Schools acknowledging student behaviour

As a CRT, I love walking in and out of different schools and different classrooms.  Working with different teachers gives me a better understanding of the wide variety of planning documents and activities that are used, not to mention the wide range of classroom set ups, language used and routines.  It allows me to pick and choose from the best on offer to integrate into my own teaching practice.

Student acknowledgement is something that is also different, but at the same time very alike, in schools.  In the past, students were acknowledged for their academic achievements through certificates at assemblies. This, of course, hasn't stopped happening but in recent years schools have again started to acknowledge how students conduct themselves in and out of the school.  It is now within a more positive framework than the old "rap across the knuckles for being bad" approach in bygone days.

Acknowledging students in their everyday achievements is something I come across in the majority of schools I work in.  Most often through a ticket system and in each school, even though the same generic system is known by a number of names depending on it's focus.  "Purple Moments", "BOBs" (Being Our Best), "Way To Gos" and "Gotchas" are a couple I have come across.

In some schools there are different areas that you can acknowledge students in.  They are usually in the areas of being safe, being a productive learner and making good choices in relation to behaviour. These schools have taken these three areas and made rules around them as one of the steps in their positive behaviour management strategy.  They are not your normal rules in that they don't start with "don't".  There is a positive spin on all these rules.

Some teachers may remember the 6:1 rule.  6 positive comments before a negative.  This is not an easy task but to be able to acknowledge something small in a student's schooling shows them that something doesn't have to be big to be good or worthwhile. That they don't have to do something big to be acknowledged

So the next time you walk through a school for work, have a look for how students are acknowledged.  You might find matrices and displays of student achievements in colour on walls and listen to the language used by the students and the certificates awarded at assembles. You will find that if you take these on board it will help you keep on track with the 6:1 rule and help you maintain a generally happier classroom!  Using them will also provide a consistency between the class' normal teacher and yourself, providing a sense of familiarity in your teaching even though you are a CRT. This familiar aspect will help accelerate the students becoming comfortable with you as their teacher.

For further reading;
The PBS (Positive Behaviour Support) Facilitators Manual 


Mel.