I am linking up again with Joanne at Head Over Heels for Teaching for her Spark Student Motivation Saturdays! I love this linky! Everyone shared so many great ideas last weekend:)
Last Saturday I blogged about my 20 stars whole class incentive for good behavior here.
I left this teaser:)
What do you do for the few kids that are still reluctant to follow the rules?
I do have a strategy for those students that goes along with the 20 stars plan. It has something to do with what happens when the free time day (well, 20 minutes of free time) comes!
Check back next Saturday for more on that topic:)
Now it is "next Saturday" and I wanted to share with you the quick strategy I have for those students that still tend to break the rules and might ruin the whole class getting a star.
Instead of those students holding the whole class back from getting a star for the day, I have them make a check on our owl individual charts. I laminated these little mini incentive charts from Carson Dellosa. They have all kinds of styles available and have used them for many different reasons over the years.
They also take and complete an "owl slip" to indicate what their behavior was.
It immediately stops the behavior when they have to walk over to the owl chart and make that check. It is interesting to see what they write because sometimes they try to downplay what the actual infraction was.
I keep these in a file and pull them out for future reference. I also have them on hand in case I need them at a parent conference.
Click here to download a PDF of this owl slip.
When it comes time for the 20 stars incentive, anyone with checks on the "owl chart" loses some (or all) of the class free time. They sit in the pod and, using their owl slips, write about the poor behaviors they had exhibited and how they can improve.
If they will not do this, they don't have a chance of coming back to the room so the students really work hard getting it done.
Each time we have made a 20 stars incentive, the number of checks on the owl chart have decreased. It has really been effective!
That being said, I have started a new incentive for the last 10 weeks of school using Class Dojo. I just finished my first week using the system and it has sparked a lot of new excitement. This might be just what I need to get through the remainder of the year:) I will blog more about that after I have used it longer.
Check back at Joanne's blog and see what other ideas bloggers have linked up!
I like your owl slip idea. I have one student in mind that just started in my class about a month ago, he is having a hard time adjusting to our classroom rules and expectations. I think that may really help him. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteHunter's Tales from Teaching
I love your owl slip idea. As Bethany said, I have one specific student in mind who is having a very difficult time meeting classroom expectations. This student was difficult at the beginning of the year and then get himself in check from about November through February. Now from winter break on it seems like we are on a downward slide. Definitely trying this. Thanks so much!
ReplyDeleteTara
That is a great system for making sure that a few students do not ruin it for the whole class - it was totally worth the wait : ). I have noticed that if I have a student clip themselves down, bring me their class bank book or whatever it totally calms their behaviour down. I am glad that Class Dojo is working for you - now I will be waiting to hear about that strategy!!
ReplyDeleteLooking From Third to Fourth
I love your system-it's fair for everyone! I like that you hold those others accountable with the owl slips! Perfect! Thanks for linking up again, can't wait to hear more from you!
ReplyDeleteJoanne
Head Over Heels For Teaching