My Behavior Management Plan

Okay some have asked, so here it is...

This is the plan I intend to use this year, but I do have a disclaimer. As most teachers know a behavior management plan is always changing and always on going. I don't mean changing dramatically, but as you get to know your students, and the year progresses, you may need to tweak and adjust accordingly.

My plan has multiple parts to it because I include positive reinforcement in with my plan. If you start the year off with a strong plan and stick with it, it should work. Don't make exceptions and be tough! Otherwise they will walk all over you!

So let's start with the behavior/work folder. In my classroom I have two file folder pocket chart holders. I have them hanging side by side.

Above one of them I have cut out letters, Complete. Above the second: Not Complete. (Sorry no picture, but will put some up when I am back in my classroom). Each student has their own folder. These folders are used for work and behavior (I will post about how I collect work later, right now just focusing on behavior). Here is how I "decorate/label" the outside of them. On the tab I usually print the student's name and number, but this year I may use labels so that it stands out more.

Inside the folder I have a behavior chart, this chart is used by my entire grade level. It is something that we decided on as a group.

When a student does not follow one of the conduct or work habit behaviors listed in the chart they receive a check in their folder for that week. Some teachers have their students pull their folder when a check is needed. I however, of course, need a visual. So I also have a behavior chart next to the work/behavior folders. I use the following pocket chart. Mine is very similar, and I think it has more pockets. But their names are on the left and it's blank on the right. I have different colored cards that represent different behaviors (cut from laminated construction paper), and I don't have a card for every behavior listed on the chart, some fall under the same type card. Example: Red=talking, Green=Responsibility, Orange=No Homework. If a child exhibits one of the "bad" behaviors, they pull that color card, and place it next to their name.

At the end of the day if a student has to pull a card I write in their agenda why they had to pull a card. At the end of the week I use the behavior chart to put the checks in their work/behavior folder. On Fridays my team has Fun Friday (we each host a different activity, one of which is an IN room for behavior or work completion). If a student does not pull a card all week and has completed their work they can sign up for Fun Friday. In my room if a student pull two cards they must go to the IN room for 15min for behavior, if a student pulls more than two cards they are in the IN room for the entire time. If you notice pull cards and eventually checks in their folders cause their work habits and conduct grades to go down. This is something that can keep the student off such things as Honor Roll.

Now what I found last year is that like most teachers I would give warning after warning. I was really wanting to find something that I could do that would allow me to stop warning so much, and yet not interrupt my class so often. Last year I had the privilege of working with our county's Behavior Specialist (due to having and EBD student in my room). She gave me some great advice that not only worked with that particular student, but with my other students as well. "Be NON-VERBAL!" A lot of behavior students tend to thrive off of the verbal "banter" and want that negative attention. The system I used for my EBD student was very involved, however I came up with a simpler version for my other students.

At the end of last year I had each student place a red/yellow counter on the corner of desk.

Every student would start every segment/class period on yellow. If they break any classroom rule (mostly talking), I simply walk over and flip the counter to red, that is their warning. If they break any other rule during that segment/class period, they lose their counter and after that segment will pull a card, resulting in a check in their folder. Now, after that class segment all students will put their counters back on yellow.

Are you following this so far? Basically every student gets a "clean slate" at the beginning of each segment. For younger students, or students that have a harder time behaving you may not want your segment to be the entire length of a class period, you may need to build stamina. So, set a timer for 15 min. or so, however your goal should be to build that good behavior stamina, eventually you should increase the time of the segments.

Now for the positive reinforcement. First individual incentives: each of my students has a good behavior punch card.

These are the ones I use. If a student goes ALL day without ever flipping their counter to red, they earn a punch on their punch card. I also give punches on their punch cards for great hallway behavior, being one of the few students following directions, sitting very quietly as we come back from a break or transition. I would just tell them to place their punch card on my desk. Now if they get five stars (say on the left) punched, they get a small piece of candy, usually a dum dum. If they get the next five stars (on the right) punched, they get a larger piece of candy or two small pieces, if they prefer. I cut those stars off when they receive their candy. Finally if they get all the star punched across the bottom, they get a pass of their choice (No Homework, No Shoes, Invite a Friend to Lunch, Stuffed Animal, Oops! Pass). 

Now for a whole class incentive: if ALL students go an entire segment without flipping their counters to red, then they earn one extra minute "free time" (this could be recess time, choose your own center, puzzles, etc). By the end of the day my class would usually earn 5min of something. Most of them realized this wasn't a huge amount of time, so they began asking if they could "bank" their minutes. Pretty smart! So I had a picture of a little pig on the board, that if they chose, they could bank their minutes, but come Friday they had to use them. They loved it! They would then have to vote on how to use their minutes. We also had a to have a discussion that if one or two people flipped their counter they were not to yell at them, point fingers, and so on. That one day it could be them. Instead they were to help their fellow students, by reminding them to stop talking, or be on task, etc. After a good talk this seemed to work.

The counters were great last year, because I already had them and they were two sided. However, my problem was they kept falling off the desks. So I have been really trying to thing of an inexpensive way to do this, and possibly use Velcro on their desks. I did think of Popsicle sticks with a small square of Velcro on it, one side painted yellow or even green, and the other red. Then putting a small square of Velcro on their desk. I don't want to hang anything in the front of the room or on the board, I don't want to draw that much attention to each individual. If you have any suggestions please let me know. Also if you have any questions feel free to comment. I do think I included everything, but again this is a multi-part plan. Again if you have it in place before school, communicate with your parents and the students, it usually runs smoothly. Once back in my classroom I will take pictures of my different boards and such to help with the visualization of this plan.

Also, I do have these files as Adobe files, but I'm not sure how to link them or place them into my blog, so if anyone had suggestions please feel free to share.