A lottery system is a class-wide or school wide positive behavior support plan that reinforces the replacement behavior you want to take the place of problem behaviors in the classroom.
Starting Out
To begin your lottery, either make or purchase tickets (I like the red ones on rolls that can be purchased at office stores. They remind kids of carnivals and amusement parks. They're fun!) You will want with older children (4th grade and up) that there are pens available for students to write their names on their tickets. You will want to throw the tickets away after you have had a drawing or have cashed them in, to avoid ticket fraud. (Trust me, it will happen.)
Reinforcement Schedule
Before you begin, make a list of what you will reward and inform the class. You may want to post what you give tickets for, but be sure you permit yourself the flexibility to change the list (say as much when you introduce it.) Focus on behaviors that are particularly troublesome, and behaviors that will move forward good academic behavior. At the beginning of the year you may reward the first five people who have their materials on top of their desk. By the end of the year you may not need to reward that, but rather the speed with which your class lines up for lunch. The lottery is a tool you can let work for you.
Lottery Days
Once a week or every other week, have a lottery day. Be sure all tickets for the week are in the jar, and shake them up well. Pull out one or two winning tickets and let the winner choose their prize.
Prizes
Prizes can be high value items or tickets for preferred activities. I have found that keeping a couple of portable CD players and some rock CD's have been big hits as awards, especially if the student can listen to them during independent work periods. Oriental Trading Company has lots of inexpensive toys and prizes that are also very popular, especially with children receiving special ed services. One of my fifth graders who was generally "too cool for words" was still excited about getting his name pulled (though he usually picked out prizes for one of his "girl friends.")
It's good to keep the lottery system fresh by having an auction perhaps 2 or 3 times a year. For those children who haven't won the lottery but are consistently putting tickets in the jar or box, may get frustrated. Pull and count all the tickets for each child, and let them use them as points for an auction. More popular things will go for high prices, less popular things may still get bids from the guys who only have 20 or 30 tickets.
I have used a ticket system when teaching as a push in special education teachers. When we assembled at the table for math or reading instruction, the tickets came with me. It worked very well, and kept students eager to come for small group instruction.
