Weekly Quiz Question
Award Points for A Regular Academic Trivia Question
Throughout the year, students learn so much material that it’s important to review earlier topics. It can be a challenge to make this fun for students, but a daily or weekly quiz question can make the review engaging. Best of all, this works well at the classroom, grade, or even school level!
Announce the trivia question in morning announcements, and post it somewhere easy for students to see during the day or week. Create an answer box where students can submit their answers with their names. At the end of the day or week, pull an answer out. If it’s correct, that student receives a points bonus. If it’s not correct, keep going until you find a student with the right answer.
Points with Interventions
Award Points for Completed Behavior Interventions
In a typical behavior plan or IEP, students who need extra behavior support will receive small group or individual interventions. Students getting in trouble may receive reflection letters or detentions. The goal of these behavioral interventions isn’t punishment, it’s improvement. Points can ensure students view interventions in a positive light.
Offer a points bonus for completing interventions so that students have “skin in the game” and can start to view the interventions as an opportunity for improvement. Plus, the points bonuses help build a positive relationship with the adults in charge and help to document the intervention for other staff and parents.
Positive Behavior Language
Use Positive Language to Narrate Student Behavior
Positive peer pressure is a powerful thing. Thousands of teachers have found the power in using positive narration to create a positive class environment and gently redirect students when necessary.
Positive narration involves explaining out loud how students are meeting behavior expectations. This creates positive momentum and subtly reminds other students what they should be doing.
EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE NARRATION INCLUDE
I see five ... six ... seven hands up. Eight! Nine!
I'm looking for students who have their agenda out and are writing down tonight’s homework. Thank you Sarah. Great job Nick. Excellent, Teresa.
Group 1 is getting up quietly to line up for lunch, thank you Group 1. I'm impressed!
Group 2 is doing a great job. Thank you Group 2!
Reward The Majority
Use Mass Select in LiveSchool to Refocus on Positives
When a student is misbehaving in your class, it’s natural to want to give that student a demerit. The problem is that most negative behaviors are an attempt to get attention. By saying the student’s name and giving a demerit, you can actually reinforce the negative behavior.
Instead, try awarding points to the “silent majority” in your class that is doing the right thing. In LiveSchool, you can click “Select All” then unselect the students who are not following the group. Narrate as you do this, without saying a specific student’s name, to redirect the student who is off task.
EXAMPLES OF REWARD THE MAJORITY
I’m looking to give a point to every student starting their Do Now. I have one student still getting started, but I haven’t given out the points yet.
I'm giving points to students who line up silently at the door. One student is on the fence but can still earn the point if they refocus and line up silently.
Behavior on the Board
Engage Students with your Projector or Smartboard
A positive classroom can change how students engage with your lessons, support one another, and ultimately learn new material. LiveSchool offers helpful features to create a more fun and engaging classroom environment by projecting behavior feedback on your wall.
LiveSchool has three major features that will help you create a positive classroom environment. First, LiveSchool will play a positive sound whenever a student receives a point. Second, LiveSchool will show a popup for positive points so that students know they are being recognized. Finally, students can see their green data bubbles so they know how many points they have received.
Student Recorder
Go “Hands Free” With a Trusted Student Assistant
LiveSchool doesn’t have a “Siri” feature yet, but a student assistant is a close second. For many students, the opportunity to have an iPad on their desk is a treasured job that you can even charge for in your class store!
In order to ensure you have a trustworthy recorder, create minimum requirements for grades and behavior before a student can apply. Once you select a class assistant, provide training so that they know how to record points successfully. Then, you will be able to narrate behavior and the student can enter it for you!
Random Student
Cold Call Students the Fair Way
Cold calling on students can sometimes make students feel picked on, or could be met with a "but they went last week!"
LiveSchool's Random Student Selector solves both problems – the random student selector will randomly select a student, but it remembers which students have been selected so that each student gets a turn before someone goes twice.
Ditch the popsicle sticks using our Random Student Selector!
Smartphone Check
Create a Safe Time for Students to Check Behavior
Many classrooms and schools have policies about cell phone usage. A lot of times, it can feel like we are fighting against smartphones in school. However, smartphones can also be helpful tools for providing feedback to students.
Create a designated time during the class or school day when students can check their bank accounts, review their recent points, and see what rewards are available in the store.
Market Your Rewards!
Get Students Excited About Upcoming Rewards
Nowadays, marketing is everywhere. Marketers know that it takes a little work to get people excited about buying. The same is true for students. Whether you are planning an auction, pizza party, or class store, make sure that your students know what is coming, how much it will cost, and why they should plan on purchasing.
Consider some of these ideas for marketing behavior rewards to your students:
Posters
Class social media
Text messages (ie using Remind)
Preview items for sale
Class newsletter
Morning announcements
Repetition!
Class Goals
Work Together Towards a Common Goal
It’s powerful when your class is all working to achieve a common goal. Instead of competing with each other, students encourage one another to reach success together. One effective way to create this kind of culture is to offer a reward for your class meeting a class points goal.
Class points in LiveSchool are the number of points earned by the students in a specific class. For instance, if you award a point to a student in your 2nd period class, the total for your class will go up by one. But if that same student receives a point in Gym, it won’t change the total for your 2nd period class.
A great class goal is to reach a certain number of class points before the end of the marking period. For instance, you might say that if the class can reach 1,000 points before winter break, you will have a pizza party.
Learn more about viewing your data to see if your students have reached your goal.
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