For me, a new teaching year has begun giving me opportunities to experiment with different methods for encouraging excellent academic behavior in my students. Last year, I simply posted on my class bulletin board a list of names of students who were maintaining an 85 or higher average. Students who are doing better this year than last year have been requesting that I post the list this year so they can finally see their names on it! ( And so I will have to do that.) But I have been trying new things. I divided each class into two to three teams with the highest two or three scoring students as team captains. The teams gain points from their quizzes and tests scores. After each test, the team with the most accumulated points gets ice cream at lunch. I am hoping teammates will encourage and help each other reach higher heights. Teams also can earn or lose points based on group classroom behavior. Team captains have special privileges such as permission to leave the class for bathroom or water fountain breaks, exemption from having to show their work on homework, and early dismissal if they have completed all their assignments. So far quiz and test scores are almost entirely in the A range which is a great improvement.
Another way that I am positively reinforcing behavior is taking photos and videos of students and including them in emails to all the parents. I recently took a photo of seventh-grade students who score 100 on a quiz and sent to all the parent. Beyond that, I try to praise neat work, perseverance, helpfulness, and self-control verbally. Last week, at an after school sports event on campus, I had to tell a student that he, as a middle school student, was not allowed to be at the event without his parent. I instructed him to wait in the late stay classroom until his parent arrived. The student left immediately and reported to the classroom. Last year, he would have responded very angrily to such redirection. So I made sure to tell him later that he responded well and that I was proud of him. I gave him no points or ice cream just well deserved praise.
For academic behavior that is unacceptable, I am traditional in my approach. I do not accept homework that is messy, or incomplete. I reward such work with a zero. The work of students who get C’s or lower on quizzes or tests is examined closely for clues to what is lacking in their understanding. Then, I take the student aside and reteach them. Concerned parents are reassured and given details of corrective steps I have taken. And of course, they are given a low grade which shows them they will have to work hard to get their overall grade to improve.
My method for curbing negative non-academic behavior has not changed. Students who talk while I am lecturing, who respond disrespectfully to me or another student, or engage in “horseplay”, receive a strike for each offense, written by their names on the whiteboard. Three strikes on one occasion lead to a private conversation with that student about his or her behavior. Three strikes on another occasion lead to a conversation with the student’s parent about the behavior. Three strikes on a third occasion lead to a discipline write-up and a meeting with the dean of students who determines the appropriate correction. Students who have had behavior issues last year are written up after the second occasion.
I generally do not use the three strikes method or disciplinary forms for misbehavior in the lunchroom, however. Students who are too loud, overly active, who pop bags, throw food, etc. usually get assigned cafeteria clean-up. If the behavior of an entire table is unacceptable, that table is moved near me for a week or more, so that I can more closely supervise them. These methods are very effective for curbing negative behavior in the classroom.
With each new year, there are opportunities to improve as a teacher. I am pleased so far with the improvements that I am seeing in my students’ behavior. Hopefully, you will see success in your corner of education as you experiment with new methods in the areas needing improvement.
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