Behavior Cards: Encourage Good Choices, Curb the Rest!

Hi, there.  I'm Heather from Beg, Borrow, and Teach!  My contribution to this month's "B" theme is Behavior Management Cards.  I posted about these cards in a previous post on my blog, but I wanted to give some more tips and updates for our Virginia is for Teachers readers.

I am a big believer in having a behavior management system that allows some flexibility for the teacher, as well as give multi-sensory cues to the student. In middle school, I knew a clip chart wasn't going to fly, so I created a card praise and reminder system.

While creating the cards, I thought of three main behaviors I wanted to see. These were: teamwork, hard work, including staying on task, and evidence of higher-level thinking. I named these "Praise Cards".  I just used PowerPoint with some polka-dot border and clip art that visually represented the behavior.

Then, I thought of the three main behaviors I wanted to curb. These were: Talking at inappropriate times or too loudly, off-task behaviors, and leaving the group or their seat at inappropriate times. I named these "Reminder Cards".

I bought some little containers at the Dollar Tree and printed a label to go on the front of each container to show what type of cards went inside it.

I put them all on my front counter together, with the text pointing towards the students.  That way, I can compliment or remind them and they can quickly get the card they need.   They keep the card until the end of the period as either a visual "Keep it up!" or "Make a better choice.".

If they receive a Praise Card, they write their name on a slip of paper to be entered into a drawing for prizes.  Before receiving a Reminder Card, they receive an "official verbal warning".  If the warning and Reminder Card aren't enough, I go to my school's behavior intervention plan.

Good news update:  I haven't written any referrals and it is 5 weeks into the year!

Do you have a behavior system in place that uses more than one of the students' senses to encourage good and curb undesirable behavior?  I'm always looking for new ideas!