Classroom Management - some simple ideas that work!

With my smaller amount of experience in the classroom, I have tried a few different classroom management techniques. During student teaching, my Cooperating Teacher used the Letter System. The class votes on a class prize that they want to earn. The kids then earn letters or lose letters based on their behaviors in order to spell out that word. Once the word is spelled out completely, the class earns it! 

It worked out well, but when I was hired for my first teaching position, I wanted something that was my own. So I got all fancy and designed a football field in which the class would move up or down the field based on classroom behaviors. I was so proud of my field and the planning that went into it, but the system itself wasn't the best. I was not consistent enough with it. 

After trying a few different ideas, I went back to the Letter System this past year. It's just so simple and it works. In the corner of the board, I spell out the word with dash marks for each missing letter. So if the class votes on "A MOVIE" it starts out looking like this on my board " _   _ _ _ _ _ " . Each time they earn for above expectation behavior or doing kind things, I add the letter above the dash. If the class is having a particularly rough day with behaviors or too noisy, etc. , all I have to do is walk towards the board and erase a letter, and students stop in their tracks. It gives them the chance to reassess themselves and still earn the letter back throughout the day. This past year I had a more difficult class and it took them awhile to spell out their words, but it made them try harder and before I knew it, they were encouraging each other to behave so that they could earn. They were so disappointed when a few students' behaviors would ruin it for them sometimes. It became a class effort and it made them work together as a team! I plan on using this again next year!

As I was reading the blog Downeast Teach , I liked her idea of the Teacher / Student Points System. I am thinking I will try implementing both of these systems together somehow. We shall see :)  

Another great way to keep kids motivated is the "UMS" strategy we used. It stands for "Unknown Mystery Student." My students named it "UMS" because it's like saying "Ummmm who is the mystery student?" :) I pick a random student by drawing one of their sticks. That is the student I watch throughout the lesson, the assembly, or the one I get a report back about after a special, whatever the day calls for. The kids LOVED this. If that particular student was on task and behaved, they either earn a letter for the class or an individual prize like bubbles or a pencil.  I didn't use this all the time, which also kept it more exciting when we did do it. The kids would be like, "can you please pick an UMS"?

For those students that need a little of their own attention, I tried the tally marks on a sticky note on their desks. This way I could just walk over and mark a tally, without stopping the lesson. When consistent, this works. I am looking for ways to minimize constantly pointing certain students out as they struggle to learn appropriate behaviors. These individual types of behavior systems will always change with each class, with each student, so I am always looking for new techniques and ideas!!