Identify the target behavior. The cartoon strategy works best if the student has a specific behavior to adjust, such as yelling rather than raising his hand for the teacher's attention. If the student has more than one problematic behavior issue, he will need separate cartoons for each.
Draw a cartoon on paper with a pencil, showing the desired behavior: for example, the student raising his hand and the teacher smiling. Draw a second cartoon next to it with the student yelling and the teacher looking sad. Draw a third cartoon repeating the positive image of the happy teacher and the student raising his hand.
Add a final outcome of a happy student holding his finished assignments. The drawings can be very simple with stick figures. Clearly show a happy student and a happy teacher when the student is performing the correct behavior of raising his hand.
Place the cartoon on the student's desk. Place an index card alongside the cartoon. This will be used to tally the number of times the student acts appropriately and raises his hand, and it will tally every time he yells and does not raise his. The teacher will do the tallying at first.
Determine a reward after the student reaches a goal of number of times raising his hand in class rather than shouting. Also determine the number of acceptable times of acting inappropriately. Work with the student to determine these numbers. Start with a low, achievable goal to encourage positive behavior.
Communicate with the parents about the use of cartoons to teach self-monitoring. Teachers may ask parents to give the rewards, such as playing a certain game, to the student on the weekends if he is behaving well in the classroom.
Gradually turn over the tallying task to the student. Praise the student at the end of each class for recording his own behavior. Reduce the use of cartoons as the student's behavior and self-monitoring skills improve.