For the past four years I have stuck with my tried and true behavior board, "The card pull system". It has been fool proof, but the preparation for it was tedious and tiresome. I had to buy new pockets and index cards. Write the teachers' names and grades. Then, I had to take away from class time to have all students 1st - 4th write their names on the cards. After that, I would have to write all the Kindergarteners' names on theirs. Not to mention stapling and lining up each pocket. That board always took an hour out of my life and money to prepare.
It was a wonderful management tool, but sometimes it took the kids FOREVER to find their card in the teacher's pocket. "I can't find it", they would lie or seriously couldn't. Then, sometimes they would pull someone else's card. At the end of the day when I wrote down who had sat out that day (and then therefor miss art party time) I would sneer. I guess they thought I'd forget who the culprit was.
Out with the old and in with the new!
When I was in middle school, a teacher of mine had us write our name on the board when we misbehaved. That was the warning. Next, she would add a check mark. You might even get up to three checks then you had a detention.
So I ran with a version of that. I made dry erase papers buy putting a thin piece of cardboard and a white piece of paper in a page protector. I then taped colored duct tape around the sides and tacked them to my board. I also placed a dry-erase marker in a cup close by.
The idea:
On 1st offense: write name on green warning board
2nd: write name on yellow 5 minute no art board
3rd: write name on red 10 minute no art board with an added parent communication note home
(they take a note out of the red pocket and hand it to me to write their name on it and the infraction. They must have it signed and brought back the next day or their teacher and myself will decide the next form of punishment)
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| The parent and office notes are kept handy! |
4th: the office. Students pull the office note for me to fill out and I send them with a buddy to the office. The buddy is to make sure the student gets there and doesn't hide out in the bathroom. (it's happened before)
I am still sticking to my, "If you get anytime no art then you have to serve the time again at the art party." I believe that is what really drives my management because it hits them twice.
This might sound bad, but I can't wait to try it out.
:)
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11 comments:
Cool idea! I think I will try it next year.
Just a heads up...the word "quietly" is spelled wrong.
I love it! I have a chart that is very similar to this that i use. I like the idea of the red slips being right there and the student getting you one! Thanks for sharing! :)
LOL Thanks Anonymous! That was the first poster I put up. I forgot to take a picture once I made the new one. I'm dyslexic so this happens a lot. Thanks again though I'll get a pic of my new one on here soon.
I like this new plan. I do something similar, a clipboard with a warning list and a good choices list, which I give to the classroom teacher at the end of art. I'm not sure if I like having both on the same list. I may try something like what you have for warning s and keep only good choices names on the clipboard. Let us know how it's working.
Hey Becca, I have really enjoyed reading your blog and I think you have great ideas!
I think it is good that you keep your rules simple! So important. I have been an art teacher for 13 years and have learned a few things along the way. Just thought I'd share my thoughts. I was taught that expectations, like trying your best and talking quietly, are procedural. Rules have consequences for individuals. This has helped me clarify issues with student behavior in the past. Make sure you can back up your rules with a corresponding consequence. I have separate whole class expectations and separate rules for individuals. I also wanted to mention that in my school district and my personal belief it is not a great idea to take away recess as consequence. Believe me this was hard for me to accept at first. Now that I have a child of my own I get it. This causes many teachers to get creative with consequences but in the end I feel every child deserves time to play outside just as much as they deserve to play with their creativity. Just something to think about from an honest fellow art teacher. Hope you have a great school year!
Wow Hutchens family! You've given me something to ponder... I myself do believe that kids need that time to play as well. That being sad. It is rare that many kids that I teach get to red. I think it happened twice last year. My goal is to have a punishments students do not want. Taking away recess is huge! I hope with this consequence they will not get to red. If they do, they do and will have to sit out. It's only 10 minutes.
Great!
I am a first year teacher and I am going to try this behavior board out. I am having a lot of trouble with discipline with my second graders at one of my schools and first graders at another. I think individual discipline is key. I haven't contacted parents before, what do you say on your note home to parents?
I got this idea from The Art of Education site. I created a very generic note that I could fill out right away.
Like this:
Dear Parent/Guardian,
This is _____________________________ 3rd offense for breaking the following rule(s):
___ Following Directions
___ Being Kind to Others
___ Talking Quietly
___ Taking care of materials
___ Doing their best
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________
Art Room rules must be followed in order to protect the rights of every student to learn. By choosing not to follow them, your child interfered with those rights. Please sign your name at the bottom of this letter and have your child return it to me tomorrow. Failure to return this note will result in further punishment to be determined by me and the homeroom teacher.
Thank you for your support.
Sincerely,
Mrs. Witherow
Art Teacher
Parent/Guardian Signature _________________________________
I handed it to the teacher as they came to pick up their class and explained to the student and teacher that the note needed to be brought back the next day signed by a parent or their teacher and I would find another punishment.
Nice idea! I am always on the lookout for ideas that "work" . I have a " think seat", ( formerly know as "time out" seat, in my classroom. The first 2 times I say a student's name to correct a behavior, is a warning. The 3rd time, the student must go to the " think seat", fill out a think sheet form and think about their choices/ behavior. I discuss their sheet with them... Talk about better choices, then they rejoin the group. I also confer with the classroom teacher.... I've found that if the student is having problems in art class, they are usually having problems in every class... Which a lot of times there is an underlying reason for their undesirable behavior. I save the think sheets and if I collect 3 think sheets from the same student, I send them home to be signed by the parent. I have 2 different think sheets I use... One is for lower grades, it is a picture sheet and requires little writing. The second think sheet for upper grades, requires more written responses.
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