Classroom Managment-- Starting Fresh

Last year was rough. r.o.u.g.h. Reflecting back I see huge errors that I made. I spent too much energy on the girls causing the drama, and not enough praising the students who were doing the right thing. I also would occasionally turn a blind eye when a "good" student would mess up. I remember thinking, 'She never makes a mistake, don't worry that she just shouted out in class. It won't happen again.' Instead, I should have gone through the procedure with the great kid, because it would have shown my drama queens I mean business with anyone! But.... It was a learning experience. Now I know, and am ready for this year!

I was blog browsing last night and saw a great idea that varies from the traditional red, yellow, green light. It allows for mistakes and makeups. I am going to implement this in my classroom in August. Everyone starts on "Ready to Learn." Good choices move you up to "Doing Great" then "Fantastic." Not so great choices move you down to "Make Better Choices" then "Get Back On Track."

If you end the day on Fantastic or Get Back on Track, you get a parent contact either in the agenda or a phone call home.

As I was reading I found some tips that I want to implement:
- If lots of students are off task, give a specific praise to a student doing the right thing and have him/her move up on the scale.It will straighten up everyone quickly.

- Apply the rules to everyone. It doesn't have to be a huge deal to move down, because you can move back up.

-Take the passion out of it. Say in as little words as uninterested as you can, "Sally move down one because you were breaking rule 2."

-Be sure you are moving kids up equally (if not more) as you are moving them down.

I am excited to use this, because it makes it easy to see and not permanent. For students that are repeat offenders, I am going to have a log where when they move down they must sign and write the rule they broke.

I made the signs I am going to use. I used the ever adorable Amanda and Kevin fonts, of course. I am going to print them on different colored paper then laminate them. I will sticky them onto the metal cabinet in my class. I already have magnets with student numbers that I made from white poker chips and magnet strips. It will be a simple slide your magnet onto the next level (hopefully up).

Here are the 5 pages and the log... they are free.Classroom Management Slider Pages and the Student Behavior Log