I am currently observing in a kindergarten class at Park Elementary School in Newark, N.J. My teacher has tried everything to control behavioral issues within the class since the beginning of school. She is having a very hard time! She first tried using the behavioral technique called Red, Yellow, Green. When using this behavioral reward system the teacher gives each student a little folder in which a green, yellow red card have been placed. If the student is behaving well they are “on green.” If they start misbehaving the teacher has them switch their card to yellow and if they are really out of hand then she asks them to place the red card on the top of the cards. A red card means that a parent is called or a note is sent home.
This technique did not work at all with the students! SO, my teacher then tried using tickets. If a child collects 10 tickets then they are able to go “shopping” in the classroom treasure chest. However, they can get tickets taken away for bad behavior as well.
It is my observation that these “tickets” are only motivating half of the students. My cooperating teacher is very frustrated because the children are behaving so poorly! They keep talking when they shouldn't. They are talking back to her. They are not listening to direction. I am surprised because these students are only kindergarteners. What tips or tricks do you have for my teacher? What approach should I take with these students?
7 comments:
Jackie, this is so interesting. I am currently observing in a third grade class in Lyndhurst, and we were having some issues keeping them quiet as well. My teacher did start a system with the colored cards a few weeks ago. Each table gets a group of cards: green tells them they are doing well; yellow means they have to work harder; orange is a warning; and red means detention. The kids pretty much ignore this until one of the groups gets their color changed. When we do this, we announce it to the class that one table lost their green, and this usually makes them behave better. We had one group get to red, and they actually CRIED the entire time they had detention. That group continues to talk, though, so we are probably going to need something different for them.
Maybe your teacher should give the tables the cards instead of the individual students? That way she can tell the class when each group's color changes? That seems to be the most effective part of the system for my third grade class.
This post is really making me thing because I think we need something else for our class too. They are all little, so I know they will talk, but sometimes it really does take away from lessons and from the time you have to do things. I can see why your teacher is frustrated.
I do notice that the kids seem to behave better when they have a computer lab period scheduled for that day, and we tell them that if they cannot behave and handle the computer room they will not get to go. Is there any time you could do something like that? Computer time for the class? Maybe you could give out computer passes to students that are well-behaved to use the computers for a period on a Friday afternoon if you do not have a place where the whole class can use them?
Maybe she can try movies on certain Friday afternoons that they have to work toward? I would imagine that the whole class would like time to relax and watch a movie at the end of the week. It could even be an educational television show, and then she can let them watch it and ask them questions about it. (As I'm thinking about this...My class loves when they even get to watch BrainPop videos. They are always quiet and engaged when they get to watch them. They enjoy anything interactive.)
I know that "pizza Fridays" or cupcakes and cookies are not exactly embraced in the school community anymore, but what about a bagel breakfast or some kind of healthy breakfast that the kids can have as a reward at the end of the week when they are well behaved? Having food in their bellies at the beginning of the day might even help keep them focused. (It could be a good experiment too. Do they all get the time to eat breakfast inthe morning?)
I know that some of these things the teacher might not want to take time out to do EVERY Friday which is totally understandable, but if she did it a few times as she wanted to, she could have the kids looking forward to the next time she decides to give them the opportunity to do something like that. Especially if they responded well the first one or two or three times she did it.
I know that these ideas are kind of limited, but I will definitely keep thinking. The color cards and the tickets for prizes seem to be pretty main-stream strategies that are effective a lot of the time, so I feel bad that they didn't work for your teacher. If I come up with anything else I will definitely share them with you.
You really have me thinking, Jackie! I took a few special ed. classes where we focused a lot on behavior management, and one thing that I want to tell you is that your teacher NEEDS to figure out what the students like as a class and individually. That way she can try to adapt lessons to include things they like, she can reward them for good behavior with things they like, and she can even get their attention during lessons using things they like. For example, last semester I was asking my second grade class to guess what shapes I was describing to them. I had played a game with the students in the beginning of the semester, and I found out tihngs like their favorite foods and things to do, etc. Therefore, when I was describing triangles to them, I said something like "This shape can look like something that everybody in this room BUT Sam likes!" Then I looked at Sam who snapped into the lesson even more, and she said "Triangles!" Sam remembered that I knew that everybody in the room liked pizza except for her. You won't believe how much you can really do with them by appealing to what they like as best you can.
Here's sites with some kindergarten behavior management ideas...
-This teacher has a card system, and a ticket system, but the ticket system includes activities like the ones I was trying to talk about before.
http://www.kellyskindergarten.com/management/classroommanagementtools.htm
-This teacher has so many resources you can look at. Instead of color cards, she used frogs. I also saw something called "Brain Gym" that I skimmed, and it seemed pretty interesting.
Maybe these will help!
Jackie, Kindergarten is a tough year to teach in respect to keeping students attention and keeping them quiet. Some students are used to getting their way, or might not have structure at home, so it’s difficult for them to stay focused and not be disruptive. I’m observing a first grade class and my cooperating teacher also uses the colored card system and it seems to work pretty well. During a lesson if a student talks out of turn or when the teacher is talking, she has them walk over and move their card. I watch their faces when they walk back from moving their card, and they seem upset and embarrassed, which I think keeps them from being disruptive again and again. I also know that there are some students who don’t care and will continually be disruptive for attention. But, I believe that if they don’t get any followers, or reactions, then they are less likely to repeat negative behavior. As an incentive, my cooperating teacher gives out tickets to those who are good listeners or good helpers. At the end of the week she shakes up the bowl and picks out a couple of tickets and gives them a prize. Another incentive that she uses is marbles earned. After the students, as a class, show good behavior, the teacher places a marble in the jar and when they accumulate 10 marbles they vote on whether they get extra recess, extra gym time, or pajama day. They seem to be excited about this.
The school also puts on an incentive program that allows all the students to be involved. The program is called “Caught Being Good”. Anytime, and anywhere a student is caught being good by any teacher or the principal throughout the day, their name is written down on a card and sent to the office where on Friday’s every class, for both all 1st and 2nd grades, has two names drawn, and those names are announced on the loud speaker. Those students then get to go to the office and choose a toy. Sometimes teachers put student’s names in if they have seen a great effort or improvement in class. Every student will eventually get “Caught Being Good”. I think that this concept helps them understand respect and how to treat others no matter where they are. These students love this program and I’ve witnessed how happy they get even if they hear another classmate receiving an award. I think that it’s not just about getting the toy, but being praised for the good behavior gives them more incentive to do it again.
My supervisor gave me some pointers about keeping the class attentive and from talking when the teacher is talking. She said that if you let the students talk over you just one time, they’ll take advantage and do it all the time. Also, don’t talk or continue your lesson until the students are completely quiet and have your full attention. My teacher uses the, “I’ll wait” phrase quite often. Good luck, and it doesn’t hurt to keep trying new techniques. They will catch on sooner or later.
This semester I was placed in a second grade classroom and my cooperating teacher also uses the red, yellow, green card system but it really does not work very well. The system that works best for her is the ticket system where they try to accumulate five tickets for candy or ten tickets for a toy. Recently the children have been a little louder than usual so the teacher decided to try something new. A few weeks ago she changed their desks and arranged them in groups and now she will reward whichever group is on their best behavior. Throughout the day, the teacher will give points to the group who is behaving well during a lesson or activity and at the end of the day, whichever group has the most points wins a ticket for each member. This method has seemed to be working a little bit better just because within each group they all try to keep each other quiet. For example, if one student is acting out the others will tell him/her to be quiet or sit down so they can get a point. If the student continues to act out the rest of his group will not talk to him for the rest of the day and no child likes to be left out of their group of friends.
I am currently observing a first grade classroom and the teacher gives tickets to students when they listen. After they have accumulated 20 tickets then they get a prize from the teacher. I think this is a better technique then the green, yellow, red method. After awhile, students start losing interest because they are having tickets taken from them and then they start to not keep track of the ones they have because it is always changing depending on his/her behavior. This method is confusing and does not really change the way the students behave. By not giving them a ticket when other classmates receive one makes them understand and improve his/her behavior.
What I observed some teachers do to prevent behavioral disorder is that they tried the much the could to follow the time table so as to keep the students busy. For some students who finish their work early, she ask them to do one thining or the order like reading their books, completing their journal, writing, drawing, if they have something to complete there. Another thing I observe now is that the teacher makes sure that she takes the students out from the classroom for fee minutes during skort breaks. All these help to prevent noise and behavioral disorder in the classroom.
I feel so bad for you and your cooperating teacher. Kindergarten is a tough grade. I am currently observing a Kindergarten class myself. There are numerous times when students will not listen but my teacher is very good at disciplining them.
She does have something similar to the “red, yellow, green” disciplining technique. There is a mini board with all students’ names are on it. If students are bad they receive a yellow stick. After two yellow sticks then my teacher will give them a red stick and then she will make a phone call home. This does work pretty well.
There are a couple students who usually misbehave and like to call out. My cooperating teacher will also threaten to keep them inside for recess. The students of course do not want to miss out on recess so this could work for your class? Now, my cooperating teacher has incorporated certificates for these students. If a child behaves well she will send home a certificate saying something like “Michael has been good for 2 days.” Now the students want to earn the certificates and they keep asking if they will receive one each week.
When I babysat over the summer, I used a ticket strategy to getting the kids to practice their schoolwork. Each day they completed their work they received a ticket and a sticker. If they were well behaved when we went places such as: movies or for ice cream they received an extra ticket. It worked well and they wanted to earn the tickets to win special prizes!
Another teacher I observed last year did a marble jar which required the whole class to behave. She would put in about 10 marbles if they were good and each time they were bad she would take away some. When the marble jar was full the class had a pizza party!
Sometimes students just need to be sent to the principal if the behavior continues. Hopefully some of these strategies will help!
Post a Comment