Behavior Contract

Happy Monday friends! We had a surprise 3 day weekend because we thought Joaquin would be making an appearance in my city. Luckily he didn't and we still got a day off to watch Netflix and do laundry  do lots of lesson planning and grading. However, I paid for it today as my kids were cra-cra. It's amazing how one day off makes them forget how to act like human beings. There was a lot of reteaching behavior today to say the least.

It was also the start of a new PRIDE sheet. I'll explain my schools behavior management plan in another post;  today I'm going to explain my Behavior Contract. The idea actually came from my principal, and I must say in all honesty without sounding like a suck up or "Principals Pet" she always has really good ideas that leave me thinking why didn't I think of that?!

Anyway, I have a student who is having trouble following classroom and school rules. <<I know, I know...I''m sure none of you teacher friends of mine have this problem so just let me vent and you can give me the sympathetic head nod and reassuring look>>

He was not earning treasure box because of his behaviors during the week, and they were starting to escalate. Together we sat down and looked at his PRIDE chart ((post on that coming soon)) and made a list of the 3 things he seemed to have the most trouble with. Then, together we made up a list of choices he could do instead. Ironically, the "choices" were things I had already been doing... BUT he liked that HE came up with these "great new ideas" and so I just rolled with it and agreed I had wished I had come up with them myself!

I then typed it up to make it look all pretty and we both signed it. He keeps a copy in his desk and I keep a copy in his file. When he starts to show one of "those" behaviors, I give him my best surprised/sympathetic "oh-my-goodness-you-cant-do-that-because-we-both-signed-a-contract" look, and gently remind him to take out his contract and choose one of the the things he can do instead. It really has worked beautifully! It's amazing what can happen when you give students the illusion power of choice. <<I say illusion because at first he thought extra recess was the answer and I did my best, "well... I don't know if that's safe for you to go outside alone..." response. Teachers really are the best actors :)>>

This is something that was very simple and has been SO effective! I hope it can help you out if you ever encounter a student who is having trouble following school and classroom rules...but I'm sure I'm all alone on this one :-P

P.S. The example below is one I made up for my younger brother who is a gym teacher and football coach at the middle school in my city...if I'm being honest I could have made his contract REALLY long...