HORIZONTAL LINES (FREQUENCY LINES) On the left of the chart you see the following figure: This figure, and each corresponding line tells the
frequency in terms of how many in one minute (Before we go further I do want to
say that this does not mean we can only display behaviors that occur in
one-minute. In fact we can display behaviors that occur as little as one per
day or as many times as 1000 per minute!). Back to the explanation of the
figure. The 1 means one per minute. The next line up shows 2, and it proceeds
up to 10. Now something happens which does follow normal conventions for those
of you used to charting behavior on convention equal interval (or add/subtract)
graphs. The next line up from 10 changes into 20 (not 11 as typical in equal
interval charts). You will find from the 20 line goes to 30, 40 and so on
up until 100. You probably saw this coming as well, the line after the 100
doesn’t show 101 but 200. The multiply divide scale shows behavior change
proportionally. In other words the distance from 1 to 2 covers the same
distance as 10 to 20. Notice the difference in the horizontal axes in the
figures. Equal-interval, or add-subtract, line graphs draw their
name from their axes. The progression on both the vertical and horizontal axes
change in equal intervals (when you move forward to the next interval the
number grows by arithmetical progression +1 or +5 or +10, whatever the graph
maker decides). The following graphic show a typical equal interval chart. When using equal/interval charts the data can give a
false impression of either rapid or minimal growth. However recharting the same
data on a standard celeration chart and an opposite picture may emerge. This
happens because equal/interval charts show change in an arithmetical and
absolute fashion. The standard celeration chart shows change in a
multiplicative and proportional manner. Therefore making judgments on
equal/interval charts, which by the way almost always appear NON-standard,
charters set themselves up for navigating behavioral waters without the best
compass. A very good source for
understanding some of the problems of using an equal interval chart appears in
an article by Kubina, Eshleman, and Morgenstern. (If you want a copy of this
article please send me an email request and I will snail-mail you one). Now that you understand day lines and frequency lines,
the time has come to tell you what goes on those lines that make the wildly
effective standard celeration chart. Knowing three symbols will allow you to
begin charting any behavior you desire. The three symbols follow: • X - What does these three symbols mean? Very briefly: • = acceleration data (behavior you want to occur more
frequently) X = deceleration data (behavior you want to occur less
frequently) - = counting time You use the dot (•) when you want to represent a
behavior targeted for acceleration (or stated differently, something you want
to happen more). For example, let's say I want my class of second graders to
learn their addition facts to fluent levels. On the chart I will use dots (•)
to show correctly answered addition facts. The beauty of using standard
conventions? You can look at anyone's chart in the world and if they have
followed the precision teaching conventions you will know those dots (•)
represent something the person doing the chart wants to accelerate. I bet you fully understand what the X's mean. Right,
behaviors we want decelerated. In the addition fact example we just used, the
X's would represent the number of addition facts the student answered in
correctly. Let's waste no time and learn how to put these two pieces of
information on the chart. This example will help. Today we gave a practice
sheet of addition problems (single digit problems with sum's of 0 to 18 with no
carrying) to our young student Rick. We gave Rick one-minute to answer as many
problems as he could. When Rick finished our bright young man answered 23
correct and 4 incorrect (or had four "learning opportunities" as we
like to call them in precision teaching). We need to do two things to graph
corrects and incorrect on the chart. We must find what day this happened and
then chart the corrects and incorrect on the appropriate day. Now I will
illustrate how to do this just by using a cross section of the chart. Remember
that dark lines show Sundays. So if we say Rick got his 23 correct and 4
incorrect answers (on the addition practice sheet) on Thursday we need to: (1)
locate Thursday; (2) find where 23 corrects lays on the charts and plot that;
and (3) find where 4 incorrect lies and plot that. Please look below to see how
I did this with a cross section of the standard celeration chart. Let's keep going with this example. On Friday Rick got
21 correct and 3 incorrect. Saturday saw Rick getting 28 correct with only 1
incorrect. Look below and see how we find each day and chart each data point. You must remember something else when finding the day.
Where does your chart begin. Remember the "synch-date?" Whether you
use synch-dates or just start the Sunday beforehand (personal usage) you must
set up your chart accordingly to figure out where the day (more specifically
the date of the day) goes so you can put the dots and X's in the correct place. Later we will talk about how to measure the correct and
incorrect responses over time to come up with a "celeration." We will
see that we can put a number on weekly learning (like x 2 or x 3.4 - said
"times 2 or time 3.4"). Imagine that, we can actually numerically
determine how much learning our teaching produces! You will not find celeration
or such sensitive measures of skilled performances in any other measurement
system. we might call precision teaching the sine qua non of tools for
producing masterful learning (you can tell how much I love this stuff!). Back to charting. I did mention that you must know
three symbols to chart. Recall we use dots (•) for behaviors we want accelerate
and X's for behaviors we want to decelerate. The other symbol, a dash (-)
stands for the counting time. A "record floor?" What the heck does
that mean? Good question. A record floor represents the time period you
observed, or measured a behavior. If you think about the term "record
floor" you can almost figure out what it means. Before we discuss the convention for using counting
times please allow me to explain how to find where the counting time goes. The
standard celeration chart has the ability to show behaviors that occur as
little as once a day (24 hour counting time) or a thousand times per minute
(one-minute counting time). If you have a copy of the daily standard celeration
chart (Dpmin-11EC) you will notice on the right hand side a key that says
"COUNTING TIMES." Then below that you see how the seconds and
minutes, and hours appear on the chart. The following figure shows how to find
the counting times (or what will become the place for our counting times).
I would like to direct your attention to the arrow that
points to one minute. You will notice this line appears at the center of the
chart. If all you did involved conducting one-minute timings you could use the
counting time, and chart, relatively easily. Let's go back to our previous
example to illustrate. Recall we had Rick doing addition facts in one-minute.
Thus our counting time for that period equaled one-minute. We know how to write
the corrects and incorrects convention (dots and X’s). Now I will share with
you the special convention for showing counting time: we draw a dashed line
from Tuesday to Thursday in the middle of the week. Please look below for the
convention. When we use this convention for one-minute showing the
frequency becomes easy. Every frequency line (horizontal line) equals the
frequency shown to the left. To illustrate this I plot 1 through 7 below (I
will use dots for this example). For any other record floor you would follow the same
convention and place a line from the Tuesday to : Thursday for the specific time. Note on the chart with the arrows
I have written in the time to the right and the frequency line to the right. To
display a number simply multiply the number to the right by the corrects or
incorrects and then place the corresponding number on the chart. For example
look at the figure below. Conclusion This
supplement forms but the beginning to standard celeration charting and
precision teaching. Nevertheless with this supplement your beginnings should
provide you with the skills to find you way around the chart and to begin to
measure/display data and make decisions. As the old precision teaching slogan
goes "Care enough to chart!" References Bates, S., & Bates, D. F. (1971). "...and a
child shall lead them": Stephanie's chart story. Teaching Exceptional
Children, 3(3), 111-113. Binder, C. (1996). Behavioral fluency: Evolution of a new
paradigm. The Behavior Analyst, 19, 163-197. Kubina, R. M., Eshleman, J. W., & Morgenstern, B.
(2000). Graphic display and the Standard Celeration Chart. Manuscript in
preparation. Kubina, R. M., Haertel, W., & Cooper, J. O. (1994).
Reducing negative thoughts and feelings of senior citizens: The one-minute
counting procedure. The Journal of Precision Teaching, 11(2), 28-35. Lindsley, O. R. (1992). Precision teaching: Discoveries
and effects. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 25, 51-57. Lindsley, O. R. (1993). Our discoveries over 28 years.
Journal of Precision Teaching, 10, 11-13. Maloney, M. (1998). Teach your children well: A solution
to some of North America’s educational problems. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge
Center for Behavioral Studies. McGreevy, P. (1983). Teaching and learning in plain
English (2nd ed.). Kansas City, MO: Plain English Publications. Pennypacker, H. S., Koenig, C. H., & Lindsley, O. R.
(1972). Handbook of the standard celeration chart. Kansas City, MO: Precision
Media. Potts, L., Eshleman, J. W., & Cooper, J. O. (1993).
Ogden R. Lindsley and the historical development of precision teaching. The
Behavior Analyst, 16(2), 177-189. White, O. R. (1986). Precision teaching-Precision
learning. Exceptional Children, 52(6), 522-534. White, O. R., & Haring, N. G. (1980). Exceptional
teaching (2nd ed.). Columbus, OH: Merrill.
Calendar Charts
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