Are you in a behavior rut?
Are your students just not as motivated as they used to be? Without overhauling your entire behavior plan, there are some things you can do *this week* to boost the morale of your classroom and increase positive behavior.
I know because I’ve been there. For me, I found myself feeling this way always around February/March. It’s cold outside, pitch black by 6pm, and our classroom family is cooped up indoors for recess most days. If I am not being intentional I begin to let minor behaviors slide.
But if you’ve been keeping up with the blog, you know that I am in the middle of a
And being in a pretty teacher makeover means I am raising the bar on my teaching career. Fine tuning areas that bother me.
So what did I do? I started thinking about how I could switch the same ol’ same ol’ up.
I told myself I would try a few new classroom incentives. Simple incentives that I could implement easily.
The first incentive I tried was PRAISE MAGNETS.
I got the idea for praise magnets one day when I was sitting at a red light. I know, random right? I’m kind of a license plate junkie and the van in front of me had a customized plate, but it was the bumper sticker above the license plate that drew me in and sparked the idea for this product: “My kid is an honor roll student at SHS.” “Hmm…” I thought, “What if I could create something that would allow families to show their badge of pride? AHA! Magnets! Praise Magnets! The fridge is the unofficial wall of fame and these magnets will be a perfect compliment!
The next small incentive I tried were BRAG BUTTONS
I started small, I only made two buttons. One called “Super 2nd Grade” because that’s a term I use often with my second graders when I talk about expectations. The other is a VIP button. This is how I planned to roll out my VIP incentive [more on that later]. When I presented the super 2nd grader button to the class, we brainstormed what a student would have to do to earn the button. Just as they began to brainstorm, I noticed a wave of good behavior rush through the room. The students started sitting up straighter, folding their hands…and that was just with us talking about the idea of wearing this proud badge of honor. Gotta love it. 🙂
Finally, for the whole class: CLASSROOM PARTY INCENTIVE USING WARM FUZZIES
I’d like to consider this blog post a living, growing post, because as I explore more incentives I will be sharing and reflecting here. I hope you bookmark this post, or better yet follow me by email to stay up to date!
Talk soon!