Teachers have many different strategies to managing behaviour, from simple praise to stickers to elaborate whole class systems. This post will include strategies that I have tried in my own classroom, plus other ideas that I'm hoping to try in the future that I've discovered through internet travels and professional development courses.
1. Bribery. There's nothing wrong with a little incentive to do a good job or behave appropriately. I'm a firm believer in the power of stickers. I would never say, "if you sit still, I will give you a sticker." I would, however praise by proximity - meaning, if someone is doing as they should, I would praise them, pop a sticker on their jumper, and hopefully the undesired behaviour of those near them will stop. Kids naturally want to please you (and get stickers), so this works most of the time.
2. Whole Class Behaviour Chart. A lot of classes use this strategy to manage behaviour. I've used it and seen it implemented in different ways. In the past, I have created a behaviour chart based on a topic theme. For example, a topic we did last year was called, "Healthy Bodies, Healthy Minds, Healthy Me" and each pupil designed a runner with their name on it and placed it in the middle of a race track. Each section of the race track was a loss of time in increments of 5 minutes. Pupils would move their runner onto a specified place on the track as poor behaviours continued. The last 30 minutes of a Friday afternoon is called "Golden Time," where pupils can do a choice activity. If, throughout the week, they have lost minutes, they are made to do some sort of task before they can start Golden Time. Something I didn't like about this system was that it didn't leave room to improve because all pupils started the week with 30 minutes of Golden Time, which is why I designed this system:
The Bird Themed Behaviour Chart is designed with 7 different stages on the behaviour chart and pupils start each day or week in the middle stage, and can move up and down the chart as behaviours change. It's up to the teacher what rewards and sanctions occur at each stage. It could be loss of Golden Time if that's something you use in your class, it could be a phone call or note home, and rewards could be extra Golden Time, a choice activity, or a note home. The pack that I created comes with the images for each stage, a letter home to parents explaining how the system works so they can discuss it with their child, and a chart that can go home each day to show where on the chart the pupil finished their day, in an effort to keep lines of communication open between parent and teacher. Let's be honest, children aren't always going to tell their parents that they got into trouble!
Here are other ways that I've seen the Behaviour Chart used in classes:
3. Secret Student or Mystery Person. I've seen this floating around the blogosphere a few times being used in different ways. Basically, you secretly choose a pupil at random and the class doesn't know who it is until the end of the day. If that person behaved in line, did as they were asked the first time, didn't interrupt, etc., then they gain some kind of reward (name & photo on a wall of fame wall, extra choice activity time, or it could be a whole class reward to help pupils work hard not only for their own benefit, but for their classmates' benefit as well). You can write pupil names on lolly sticks to help you choose randomly, and you can reveal the name at the end of the day IF they behaved throughout the day. If they don't deserve to gain the reward, don't reveal the name. Also, you can choose to focus on a specific behaviour that your pupils need to improve, e.g. standing in a straight line, raising hands to speak, tidying tables, etc.
4. Puzzle. When I was on a teaching placement, my mentor teacher used a puzzle to encourage the children to walk through the school hallways quietly and in line. She attached velcro to the back of puzzle pieces and stuck a piece of card with the velcro bits on the wall. Every time the class got a compliment in the hallway from another adult on the way they were lined up and walking, they got to add a piece to the puzzle. When they completed the puzzle, there was some kind of whole class reward. You could use this strategy to encourage any behaviours that need improvement.
Similar to the puzzle, I've also seen Mr. Potato Head being used! How cute is that?
5. The Big Green Monster. If you're in lower primary, you may just have a few tattletales on your hands.
Children take a piece off if they decide their tattle is worth telling you. For every piece of the monster that's left by the end of the week, you put marbles in your jar (or whatever your class management scheme is).
6. Happy Rocks. These are made with vase stones and drawn on with paint pens or sharpies. You can use them as whole class incentive or group incentive where children earn a happy rock for desired behaviour. Fill the jar, earn a reward.
7. Table Points. Last year, my pupils sat in table groups. Throughout the day, they earned table points for desired behaviour (keeping tidy, raising hands, etc.). Table points were rewarded as maths counters.
Each table earned a different colour of counter (so no stealing from other tables) and kept the counters in containers at the tables. The table with the most points at the end of the week earned extra time for choice activities (Golden Time, we call it). With this particular class, I was having problems with them consistently asking to go to the toilet or get a drink from the fountain (aka wasting time). To curb incessant "can I go to the toilet? Can I go to the toilet?" children had to "pay" a table point in order to go. Pupils had to think twice about whether they really had to go, and they didn't want to lose the chance to earn extra choice activity time. Because it was a table groups incentive, there was added peer pressure.
What are some strategies that you've used in your class?
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