now. Last year I went back to teaching general music, where you have students with various levels of motivation and cooperation. It was at this time that I decided to give PAT a try, though at that time I didn't know what it was called. I hung charts for each music class on the wall and put stickers on them each time the class had a good day. It had been explained to the students that in order for the class to earn a sticker each day, there had to be very little talking out of turn and goofing off. Once the class earned 10 stickers, a preferred activity such as the "bag of fortune" game could be played. These preferred activities always had some educational value--the students were learning while having fun. I have to say, that it worked very well for most classes and I continued to use it this year.
Misbehavior disrupts teaching and learning and needs to be dealt with. 80% of this misbehavior consists of talking without permission and 19% of goofing off. (Jones' Positive Classroom Discipline) I found that PAT is an easy and effective way for me to deal with these two problems in a music classroom. When reminded that the class will not receive a sticker if the class doesn't quiet down and focus, most of the time they quiet down. Unfortunately, one unruly student can cause the loss of PAT for the entire class. It may not be fair to punish the entire class for the misdeeds of 1 or 2 students, but the idea is to "bring peer pressure to bear against misbehavior." (Charles p. 60) We can't always be fair and still control the classroom. While I find it difficult to reconcile the unfairness or rewarding one difficult child when he/she follows the rules, (to encourage obedience) I find PAT a little more acceptable simply because it is a team effort and all are rewarded when the rules are followed.
Another objection that people have is that constantly rewarding students causes them to come to expect compensation for everything they do. It is frustrating to hear students ask "what will I get for doing this?" and then hear them say..."if I'm not getting anything, then I'm not doing it." Misty points this out as well in her essay.(Mapes par. 5) But, should we never give students rewards? Even as adults, we like and respond to rewards. I look forward to getting coupons for free items from the grocery store as a reward for spending a certain amount of money there. I think what we as teachers need to be careful of, is how we balance our incentives in order to not train students to always expect a reward. This is important if we don't want to raise students to become a bunch of lazy unmotivated adults. Used in moderation, I think PAT can be a useful tool for most teachers.
REFERENCES
Charles, C.M. (2002). Building Classroom Discipline (7th ed.). Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Jones' Positive Classroom Discipline. Retrieved 1/25/03 from http://campus.kcc.edu/faculty/dfyffe/jones.html
Langellier, Dia. Lesson 1 Retrieved from http://blackboard.cites.uiuc.edu:80/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2590_1&frame=top on Jan. 25, 2003
Langellier, Dia. 1999? Springfield Catholic Grade Schools.
Mapes, Misty. The Legitimacy of Preferred Activity Time. Retrieved 1/26/03 from http://blackboard.cites.uiuc.edu:80/bin/common/course.pl?course_id=_2590_1&frame=top