The other day Facebook shook me with one of the memories from 7 years ago. It was a post with a few photos of my 1st-grade classroom right before a “Back to School Night.” I looked at the pictures for a while, noticing the details and remembering how I used to set up my room, and then the cringe moment… my behavior chart in the corner of the room.
Ever since I can remember, I’d used a color behavior system to try to get students to “be good.” I was first introduced to this system in 2004 when I started subbing at the preschool I ended up working at for 7 years. I learned that by using a “traffic light,” you could manage student’s choices and consequences.
Green meant good choices, yellow was a warning, and red meant bad choices. Each day, children in preschool age were assigned a color according to how they had behaved that day. I was 19, still in college, and it sounded to me like a logical system. I encountered the same system at my next school, the only difference was an extra color for different levels of warnings. It was an all-school approach, so I got on with it pretty quickly.
I believed in these colors as a behavior management system, so I used it for 10 years. Looking back and reflecting on the efficiency of it, I can say the following:
- It offered parents a way to know how their children had done at school each day without having to hear directly from the teacher.
- Most students would comply with classroom rules to remain “green.”
- It gave me a sense of control over my class.
- I often found myself threatening my students with color switches.
- I often struggled with the idea of intrinsic motivation.
- I didn’t know better back then. I was doing what I saw everyone else doing.
Like everything else, it was a matter of perspective and following those who came before me. Things changed once I was exposed to new and different practices at CAC. Before, I never spent time thinking about the negative impact of such a behavior system or its efficiency. I knew very little about the importance of students’ voices and what intrinsic motivation truly meant. Moving away from the full-on reward system was terrifying but only for a little while.
In the past 5 years, I have intentionally considered why children behave the way they do, giving a chance to a positive approach that is more developmentally appropriate and efficient. Instead of only approaching the negative behavior with consequences, I’ve changed my teacher language to recognize the positive responses and encourage students to reflect on their actions. I’ve moved away from anything that would mess up with a child’s dignity. Now there’s room for more conversations, role-playing, time for reflection, and inviting students to take on an active role in the dynamics of our room.
Many new practices and strategies have become part of my repertoire. I’ll list a few before wrapping this up:
- Creating classroom rules or guidelines with the students. “What do you hope to learn and do this year? and what can we do to make that possible?”
- Taking students’ input on what shared responsibility in the classroom looks like ( classroom jobs).
- Calming down area, instead of “time-out.”
- Clear teacher language when dealing with inappropriate reactions: “it’s ok to feel angry/frustrated/sad; it’s not ok to hit, kick, yell.”
- Offering students with the vocabulary and strategies for problem-solving, instead of deciding how to fix problems for them. No more “say sorry.”
- Clear expectations for routines and procedures, explicit language, visual cues, and opportunities for modeling. “This is how I expect you to come to the gathering area.”
- Offering more choices, understanding that children can only learn how to be responsible if given a chance to act like it.
- Adding the word “privilege” to everything we do in class. “It is a privilege to choose where you sit as long as you choose responsibly.”
- Switching from questions to statements when I expect students to stop misbehaving. Instead of asking, “are you listening?” I say, “your job is to listen.”
- Allowing for thinking time when students’ emotions are out of control. “We will talk about this once you’ve calmed down and are ready to share. I will be here to help you.”
There’s a lot more, but these are the ones I often think about and the ones that have made an impact on the way I connect with my students. Learning about these moves makes me appreciate my ongoing learning journey even more.
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