Words of gold....

 One thing I've learned about 3rd graders....they think they are right. They don't mean to argue with adults, it's just...you are wrong and they are right and they are just explaining. They are doing you a favor. You should be grateful. This is their perception, and you know what they say about perception...it is reality.

So I've been training myself to rephrase things in a way that stops any arguing, excuse me, any student lead explanations of misbehavior. I found a great guide that has helped me rephrase my words, it's from Love and Logic of course!

Keeping it positive, digital style

 My school has an adopted Positive Behavior Support system called Trojan GOLD. GOLD is an acronym for Give respect, Own your behavior, Listen and learn, and Do your best. We have little paper tickets we give out when we see students demonstrating Trojan GOLD behavior. The data on discipline referrals shows this system is working well at my school, and it works very well in my classroom too.

I came across ClassDojo from Kleisnpiration and have been using for a few weeks now. My students love it! Check this out:

 

This are the student avatars. You can run the program from your computer, your interactive whiteboard, or even link up your phone. I found enough "monsters" to give each student their own monster. 

These are the behaviors you are tracking. As you can see, you decide what behaviors to track, and you choose an avatar to symbolize each behavior. You can track positive only, or positive and negative. When you award a student a point, you will hear a "ping", but only if you want. Sound is optional too.  

As far as the negative sound, I've seriously thought about creating an extra make believe student to give negative behaviors too on occasion, just so the kids can hear the "buzzer" sound. I gave a negative before a few times this year and every child in the class was frozen for a split second and then worked at a level of diligence I've never seen. It was amazing, and kinda funny.

 Another great aspect is the data break down. This is my class's weekly report card. It lets me and the students see where we are and what we need to work on. We looked at this yesterday and my students wanted to set a goal of having "more helping others' and no "talking". Me too kids, meeee tooooo! ;)

 You can also look at each individual student (and print for conferences).

If you aren't fond of the monsters, you can change the avatar. I changed mine Friday afternoon to our school mascot. I don't know how the students will react, but I just wanted to try something new.

 As I mentioned before, you can use your phone too. I do this...a lot. I have classdojo running, but minimized on my Promethean board. I give points on my phone, and the "ping" is heard through my classroom speakers and it's an audible reminder and helps students refocus. I give points in the hall, the cafeteria, etc. I still carry around the paper Trojan GOLD tickets to give out to other classes or if my battery is dead (it is a droid after all).  At the end of the day, we open up Classdojo and if a child has 2 points, they get 2 paper tickets to add to their "bank". They save them up and exchange them for tangible and intangible rewards. Up until this point it's kind of a mystery who has been getting the points, because they are only hearing the ping. This helps me so much! It helps me distribute more evenly, make sure those sweet little babies who never make a peep are never left out, and it helps me make sure I'm not over-rewarding my high flyers for every good decision they make, which was happening when I was just giving paper tickets.

I hope you try Class Dojo. I've gotten personal responses to emails from the owners and they are super guys who really "get" teachers and our needs. Let me know if you do, and how you are using it!

5 Love Languages of Children

    

Throughout my years of teaching, my approach to discipline has changed. I don't know if it's not being 20 something, but 30 something, not being at the beginning my career, but in the middle,or if it's just life's lessons....but I do know that becoming a mother made me a better teacher, in the area of discipline most of all.

My kid is super sensitive. He is friendly, but an introvert. He embarrasses easily. He is very self critical. He is just intense, but in a good way of course! When he was about 3 years old, his tantrums were spiraling out of control, and he still has a mean temper although he is 6 now. Whenever my husband and I tried to correct him, or discipline him, his feelings just intensified. That's when I bought and read The Five Love Languages for Children. 

This is a series of books for couples, adolescents, but the one for children helped me be a better mother, and a better teacher. I have been "good" with those personalities I teach that are like mine...strong willed, brash, slightly arrogant (for more description...see my dad). It was the other types of personalities I needed to learn to work with and this book helped.

Now, when I have behavior management sheets, I build in success for those students. I am so much more observant. Some kids just do not care about that slip of paper or your cute little chart, some care immensely, but don't care about going to the treasure box. I learned to observe, to build a relationship, to find out WHAT they care about, and to use that to communicate with them. I learned that motivation can be verbal praise, physical touch (don't go crazy here...a high five or pat on the back is all this means), a good note, a prize from the treasure box, some quality time with the adult, etc. It's all about learning to listen and speak the child's love language. Once you figure that out, then you make the behavior charts, add to the treasure box, set aside the seat beside you at lunch, get your good notes ready to go, or get warmed up to give a hug. Check out the linky party here for more ideas on behavior slips and such.

As I was pinning away today I ran across a great pin, and reworked it to be, well, more attractive. Here is my rework, and here is the original. I think it fits right into this post. :) The thing about an introvert...they may be quiet as clams, but if they do not get the KIND and AMOUNT of attention they need...the quickly turn into moody, angry, snipping piranhas. For real. Trust me.