The difference between punishment and reinforcements, both positive and negative, deal with what it is we are trying to accomplish.  Punishment deals with unwanted behaviors, we are trying to keep a student from behaving in a particular manner, we don't want students dancing during instruction time or leaving homework at a friend's house.  Reinforcements deal with trying to elicit the desired behaviors, we want them to turn in assignments when due and work cooperatively.  After reading through Gretchen's and Jennifer's and Becky's papers along with the course documents, I felt better able to distinguish the difference.  I was disappointed, however, when I began to look through my own behavior strategies. I discovered I use many more punishments than I realized.  I didn't see myself as a teacher who used a lot of discipline, let alone punishment techniques. I was taught that positive reinforcement was the best plan.  But over time I didn't like to idea of reinforcing positive behavior with rewards.  Without conscious decision my behavior strategies changed and I began using a greater number of punishments in my classroom, for lack of other alternatives.

These are the strategies currently used in my classroom:
 

punishment A- (aversive stimulus given) scowls, teacher to student lectures, students who touch another student must stand before the class and apologize, class flag comes down, visit the principal, notes sent home to parents, students have to write their name 50x for a no name paper, 10% markdown of all papers l day late, students sent to the end of the line for talking, students have to put their heads down if the class gets too wild,

punishment B-(pleasant stimulus taken away) those students who do not turn in assignments when due or have behaved inappropriately are not allowed to participate in our classroom behavior reward, recess taken away,
 

negative reinforcement (aversive stimulus taken away) no class examples as of yet but I really liked Gretchen's use and may have to try this soon

Positive reinforcement- (pleasant stimulus given) those who behave and turn in assignments when due participate in monthly reward, students who attempt math problem of the day are given a sticker, students who work well throughout the day are given smiles, encouragement, kind words, the class can earn extra recess for appropriate class behavior

These techniques were never well thought through plans.  Some of them just happened, other ideas came from observing other teachers, and some were required by the principal.  I did recently make the change from taking recess away from the class when they were acting out to allowing them to earn an extra recess when I observed appropriate behaviors. ( A move from punishment to positive reinforcement)

I've always felt that punishments were ineffective yet that is the large extent of what I'm currently using.  Upon reexamining my thoughts on behavior strategies, I find for some reason, age, years of experience, or maybe a trend coming back around, that punishments, when used correctly are effective and don't have to cause shame or humiliation. For instance, speaking to a child one on one in the hallway because of an undesired behavior can be quite effective.  It is important to go about this in a very respectful way that shows concern and not contempt for the student.  Unfortunately,  I've scowled and given students a stern voice and let them know how unhappy I am with their behavior (I'm always careful to make sure it is the behavior I focus on and not the child).  Those are often the students at the end of the year who report feeling that I don't like them (despite the above mention attempt).  Positive discipline had a wonderful quote, "When human beings are upset, they function from their reptilian brain (the brain stem) where the only options are fight or flight. I joke with people by saying, 'When children push your buttons, you
react from your reptilian brain, and reptiles eat their young.'"

But, I've also taken a student into the hall and with great concern let them know that what they did was unacceptable and that I'd like to try to help them in their efforts not to repeat this behavior- this reaction probably gets about the same results except that I haven't hurt the child's self esteem.

The flag coming down is school policy.  We have a class flag and a school flag.  If a students pushes, touches, etc. another student the class flag comes down and the student must apologize to the class.  If both students are involved with physical fighting the school flag comes down and they must report their incident to the principal.  She reports over the announcements which classes have earned a star (no flags coming down) and at the end of the year classes receive plagues showing how many stars they've earned.  After reading a web page I found, (don't hurt me Tom, I lost the url but it looks like this:)

Basic Principles of Human Behavior

                            1. All people (including children) deserve dignity and respect. A basic principle of Adlerian
                            psychology--the philosophy of maintaining dignity and respect for all human beings--must be
                            incorporated before time out can be used as an effective, encouraging experience that helps
                            children, instead of an experience that creates humiliation and loss of dignity and respect.

                            2. Misbehaving children are discouraged children. Misbehaving children are discouraged and need
                            encouragement so they won't feel the need to misbehave; not shame and humiliation to make
                     them feel more discouraged and more motivated to misbehave.

                            3. Humiliation and shame are not effective motivators. These specialists have paid attention
                            to the research demonstrating that the long-range damage to children far outweighs the immediate
                           advantage of controlling behavior through punishment.

                            Let it be stated again: "Where did we ever get the crazy idea that to make children do
                       better, we must first make them feel worse?" The truth is that children do better when they feel
                            better--not when they are discouraged about themselves.
 
 

I discussed my concern about our "Fight Free" program with our principal.  She was quite pleased with the results and stated she feels the students are having to own up to what they've done wrong.  The blaming of other students has declined and students have told her that they feel more obligated to behave because they don't want to let down their classmates.  This same webpage also stated that, yes, punishments techniques often work but at what cost?  Are we humiliating them in front of their peers?  Perhaps a little, but I agree that as long as the classroom teacher is handling this appropriately, there should be no long term negative effects.

The positive reinforcements I use in my room do seem to work quite well.  I've moved away from using these exclusively in part because students often become dependent on the rewards.  My students were asking me, "what do we get".  So I decided to reward them only when I feel like it and never when they ask.

Another area for concern is the consistency with which I follow through with these rewards or punishments.  Good kids.com states that a good care provider should, "Avoid threats. Never say: 'If you do that again you will get time-out.' This is confusing to a child. Kids are eight to ten years old before they are capable of the adult reasoning behind the 'threat, threat, punish' system. They think: 'If I did something wrong, why was I not punished?' and: 'Why is it okay sometimes and other times I am punished?'"

"NEVER THREATEN, SET THE RULES AND STICK TO THEM. IF YOU MAKE A STATEMENT, AND LATER FAIL TO STAND BY IT, KIDS WILL LOSE RESPECT FOR YOU. THEY HATE LIES MORE THAN THEY HATE CONSEQUENCES. LEARN TO SAY ONLY WHAT YOU REALLY MEAN."

I am guilty of this both in school and at home.  I know that following through is crucial yet sometimes, for some reason, I don't follow through the consequence.  After this assignment I know I need to spend some time on my class management plan.  I'll just add it to the never ending list of a classroom teacher.

References:

Anderson, Tom: Commentary of Punishment and Other Uses of Aversive Stimuli

Web sites:

Good kids.com

Positive discipline

Classmates papers:

Gretchen Halasi-Kun
Jennifer Haberkorn
Trieger, Rebecca

Conversation with Principal Kathy Garrett Feb. 5th, 2001