Recognizing Every Child

We use PBIS as our school-wide (and district-wide) behavior management tool. Among other initiatives, we have Cougar Cash that we can pass out to students when we catch them upholding our PAWS Promise, and we also have Paws Applause postcards we can mail home to encourage students. We are all about recognizing the positive behaviors of all our students!

But if I'm being honest, I often find myself rewarding the same great students over and over, not finding anything to reward for some of my challenging students, and overlooking the students who are my "middle of the road" kids. I wanted to develop a system that would help me do two things:

1. Be consistent about positive reinforcement.
2. Recognize ALL students.

I came up with a sticky note system to help keep myself on track. Here's how it works:

1. I have a folder for each of my four blocks.

2. Inside each folder, I place a sticky note for each of my students in that class.

3. As I catch my students doing something great, I write them a message on their sticky note. I attach the message to some Cougar Cash.

4. Before giving the sticky note and Cougar Cash to the student, I write a Paws Applause postcard to send home. I try to do this for two students per block each week so that students are receiving positive reinforcement from me frequently. And of course, if needed, I can do more than that!

5. I don't add any new sticky notes to my folder until I've given ALL students a message and a Paws Applause postcard! When a folder is empty, I'll start the class over with a new set of sticky notes. This helps me know that all students have been recognized!

Welcoming All Learners

This year I was privileged to teach two intervention language arts classes along with my two honors classes. My intervention classes were small (maximum 12 students), and the students ranged from a kindergarten reading level to about third grade. Of my 21 intervention students, seven of the students spoke English as a second language. It was definitely a challenge, but it was such a treat to watch these students learn and grow this year. 

I always try to stay culturally aware having had the opportunity to travel the world and having a sister who has taught and studied abroad. When I realized I'd have so many students from other countries, I knew I wanted to do something special to welcome them each to the room. 

Above my SmartBoard, I typically hang a "welcome" banner. This year, I decided to add to it by welcoming each student in his/her own language. 

When I started the year, I had students from Japan, the Philippines, and Mexico. My sister lived in Korea and had friends who could write and speak Japanese, so I had her get a translation for me that I copied onto the poster. I used Google translate for the Filipino translation, and I asked our school's Spanish teacher to help me with the last translation. As the year progressed, I had some schedule changes that gave me a few more students. I ended up adding China, the Ivory Coast, Nepal, and Niger. 

 It was simple way to let my students know that I recognized their differences but accepted them all as a part of our classroom family.