What is your opinion of "behavior" charts in classrooms?

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You know, colored slips, or some other measure that is posted publicly in classrooms, so all the kids can see how the other kids are doing?

I've come to the conclusion that they're nothing more than a convuluted form of peer pressure.

What do you think about behavior charts?

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Type: Question • Score: 14 • Views: 6,855 • Replies: 82

I've never heard of them - what behaviour are they measuring? School attitude? Getting along with others? Willingness to help?

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@Mame,

I think it's kind of like Santa - they measure whether you're naughty or nice, not a specific behavor.

Giving kids gold stars on some public board is a common example.

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@boomerang,

sounds kinda like "employee of the month" posters in some workplaces.

1 Reply

@dyslexia,

Not really though because these make public bad behavior too.

I mean... kids are going to know if they've acted up or if another kid has acted up without needing to check some status chart.

That's what makes me think the whole concept of the display is about peer pressure.

I'm not sure how I feel about that. Peer pressure to do the right thing can't be bad, right? But might it make kids more susceptible to other, negative, kinds of peer pressure? I think we can all agree that that would be bad.

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@boomerang,

I don't think they should be publicly posted.

It should be private - between the kid and teacher/s or kid and parent/s.

http://www.tomholman.com/charting.htm

Done well, I think charting can be a useful tool. Done badly, I think it can be a huge disaster.

which, I think, was dys' comment.

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@boomerang,

It seems more like fast feedback for parents.

"What color did you get today?"
"Red"
"What happened?"

My children get theirs in a binder that comes home with their homework assignments.

1 Reply

@boomerang,

I don't like it then. Bad bad bad idea. Don't need the extra reasons to compare, to preen, etc.

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@boomerang,

I don't like the part of making bad behavior public; I do like the rewarding for good behavior. It is the positive reinforcement. I think this in particular could help a child that maybe is a bit more active; that has a hard time controling him or herself.

I know the other day, a boy that is typically a terror (well not really just extremely hyper and active), received one of these "gold stars" as he had been controling himself and been a bit less hyper. He was so happy - I think if used properly and to reinforce good behavior, it can be helpful.

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@engineer,

Sending them in howework binders!? Brilliant!

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I was on a behavior monitoring system from my second year of kindergarten through second grade. I remember after my fiftieth day of good behavior in that kindergarten class my mom took me to McDonalds. And yet I was generally ill-behaved until she pumped me full of Ritalin in middle school. I still take that ****. My opinion of behavior monitoring systems therefore is pretty low, my opinion of drugs after rigorous examination for children over the age of 12 is high.

But a public monitoring system? Idiotic. In fourth grade my teacher would write our names on the board when we misbehavd and add checkmarks after them for each subsequent infraction that day. Each checkmark represented 15 mintues of hard time after school. I was going to get in trouble anyway, but to see my name up there with three checkmarks after it just made me feel like a badass. I'm sure I competed against certain classmates.

Otherwise, all public recognition was for some test/homework-related accomplishment.

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@Gargamel,

Gargamel wrote:

I was on a behavior monitoring system from my second year of kindergarten through second grade.

That must have been the most difficult seven years of your life.

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@Linkat,

I'm reading an interesting book right now that makes a good argument against positive (and negative, of course) reinforcement for kids. It really has challenged my thinking about things.

I haven't finished the book and I might end up thinking that most of it is garbage but at least it made me think about things (like behavior charts) in a new way.

1 Reply

@Gargamel,

I was a badass too! It was like a badge of honor. Secretly I hated it but publicly it made me kinda cool.

Conversely, publicly my parents hated it but secretly they kind of liked my "stick-it-to-the-man"ness.

That's probably why I have trouble understanding school now.

Thank you! Now I can blame my parents!

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@boomerang,

LOL, Isn't blaming your parents the norm?

1 Reply

@Mame,

My parents were real groovy. I was a damn lucky kid.

My mom is still pretty groovy so I'm a damn lucky adult too.

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@boomerang,

Quote:

I was a badass too! It was like a badge of honor. Secretly I hated it but publicly it made me kinda cool.

Which is why this makes no sense unless privileges are tied to it. Makes no sense if the motive is to improve the classroom environment, however I suspect the real goal is to condition the kids into accepting groupthink, it is an attempt to beat down their individuality. Educators for the most part dont think that they are in the business of educating individuals, they think that they are in the business of breaking down individuals and reforming them into cogs in a leftest collective. The ideology that is being imprinted is different, but the process is exactly the same as turning individuals into soldiers.

Schools are the new Boot Camps.

1 Reply

@hawkeye10,

I don't consider it that nefarious but it's maybe because I don't see cramming data into a kid's short term memory as having much influence over the course of the kid's life.

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@boomerang,

Statistics is useful in many things but it can be abused and this is another bad use for statistics. It is conformity forming and just like the political polls are manipulative.

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@boomerang,

Shall we move on to "Behavior Contracts" where the kid is bullied by the adults into signing it, and then when the kid violates it this contract is used as a hammer "You agreed to not do that anymore Emily, we talked about how bad that behavior is, so why did you do it?" making it crystal clear that the kid is a failure for not conforming to adult expectations.

And making parents responsible for their kids behavior when they are under the supervision of the school...WTF is that all about if not making a hammer and being willing to use it? And then the adults bitch and moan ( and make criminal) kids bullying other kids when the adults are very in your face with their bullying??? talk about your mixed messages, and why kids dont respect adults!!

Quote:

Pupils and their families will be required to agree to the deal - setting out minimum standards of behaviour and attendance - before the start of term. Contracts, known as Home School Agreements, will also establish parents' responsibilities for the first time.

They face court action and possible fines of up to £1,000 for repeatedly breaking rules.

The contracts will become compulsory in all English state schools under plans laid out in a Government White Paper.

Ministers suggested that "good" parents would be able to complain about other mothers and fathers who fail to ensure their children behave.

Ed Balls, the Schools Secretary, said the changes would help stop a single student disrupting the education of his or her classmates.

"If the large majority of parents are doing the right thing but a small minority do not engage you can have one lesson for 30 kids disrupted by one child," he said.

"Every parent will have to, as part of the admissions process, say they take on board the obligations in the Home School Agreement, and every parent will be expected to reaffirm that every year.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5888788/All-parents-to-sign-behaviour-contracts.html

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What is your opinion of "behavior" charts in classrooms?

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