NEW BEHAVIOR COLOR CHART

   During the day, the choices they make will determine if their clip moves up or down the color chart.  Depending on the day and the students’ choices, their clip can move as many times as possible during the day.  This new system allows students to make those important life-learning mistakes, not stress out about them, and still make good choices during the day to earn a higher ranking on the chart.

   My previous system, if a child made a poor choice at 8am and another child made a poor choice at 2:30pm, both students could earn their color back at the end of the day by practicing and showing good choices.  What was unfair was that the student who goofed at 8am, had to work all day instead of the student who goofed at 2:30, who really only had 15mins to turn their behavior around.  For some students, the time span of an entire day is setting the bar to high, which only results in failure.  With the new system, if a student makes a poor choice, they could easily turn their behavior around and earn a “clip up” in the next 20 mins.

   Therefore, the color that a student ends up on at the end of the day is what they will color in their behavior folder.  I am not concerned about how many moves they make during the day.  As an adult, I look back at how my day went and yes, I might have my ups and downs during the day, but if I can leave my job feeling good, then I consider it an accomplishment.  I want the same thing for my students.

   I discovered this behavior system and immediately knew that I wanted to use it for two reasons.  The first reason is that I want my students who are always doing a fantastic job to be recognized for their efforts and achievements.  For example, with the previous system, two students end their day with a green.  One of the students works hard, participates in class, and helps both classmates and teacher.  The other student sits at their desk, does everything they are asked to do, but doesn’t strive to do anything to better themselves as a person.  Two completely different behaviors, yet they both leave the day with the same color.

   The second reason is to relieve student stress, build self-confidence, and to encourage positive risk taking.  After talking with several students, I have discovered that many well-behaved students are stressed out because they worry all day about getting a color change.  They don’t want to ruin their “perfect green score” that they have obtained at Fern Bluff since kindergarten.  I want my students to be able to relax in class, because if they are relaxed, they will be able to learn more.  By incorporating positive color changes, this eliminates a lot of that stress of having to be perfect.  Now when students earn a “clip up” to a higher color, they will feel better about themselves, building their self-confidence, thus resulting in higher learning.  Finally, the new system will encourage positive risk taking.  I have read that students who are told that they are “perfect” are scared to try anything new because they fear that they will fail and not be “perfect” anymore.  If it weren’t for failures, we wouldn’t have inventions, medicines, technology, etc.  I want my students to feel comfortable about taking positive risks, to think outside the box, and be able to learn from their mistakes or “failures” so that they can become better students in school and in life.