Wednesday 10 April 2013

Clip up or clip down?

Class management is not my forte I'm sorry to say. :(

I have a very laid back attitude in the classroom and like it best when my class is inquiring and creative... but sometimes I find that this leads to controlled chaos in the room - well, let's be honest: sometimes it's less-than-controlled chaos :)

I have been feeling very blue and inadequate about this lately so in an effort to improve my management of 8 year olds I will be trying a new system next week. My co-teacher swears by this (it used to be used in her old school) so I am cautiously optimistic.

The chart looks like this:




I've seen it all over the internet so am guessing lots of people use it. The idea is you get the kids to "clip up" or "clip down" depending on behavior. (I think our charts have reversed the colors - we have red at the bottom) Every day the chart re-sets to green.

 I really only have a small core group (about 4 children) who will probably ever "clip down" but boy, they can liven up the whole class in 30 seconds flat. In fact, they are the reason for the change!! Apparently after a few times of clipping down, so everyone says, everyone stays on green or goes up. This would be wonderful!!

So...I have to think about what Teacher's Choice consequences there will be (I hope that no-one ever gets to the Parent Contact section. Highly unlikely - I have some rambunctious kids but they're good-hearted). Staying in at recess or lunch is not an option because my class love to do that - they ASK to do that!! Demerits don't work and having noise offenders leave the class to work in a quiet place doesn't work either (I've tried all of these). I need some new ideas! Help please?

Just out of curiosity, has anyone ever tried this method and did it work?



10 comments:

  1. I teach second grade (7-8yr olds) and use a VERY similar system. It works wonders! Everyday, students start on green, and can move up or down depending on their choices. If they move up to blue, they earn a ticket and a chance for treasure box. Down to yellow and loose half of their recess, down to red and they loose all of their recess and a note home to the parents. At recess they have to sit at the side and watch the other students play. They sit and do NOTHING until their time is up, and then come and discuss their offense. We come up with a plan as to how they could make a better choice in the future. If students are on yellow or red, they can also not particpate in any "fun" or extra activities for the day ( computer lab, art activity, party, etc)

    I know you mentioned your students ask to stay in. I would have them stay in and do nothing... sit at their seat with their heads down... no talking, no reading, no nothing! It is hard for a 7 year to do nothing... especially if EVERYONE else gets to do something. Once or twice of that will fix 'em right up! Best of luck!

    Leigh
    The Applicious Teacher

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    1. Thanks for the encouragement - that's a good idea about doing nothing! I will try it - hopefully the 4 prime offenders will learn quickly :) (I've had them not participate in art activities before - even sent them out of the room to a quiet office during that time - and it has had no effect! I've been at my wits end.) Thanks so much for your comment - I feel more hopeful now :)

      Lynn

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  2. I am your 100th follower! Congratulations!

    My 3rd grade team started using this behavior mgmt. system a few months into the year. I have to say, I'm not doing a very good job with it. I actually stopped after a while. Not sure why...maybe I don't understand it very well. My class is pretty good though. Hopefully, if I start out the year with it next year, it will work better for me. I like the concept of it though.

    Andrea
    http://eltigger.blogspot.com

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  3. Exciting to see 3 digits :) And nice to meet another third grade teacher too!!

    Well, I'm going to give it a go - I really do need to try to be more disciplined although I think it's a shame that just a few children can cause such upheaval in the classroom. They're usually very good but every now and then the boundaries just disappear. I'll see how this goes and review it at the end of the term. If it works I'll put it in place immediately in September :)

    Lynn

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  4. This time of year is kind of nice for experimenting, isn't it? I was thinking of trying a 2 hour block of silence in the afternoon to see if it works! ;)

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    1. Let me know if it does!! :) I don't think that has a hope of working for me!!

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  5. I use this clip chart and love it. It works well for my kids this year. I try to "catch them being good" instead of always clipping kids down. (So when I do clip a child down it is a big deal.) At the end of the day the students will record where they ended, and if they are on green they get 2 points, yellow they get 4 points, orange 6, and red 8. The students fill in little charts and when they read 100 points they get a small prize. It works well for them and for me. Hope you find it useful! I'm a new follower!
    Hunter's Tales from Teaching

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    1. Oh, good to know!! I like the idea of the points system - I was thinking of a sticker chart as well but I hadn't thought of points. That's a great idea. I hope the kids buy into it - will find out on Tuesday :) Will pop over to visit your Tales :)

      Lynn

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  6. Hi there! I just came across your blog tonight.

    My school has totally adopted this clip chart for every classroom. It has made disciplining a bit more seamless for when students return from PE, music, etc. If the music teacher tells students to clip up or down, everyone knows what it means and trusts in the teacher's judgement.

    For me, it is difficult to make sure all students had an opportunity to clip up each day. However, it is a visual reminder at the end of every day about which students may need positive attention the next day.

    I wasn't wild about adopting this in my classroom because I couldn't decide how I felt about displaying each student's clip position throughout the day. But, it makes me more aware of everyone's behaviors and has me constantly looking for students who are on-track and ready to work.

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    1. Thanks so much for this information! We started 2 days ago and I have to say so far, so good! They're all very enthusiastic about clipping up - the hard part for me is making the clip ups meaningful. I want the kids to earn the clip ups fairly. For some of them I know exactly what behaviours they need to work on; for others it's a little more tricky. The really good thing is that when we discussed the new system as a class they were all able to tell me exactly what they thought should be clip up and clip down behaviors - they totally know what they should and shouldn't be doing! :) And I agree with you that it certainly makes me focus on the positive :)

      Lynn

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