Words, thoughts, goals and visions of the SuperKids 2014 Interns
Wednesday, July 2, 2014
Behavior Management
What has worked for you? Share out your best practices. What hasn't? Discuss how you might improve what did not work for the next time. Is there anything that you feel you need additional help with? If so, what?
Behavior management has been one of the more difficult things for me. The strategies we learned in training are helpful and effective for the most part, but there are always some campers that don't respond as well to them.
In general, consequences like taking away playground time are very effective. No one wants to sit out at recess and watch everyone else play and have fun. Like we learned it training, it is also not as effective to use negative words like "no", "don't", and even "stop". I had a problem with some kids running ahead of everyone else in line. Forgetting what I had learned in training, I kept telling them to slow down and stop running. My reading mentor recommended that I say "freeze!" instead. This was much more effective. It would also be fun to turn our line into a game of red light green light, although I haven't tried that yet.
In my class, I also had difficulty getting a few kids to read during 100 Book Challenge time. They would refuse and pout complain. Today, I finally found an effective strategy. Three boys were refusing to participate, but when I asked them to take turns reading to me, they jumped at the opportunity. I realize now that some children need more attention and interaction while reading.
I definitely still have a lot to learn about behavior management, but this week has been eye opening. I'm excited to hear more responses on this topic so I can learn about what has worked for everyone else.
Kristin, I am impressed with your optimism towards the situations. Even though they train you I feel as if this is one topic that you definitely use on-the-job training at all times :) Continue to use your co-workers, mentor and site coordinator as resources. I am still learning and continue to always be up for the challenge :)
Our site has just started using camp cash to reward students for good behavior which I used a lot today. I gave a student $5 camp cash for walking nicely and quietly back to the classroom from lunch. I also handed out $1 camp cash to those reading silently and behaving appropriately during 100 Book Challenge. Students can use this camp cash to buy things in the camp store.
The harmonica only works every so often and I find myself constantly using it, but only a handful of the students will put their peace signs up in response. It's becoming more of a quick response rather than a stop, look and listen attentively as I give instructions. Some of the students quickly resort back to the disruptive behavior I was trying to stop.
I have had to speak to several parents already which is disheartening, but keeps me hopeful that the behaviors of these students will change for the better. I have a class full of girls, so needless to say, they are a challenge.
Incentives work so well. Be careful to not place an incentive with every action. Path to Pax does work. It takes a group effort. Hang in there. Don't be disheartened. Talking to them now may help prevent the continuance of the actions in the future!
I haven't really had behavior conflicts within my own class just some ADHD issues but nothing more than my own lol. I started a Super Snack Reward system for the children to earn tickets throughout the day; at the end of the week if you have right number of tickets you get a treat at the end of the week. Yesterday we had popsicles which was perfect for the hot weather. I pull campers out of the group for breaks or to do errands for me if they are having a hard time. I try to avoid making them feel like they are in school being punished or having things taken away. In extreme cases I will pull the child from the group or withhold enrichment activities.
Claudette that is wonderful! You have so much potential! Redirection is one of the best strategies. It keeps them engaged and they are still in the classroom :)
I am also at the same site as Magic where we use Camp Cash as incentives. That incentive gets them very excited and any minor behavior issues I was dealing with have subsided tremendously. Needless to say by the end of the day Thursday all my cash was gone because I gave out so much. I really think having that incentive helps so much because every student wants to earn that money to go to the camp store.
Before the camp cash started behavior still wasn't terribly bad in my class. I would have a kid that some days just wanted to be distracting to the whole class but in his case I would either send him out to Ms Haskins until he could get himself together or I would step outside and talk to him while the class was doing one of their individual assignments. Usually after that he would be back ok because I too had spoken with his mother before and he knew she wouldn't want him acting out. Since then he has gotten a Pax Tootle for turning his behavior around, we still have our moments but for the most part he does fine!
Also, usually before lunch everyday the kids can earn 30 minutes of playtime by being well behaved while doing their work. They've never had an issue with earning it until the other day. So that day I took away 15 minutes and made it 100 book challenge time. Although they were all happy to earn an extra credit, they weren't happy with losing 15 minutes of their play time. So that strategy helped a lot because they work hard for their playtime.
Great! Continue to remember that some times the best incentives don't cost a thing! A chance to have extra outside time or a chance to read with the teacher...priceless!
My biggest challenge with regards to behavior management has been not saying no. I have a very antsy group who have a hard time staying on task and motivating themselves to start and complete any assignments or tasks. I have been trying to find the best way to motivate my campers, and so far I have found that tangible rewards work best. Just recently, I have added fun pillows and a bean bag chair to my room to reward well behaved campers with during 100 Book Challenge. Additionally, I have been using the Camp Cash at Roland Park to reward good behaviors. I have threatened to take camp cash when campers are not following our written expectations, but I have not had to actually take any yet. Because I have such a young group of students, rewards have to be almost immediate. The kids have to know what and why they are being rewarded or punished for right away or else the behavior cannot be successfully addressed.
In order to keep my students quiet during independent activities, I often play music - they know that if they can't hear it, that they are being too loud. I have found that this works very well, to as noise control, but it also is successful as a timer for cleanup. The kids also like having dance breaks in between activities, which gives me time to transition as well as providing them with a chance to move around and get some energy out.
So for me, in the classroom, behavior management is simple. I'm not exactly sure how I established this position, but my students know that if I am correcting them, they need to listen or there will be consequences, even if I haven't specified them. I use a three strike system in the classroom. I have a board in my room with little baseball pins for each student and if they are doing something they shouldn't be doing, I begin with a warning and if it happens again I simply ask the student to move their pin and then I move on. Usually that will correct the behavior. If the behavior continues, they get another strike. After three strikes they do not get any recess time. Usually after a student misses recess once, threatening to take it away works perfectly. Then, I have a reward system as well. I took Magic's site's ideas. If my kids stay on no strikes all day they get 5 Ms.Emily Dollars. then I have prizes they can cash them in for. I have stickers that cost five dollars and little toys that cost 15. Overall, I have older kids so usually, I can just level with them. I just have to remind them of appropriate behavior and they fall in line. Honestly, I have been so blessed with this group.
My behavior management strategy is to put kids into some sort of time-out. Generally it just involves having them stand in the corner of the room and hear everyone else having fun for around 5 minutes. I'm also a big fan of separating friends if they start acting up too much.
My biggest problem with behavior management is following through--once a kid gets upset I start feeling bad and generally cut their "punishment" short. Today I had a child who was misbehaving so I made her eat lunch with myself and the other counselors until her attitude improved and that worked pretty well though because it made it entirely up to her to make it better.
My behavior management strategies have improved over the past five weeks. I found that using incentives definitely increased good behavior. The PAX game helped a lot.They love the silly prizes, especially the armpit farts and dancing.If the campers have an overall good week in camp they can earn cool pencils, stickers, or mini dry eraser boards.Another great incentive is doing our reading lesson outdoors.I also use the "let's do it again until we get it right" stratagegy. For example,while getting in line, if the kids run, get in a sloppy line, or decide to talk really loud I ask them to sit down and try it again. They usually get it right the second time. I also try to fit in outdoor play so the kids can let out their energy. If a child gets three strikes (sometimes more)they begin to loose play time, which they can earn back with good behavior. My biggest challenge with behavior is giving the kids more than three chances before their is a consequences. I can also improve by using no much less.
Behavior management for me is one of the most difficult things about camp. Over the past few weeks many things have been tried and some work better than others. For me I have the largest room at my site, as well as the youngest kids.
The first main thing I worked on with my kids was the difference between tattling and reporting. This was important for me because I had a lot of finger pointing and blaming. I explained the difference to the kids and told them that they are not to tattle and tell me things like who was talking when I walked out of the room when they were supposed to be quiet unless it was asked of them. Reporting on the other hand was important because those are the things that I should know or be told without asking. Examples of this would be if a student put their hands on another or said something inappropriate. This helped to limit the kids constantly tattling and shouting about things when they werent supposed to.
Another thing that happened in my room which worked really well was having a routine for the morning. The kids would come in and find their folders and notebooks already on a desk. Along with this there would be a book. The kids would come in and sit quietly and begin to read. This was talking and shouting in the morning was limited and it also helped the kids to get ahead in the 100 book challenge competition. Once this started the kids got more and more competitive about the 100 book challenge and I am happy to say we have the most kids from our room going to the pizza party. Another thing this really helped with was limiting the kids from asking me every minute when breakfast would be coming no matter how many times I explained timings for both breakfast and lunch.
In order to control the entire room throughout the day at one point I started tallying on the board how many times I asked them to be quiet and to sit down. This wasn't so effective. The numbers were really high and there were no changes. I though if they could see how many times they would realize that it is way too much but I was wrong. On top of that, it was not fair to the few kids who usually were behaving and doing the right thing. Because of that I started to write down individual names and start to take away things such as afternoon play and games. I only had them sit out for a little and then would let them play but I found it more effective when I would say what we were doing in advance in the morning and have them earn the fun time.
One thing I did that works really well was created a dice game. If the kids get through an activity and do a nice job we take a few minute break before moving to the next one to play the dice game. Each side has a different activity on it. I roll the dice and it says to dance so thye dance until I roll again and it says to hop on one foot. This rewards the kids and lets them get out a little bit of energy before moving on to the next activity.
One thing that I have improved on was following through more with taking things away from the kids. When I became more serious about not doing fun things the kids started to take me more seriously which also made a difference in the classroom environment.
One thing I love the most is that now there are only a select few which give me the most difficult time, and it is the rest of the kids who help to tell and show by example what they should be doing in order to behave properly. I allow other students to aid in talking about correct behavior because it reinforces them knowing they are doing the right thing and because I think it is good because they want to help their friends and sometimes their friends was to help them back and listen well.
At first, without really thinking, I implemented a response cost, negative punishment kind of behavior management tactic, but that quickly failed. Within the first day I realized that taking away something from my kids, whether it be a privilege or toy or treat or whatever, didn't encourage better behavior. Instead, once I had taken anything from them they gave up all together, fully aware that they had nothing else to lose. When that didn't work I really didn't have a back-up plan besides to yell a lot. However, fortunately, one of my student provided me with a strategy that not only worked for him, but also for the other members of my class. This student, an incredibly bright young man, in particular had a lot of trouble staying in his seat and following directions. He also had the terrible habit of completely shutting down when reprimanded. This happened at least twice a day. One day, he found some random object in my classroom, a toy or something of little value to me, but for some reason that he really wanted. He came up to me, and asked if he could have it at the end of the day if he was "good" for the whole day. Of course I said yes, and we continued to make deals like this almost every day. He would get so excited and really work hard on his behavior just so he could get the army glider, or the plain ice cream cone, or the bouncy ball that he found in some corner somewhere. When the other students saw these transactions, they wanted to make deals with me, too. At this point, I was able to make deals with the whole class. For example, if they could get through their spelling words they could go to the gym a little earlier, or color for the last ten minutes before lunch. This also made my job a lot easier, and made me feel more like a teacher that wanted them to succeed rather than a tyrant.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteBehavior management has been one of the more difficult things for me. The strategies we learned in training are helpful and effective for the most part, but there are always some campers that don't respond as well to them.
ReplyDeleteIn general, consequences like taking away playground time are very effective. No one wants to sit out at recess and watch everyone else play and have fun. Like we learned it training, it is also not as effective to use negative words like "no", "don't", and even "stop". I had a problem with some kids running ahead of everyone else in line. Forgetting what I had learned in training, I kept telling them to slow down and stop running. My reading mentor recommended that I say "freeze!" instead. This was much more effective. It would also be fun to turn our line into a game of red light green light, although I haven't tried that yet.
In my class, I also had difficulty getting a few kids to read during 100 Book Challenge time. They would refuse and pout complain. Today, I finally found an effective strategy. Three boys were refusing to participate, but when I asked them to take turns reading to me, they jumped at the opportunity. I realize now that some children need more attention and interaction while reading.
I definitely still have a lot to learn about behavior management, but this week has been eye opening. I'm excited to hear more responses on this topic so I can learn about what has worked for everyone else.
Kristin, I am impressed with your optimism towards the situations. Even though they train you I feel as if this is one topic that you definitely use on-the-job training at all times :) Continue to use your co-workers, mentor and site coordinator as resources. I am still learning and continue to always be up for the challenge :)
DeleteOur site has just started using camp cash to reward students for good behavior which I used a lot today. I gave a student $5 camp cash for walking nicely and quietly back to the classroom from lunch. I also handed out $1 camp cash to those reading silently and behaving appropriately during 100 Book Challenge. Students can use this camp cash to buy things in the camp store.
ReplyDeleteThe harmonica only works every so often and I find myself constantly using it, but only a handful of the students will put their peace signs up in response. It's becoming more of a quick response rather than a stop, look and listen attentively as I give instructions. Some of the students quickly resort back to the disruptive behavior I was trying to stop.
I have had to speak to several parents already which is disheartening, but keeps me hopeful that the behaviors of these students will change for the better. I have a class full of girls, so needless to say, they are a challenge.
Incentives work so well. Be careful to not place an incentive with every action. Path to Pax does work. It takes a group effort. Hang in there. Don't be disheartened. Talking to them now may help prevent the continuance of the actions in the future!
DeleteI haven't really had behavior conflicts within my own class just some ADHD issues but nothing more than my own lol. I started a Super Snack Reward system for the children to earn tickets throughout the day; at the end of the week if you have right number of tickets you get a treat at the end of the week. Yesterday we had popsicles which was perfect for the hot weather. I pull campers out of the group for breaks or to do errands for me if they are having a hard time. I try to avoid making them feel like they are in school being punished or having things taken away. In extreme cases I will pull the child from the group or withhold enrichment activities.
ReplyDeleteClaudette that is wonderful! You have so much potential! Redirection is one of the best strategies. It keeps them engaged and they are still in the classroom :)
DeleteI am also at the same site as Magic where we use Camp Cash as incentives. That incentive gets them very excited and any minor behavior issues I was dealing with have subsided tremendously. Needless to say by the end of the day Thursday all my cash was gone because I gave out so much. I really think having that incentive helps so much because every student wants to earn that money to go to the camp store.
ReplyDeleteBefore the camp cash started behavior still wasn't terribly bad in my class. I would have a kid that some days just wanted to be distracting to the whole class but in his case I would either send him out to Ms Haskins until he could get himself together or I would step outside and talk to him while the class was doing one of their individual assignments. Usually after that he would be back ok because I too had spoken with his mother before and he knew she wouldn't want him acting out. Since then he has gotten a Pax Tootle for turning his behavior around, we still have our moments but for the most part he does fine!
Also, usually before lunch everyday the kids can earn 30 minutes of playtime by being well behaved while doing their work. They've never had an issue with earning it until the other day. So that day I took away 15 minutes and made it 100 book challenge time. Although they were all happy to earn an extra credit, they weren't happy with losing 15 minutes of their play time. So that strategy helped a lot because they work hard for their playtime.
Great! Continue to remember that some times the best incentives don't cost a thing! A chance to have extra outside time or a chance to read with the teacher...priceless!
DeleteMy biggest challenge with regards to behavior management has been not saying no. I have a very antsy group who have a hard time staying on task and motivating themselves to start and complete any assignments or tasks. I have been trying to find the best way to motivate my campers, and so far I have found that tangible rewards work best. Just recently, I have added fun pillows and a bean bag chair to my room to reward well behaved campers with during 100 Book Challenge. Additionally, I have been using the Camp Cash at Roland Park to reward good behaviors. I have threatened to take camp cash when campers are not following our written expectations, but I have not had to actually take any yet. Because I have such a young group of students, rewards have to be almost immediate. The kids have to know what and why they are being rewarded or punished for right away or else the behavior cannot be successfully addressed.
ReplyDeleteIn order to keep my students quiet during independent activities, I often play music - they know that if they can't hear it, that they are being too loud. I have found that this works very well, to as noise control, but it also is successful as a timer for cleanup. The kids also like having dance breaks in between activities, which gives me time to transition as well as providing them with a chance to move around and get some energy out.
So for me, in the classroom, behavior management is simple. I'm not exactly sure how I established this position, but my students know that if I am correcting them, they need to listen or there will be consequences, even if I haven't specified them.
ReplyDeleteI use a three strike system in the classroom. I have a board in my room with little baseball pins for each student and if they are doing something they shouldn't be doing, I begin with a warning and if it happens again I simply ask the student to move their pin and then I move on. Usually that will correct the behavior. If the behavior continues, they get another strike. After three strikes they do not get any recess time. Usually after a student misses recess once, threatening to take it away works perfectly.
Then, I have a reward system as well. I took Magic's site's ideas. If my kids stay on no strikes all day they get 5 Ms.Emily Dollars. then I have prizes they can cash them in for. I have stickers that cost five dollars and little toys that cost 15.
Overall, I have older kids so usually, I can just level with them. I just have to remind them of appropriate behavior and they fall in line. Honestly, I have been so blessed with this group.
Love it! You rock!!!
DeleteMy behavior management strategy is to put kids into some sort of time-out. Generally it just involves having them stand in the corner of the room and hear everyone else having fun for around 5 minutes. I'm also a big fan of separating friends if they start acting up too much.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest problem with behavior management is following through--once a kid gets upset I start feeling bad and generally cut their "punishment" short. Today I had a child who was misbehaving so I made her eat lunch with myself and the other counselors until her attitude improved and that worked pretty well though because it made it entirely up to her to make it better.
My behavior management strategies have improved over the past five weeks. I found that using incentives definitely increased good behavior. The PAX game helped a lot.They love the silly prizes, especially the armpit farts and dancing.If the campers have an overall good week in camp they can earn cool pencils, stickers, or mini dry eraser boards.Another great incentive is doing our reading lesson outdoors.I also use the "let's do it again until we get it right" stratagegy. For example,while getting in line, if the kids run, get in a sloppy line, or decide to talk really loud I ask them to sit down and try it again. They usually get it right the second time. I also try to fit in outdoor play so the kids can let out their energy. If a child gets three strikes (sometimes more)they begin to loose play time, which they can earn back with good behavior.
ReplyDeleteMy biggest challenge with behavior is giving the kids more than three chances before their is a consequences. I can also improve by using no much less.
Behavior management for me is one of the most difficult things about camp. Over the past few weeks many things have been tried and some work better than others. For me I have the largest room at my site, as well as the youngest kids.
ReplyDeleteThe first main thing I worked on with my kids was the difference between tattling and reporting. This was important for me because I had a lot of finger pointing and blaming. I explained the difference to the kids and told them that they are not to tattle and tell me things like who was talking when I walked out of the room when they were supposed to be quiet unless it was asked of them. Reporting on the other hand was important because those are the things that I should know or be told without asking. Examples of this would be if a student put their hands on another or said something inappropriate. This helped to limit the kids constantly tattling and shouting about things when they werent supposed to.
Another thing that happened in my room which worked really well was having a routine for the morning. The kids would come in and find their folders and notebooks already on a desk. Along with this there would be a book. The kids would come in and sit quietly and begin to read. This was talking and shouting in the morning was limited and it also helped the kids to get ahead in the 100 book challenge competition. Once this started the kids got more and more competitive about the 100 book challenge and I am happy to say we have the most kids from our room going to the pizza party. Another thing this really helped with was limiting the kids from asking me every minute when breakfast would be coming no matter how many times I explained timings for both breakfast and lunch.
In order to control the entire room throughout the day at one point I started tallying on the board how many times I asked them to be quiet and to sit down. This wasn't so effective. The numbers were really high and there were no changes. I though if they could see how many times they would realize that it is way too much but I was wrong. On top of that, it was not fair to the few kids who usually were behaving and doing the right thing. Because of that I started to write down individual names and start to take away things such as afternoon play and games. I only had them sit out for a little and then would let them play but I found it more effective when I would say what we were doing in advance in the morning and have them earn the fun time.
One thing I did that works really well was created a dice game. If the kids get through an activity and do a nice job we take a few minute break before moving to the next one to play the dice game. Each side has a different activity on it. I roll the dice and it says to dance so thye dance until I roll again and it says to hop on one foot. This rewards the kids and lets them get out a little bit of energy before moving on to the next activity.
One thing that I have improved on was following through more with taking things away from the kids. When I became more serious about not doing fun things the kids started to take me more seriously which also made a difference in the classroom environment.
One thing I love the most is that now there are only a select few which give me the most difficult time, and it is the rest of the kids who help to tell and show by example what they should be doing in order to behave properly. I allow other students to aid in talking about correct behavior because it reinforces them knowing they are doing the right thing and because I think it is good because they want to help their friends and sometimes their friends was to help them back and listen well.
At first, without really thinking, I implemented a response cost, negative punishment kind of behavior management tactic, but that quickly failed. Within the first day I realized that taking away something from my kids, whether it be a privilege or toy or treat or whatever, didn't encourage better behavior. Instead, once I had taken anything from them they gave up all together, fully aware that they had nothing else to lose. When that didn't work I really didn't have a back-up plan besides to yell a lot. However, fortunately, one of my student provided me with a strategy that not only worked for him, but also for the other members of my class. This student, an incredibly bright young man, in particular had a lot of trouble staying in his seat and following directions. He also had the terrible habit of completely shutting down when reprimanded. This happened at least twice a day. One day, he found some random object in my classroom, a toy or something of little value to me, but for some reason that he really wanted. He came up to me, and asked if he could have it at the end of the day if he was "good" for the whole day. Of course I said yes, and we continued to make deals like this almost every day. He would get so excited and really work hard on his behavior just so he could get the army glider, or the plain ice cream cone, or the bouncy ball that he found in some corner somewhere. When the other students saw these transactions, they wanted to make deals with me, too. At this point, I was able to make deals with the whole class. For example, if they could get through their spelling words they could go to the gym a little earlier, or color for the last ten minutes before lunch. This also made my job a lot easier, and made me feel more like a teacher that wanted them to succeed rather than a tyrant.
ReplyDelete