Star Student Behaviour System [Updated]

Star Student Chart

This is how I plan to show my students how well they are working while providing opportunities for positive behavioural changes. Thanks to the Clutter-free Classroom blog for the great idea that I mad some changes to.

• No trinkets, free time, or prizes (makes it cheap!)
• Helps students understand where they are at and where they need to go
• Extra motivation to remain on task
• Focuses on positive rather than negative behaviours

How Does It Work?

Each student has a clothespin clipped to the side of the chart with their name on it to identify where on the continuum they currently are. Everyone starts out at "Ready to Learn" at the beginning of the day. Keep track of how students are doing by moving the clothespin up or down as needed.

If a student's clothespin is at the top at the end of the day, they get a star sticker to put on their clothespin. Once a student collects five stars, they get a new clothespin and colour it with a marker the next colour of the rainbow. Students keep exchanging their clothespins as they accumulate stars and move through the colours until they get to the special sparkle clothespin.

Colour Order: Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Purple, Pink (same as on the chart)

You can download your own Star Student Chart below! I made these files, feel free to modify. The banner version is quite helpful - just cut the solid lines on each page, paste the pages together, then laminate to create your own vertical banner!

• Single Page Chart [PDF, single page]
• Banner Chart [PDF, 10 pages, cut and paste] - tip: play with print settings to get whole image on page before printing!

Update (Nov. 7, 2011):

I have been using this system now for the first two months of school. I am happy to report that my students really like the chart and I find it very effective at helping students understand where on the continuum they currently are. It provides opportunities for students to correct their behaviour and rewards students for making positive changes.

Another update (Feb. 5, 2012):
My students are still really enjoying the "Outstanding Chart" (as we call it now). Some of my students have progressed through all of the colours so I'm adding silver and gold. I think I will add another section at the bottom next year that says "Away" for students who are gone for the day.

First, We Need a Starting Point

They say, "in order to go forward we must first understand where we have been".  Here is the photographic evidence of what I have to work with...

View of the front of the room.  I have to do something about that green board.

Pretty nice windows with fully operational coverings - a first in public education.

The back of the room with a sink on the left.

The sideboard and doorway.

Advantages:

• I have two computers
• Student desks and chairs are only a year old
• Teacher's desk is quite large
• Row of built-in bookcases under each window
• Closet with coatrack in the corner
• Sink with lots of cupboards and drawers
• Good light and sunshine
• Wired and wireless network/Internet access
• Large bulletin board at the back
• Clips above the blackboard to hold chart paper
• A working clock! It promptly broke down in the fall but K.F. donated a new one.

Disadvantages:

• I have two computers
• The green chalkboard is low contrast and dusty
• No digital projector or speaker system (there is a shared cart on the floor)
• No printer or scanner

What is My Ideal Classroom?

I was thinking I should take a little bit of time to explain why classroom design and management is so important and what it looks like to me. When I enter a space, whether it be someone's house, yard, or classroom I find that it speaks to me about what's going on in that space and the people who occupy it.

I like to keep things simple, organized, and clutter free. You wouldn't have known it if you saw my classroom last year, but that was a different time and place for me. I was placed into an intermediate classroom part-way into the school year and essentially into someone's else's idea of a classroom. I was never able to make the space quite my own.

This year the possibilities feel endless (until I get knocked back down to Earth, which I feel is inevitable).  But, let's live in the moment.

According to the School Effectiveness Framework, 2010 released by the Ontario Ministry of Education, some selected indicators that relate to classroom learning in an effective school are:

• learning environment organized to optimize learning
• establish a safe, caring, and healthy environment
• interviews, conferences, and learning conversations in groups, pairs, and individually
• apply progressive discipline in a way that students learn to make better choices
• personal learning supports
• students and teachers are co-creators of the learning environment 
• learning skills and work habits are communicated to parents

To support each of these areas, here are some of my ideas. This list will continue to be updated as I progress through this process by revising and adding thoughts.

Learning environment organized to optimize learning
classroom library organized by genre and text type, bins for organizing student work, shelves aren't overstuffed, access to learning tools (pencil, sharpener, paper, notebooks), distinct learning areas, teacher's desk is organized, teacher's professional library is accessible, filing cabinet

Establish s safe, caring, and healthy environment
character traits display, recycling area, compost, open spaces, properly organized tools and resources, electrical cord management

Interviews, conferences, and learning conversations in groups, pairs, and individually
guided working area, reading area, dynamic seating based on task, ear defenders for quiet work

Apply progressive discipline in a way that students learn to make better choices
positive behaviour reward chart, classroom charter

Personal learning supports
access to assistive technology (hardware/software), variety of reference materials around the room (anchor charts, books, dictionaries, thesauruses), early finisher activities

Students and teachers are co-creators of the learning environment 
co-produced student charter, classroom jobs list, whiteboard to construct success criteria together

Learning skills and work habits are communicated to parents
homework out/in basket, homework pickup area, agenda board


Now for the challenge, how to implement all of this, plus some other ideas I have floating around in my head.

A Brave New World, er... Classroom.

This September marks the beginning of my first year teaching grade 5 in a public school. As if this weren't bewildering enough, I am also confronted with a blank canvas of a classroom. This though, has me feeling excited because it transports me back to the days of teacher's college.

There, we eager future teachers spent our time planning out the ideal classroom; where our interactive whiteboard, computer bank, and reading corner would go. I remember making perfect little arrangements of desks so my angel students could cooperatively discuss the topic of the day. My pencil and paper classroom was perfectly arranged, neat, and sunny (though my drafting skills were a bit messy).

It's interesting. Writing this article made me wonder if I still had a copy of what that ideal classroom looked like, and sure enough, I found it. Looking at the drawing I'm really shocked that it looks a lot like a plan I drew just yesterday, about five years after my degree. I guess this was all meant to be. Three windows, same door placement, computers in the back, guided reading table, dimensions - freaky.

My ideal and very simple classroom setup from teacher's college, 2006.

My draft classroom setup for my first grade 5 class, 2011.

This blog will chronicle my journey, as I try turning my ideal classroom into a reality.