Behavior Management: Individualized Behavior

I know I am not alone in this area (Unfortunately, the world would be a much better place if people just did what I told them to do! This goes for my sweet hubby and daughter too!). When students in my classroom are still not meeting my expectations of behavior and the class management system is not working, it is time to move on to a new system. If the card flipping, stick pulling, ticket losing system didn’t work the first 20 times then it probably won’t work the next 20 times!

Most times I have moved to an individual behavior sheet. I used this sheet last year and this year and I have been really pleased with the results. It is nothing ground breaking or even earth shattering, but I like it. It is a typical system with the time periods broken into subject area times. I like this because it is easy for me to remember (or usually remember) to mark the sheet during the day. The sheet can be changed to other time periods. The more severe the behavior and less control the student has the smaller chunks of time you will want to use. Hopefully they can experience success in a 5 minute or 2 minute period.

What I like most about this form is that it requires the students to reflect on their behavior within each recording period.  I have found that most students don’t even realize they are blurting out, not listening and following directions, etc.  Then after the students has marked their number, I mark what I feel they have earned and we do a quick 30 second check in to discuss any differences in score.

Students choose their reward (both times I have used this, the students wanted candy.  Go figure) and I set the minimum number of points needed to reach the goal.  I try to set the goal so that they will be successful the first few days/ weeks and then up the points to help and guided students into modifying their behavior.  My score is used to determine if the students made the goal- this keeps things fair and accurate.  I also send this home daily for parents to sign and make any notes of what may have triggered a lower score.

There are some pros and cons to this system.  I like the reflection piece for the students and it really does reinforce and make them more aware of their behavior.  It has made students more successful in my classroom.  It is also great for RTI if I am tiering a child for behavior…VERY easy to graph and our RTI team LOVES graphs!!!  HOWEVER, there are several cons.  First, I hate it that a child is being rewarded for simply doing what they should be doing in the first place.  I know that each child is different and we need to meet all needs and blah blah blah.  But still, it’s not fair to the rest of my well behaving students.  My coteacher/ partner in crime are looking for a way to even the playing ground. More to come about that later.  Also, I have yet to have a student ever come completely off a  behavior chart.  Ever.  Although students may have become successful with the chart, I have never been able to make the jump to being successful without the chart following the class behavior system.  Maybe this is just my experience. 

I believe I have linked to a copy of the behavior sheet in Word.  If I did this correctly, you *should* be able to download the sheet and then change it in Word as needed.

I would love to hear any feedback with individual behavior sheets.  Has anyone ever had success completely moving students off of the sheet?