One thing I'd like to
change in my classroom is the old-fashioned behavior management system my grade
level uses. We use the "turn your card" system. Currently
we have five colors of cards. Each day, every child starts with a green card.
Each time someone misbehaves, he must "turn his card",
revealing the next color. After green comes yellow, blue, purple, then
finally... red. If a child ends the day on a green card, a stamp is
added. After ten stamps, the child may go to the treasure box. For
a yellow day, there is no reward or consequence. For a blue day, a note
is sent home. A purple card will generate the removal of a privilege and
a note home. A red card gets a child a phone call home, sent to the
office and involves the loss of several privileges.
This
system makes NO sense to me. It seems as if we are just WAITING for
children to fail and then giving it a lot of attention, while ignoring the
children who are behaving. It takes a lot of time out of my day and is a
complete interruption to the learning. Especially because myself or the
student must move to the board to turn the card.
After
a while, the stamps are not enough to keep students focused all day and
students who move off green seem to give up and act out even more. Negative
emotions seem to take over for everyone. It also becomes the main focus
of our classroom, replacing learning. Parents have mentioned over and
over how their children can't tell them what they learned that day, but are
eager to announce the names of every child who was not on green that day.
There
must be a better way!
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