My favorite tool for classroom managment is...the Clip Chart! I know many of you use it and I've seen many cute versions of it, but I tend to go for the plain and simple. This is mine from a few years ago... (I still need to make my new one for this year. That's one of my weekend goals.)
One addition I've made to the chart is an additional positive level. Between "Great Job" and "Outstanding," I have added "Role Model" as one of the additional positive levels.
Here is what the clips look like. When a student reaches purple, I add a jewel to their clip. When their clip is full of jewels they get to take it home and get a new one. They love getting a jewel and love when they finally get to take it home. It's funny how a simple jewel from Michaels that probably cost a penny is like gold to them :-).
I love the Clip Chart for many reasons and blogged about exactly how I use the Clip Chart in my classroom here. But to give you a quick snapshot, two of the main reasons I love it are -
1. Kids who make good choices get to move up and be rewarded. Before I had the traditional green, yellow, red stoplight system. This worked ok, but I felt bad for those kids always on green who were always doing the right thing and who were even going above and beyond sometimes. The Clip Chart addresses those good choices and provides teachers a chance to not only positively praise the student verbally, but also let them clip up, which is an added step of recognition for that student.
2. Kids aren't stuck on a certain color. With that stoplight system, once a kid was on red, they were on red. What was bad about this is they knew they were on red and they couldn't move up - so my day with them tended to be poor because they figured I've already ruined the day why not continue my bad behavior. With the Clip Chart, students aren't stuck. If a student makes a bad choice and clips down, they have the chance to make better choices and move their clip back up throughout the day. No one is stuck one way or another.
I have seen super positive results from using the Clip Chart and received positive feedback from students, parents, and administrators. It's definitely my favorite behavior management tool!
Can't wait to see some new behavior ideas through the linky party. Make sure you link up and share your wonderful ideas!
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