Dear Future Teacher: Behavior Management's the Key

Dear Future Teacher, 

Ok... this is a tough one. Trends in behavior management are changing, every class will respond to different methods, and you may have to make changes mid-year to your own methods. 

That said, I would just like to share some ideas that I have used and links to some articles. Also you will find a FREEBIE at the bottom of the post. 

I will say, you MUST set your rules on Day 1. I let the kids come up with the rules, but I do "guide" them as necessary to get the rules set to what I need them to be! On the first day, your students will be well behaved for the most part and anxious to please you by showing that they know what good rules for the class would be. 

I still like the "BE" rules and they usually end up written something like this: 

Be respectful... listen to the speaker and participate. 

Be safe... on the playground, at the cafeteria, specials, and in the classroom.

Be on task.

Be responsible.

AND then there is the golden rule... "Treat others the way you want to be treated!" This covers a lot of ground and students usually respond well to that when you need to discuss bad choices. 

I know you have heard all the rage about Class Dojo and it is all that and more! You can reward positive and negative behaviors with it. Parents can connect to it and get notifications.

You can message parents and make notes to be more specific about the behavior.

You can even put the app on your phone or ipad and connect with it when you are outside of the classroom. It all syncs together so the results are consistent. 

How will you reward good behavior and/or discipline poor behavior? The number one thing you must do is make parents aware! If they aren't connecting to your dojo, then you will have to write notes and/or make phone calls. UGHHH!!! But they have to know. 

I won't even get into consequences because every school has their own set of typical consequences, and the trend is becoming to "talk it out." Sounds great in theory to me, but we are on a tight schedule and have NO extra hands on deck to support this type of intervention. 

For rewards I use tickets or play money that can be redeemed for prizes. Students can choose from prizes such as pencils, small toys, and gumballs or they may choose lunch in the classroom or extra recess. Each prize has a different value... sneaking in some math practice... and they can "purchase" according to what they have earned. Lunch in the classroom and extra recess are always the most popular (and most expensive) rewards. 

I only open up the "store" once every 2-4 weeks. Some students respond better to immediate rewards so something like ipad/computer time may become a quick reward if a student like this has had an unusually good day. 

On Fridays, I reward students who have completed all of their work for the week with "Fun Friday." They get about an hour to play games like checkers or games on the computer or iPad. 

Click the pic to grab these ink friendly reward coupons. Print on colored paper to jazz them up a bit.  Your students are going to love these rewards! 

This post is part of a linky series full of ideas, resources and freebies for first year teachers. Check out some of the other recent blogposts: 

Room Decorating on a Budget

Creating a Schedule

Organization Tips

Here's what other bloggers are sharing about Behavior Management: 

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