Confessions, Clip Charts, Behavior Graphs, and a Freebie... Oh My!

Okay, I have a confession.  I did not pack my closet yesterday like I was supposed to.  I walked in...looked around...walked out.... and picked up Entertainment Weekly instead. It arrived in the mail on Saturday and I was just dying to read about Renesmee and the final installment of Twilight. Plus, I still have 11 days till I move, right? No need to rush things. 

Nothing like some trashy summer reading to counteract all the professional development and children's lit. I'll admit it, Entertainment Weekly is my thing.  I love this magazine.  I look forward to its arrival every week in the mail. 
Well that, and my Paula Deen magazine...but that only comes every 2 months.

Ahhh... but I digress.  What I really wanted to share with you was my newest behavior data graph.  Feel free to oooo! and ahhh! accordingly. :)

My chart - Printables from Teach-A-Roo.

I use the positive behavior clip chart in my classroom as a tool to manage behavior and promote positive behavior. Since starting it last year, many other teachers at my school have started using it because it works! The trend is definitely catching on. Plus, there are many other versions of this awesome tool on Pinterest.

Most of you probably already know how the chart works, so I won't go into great detail about it.  If this is new to you, click here for the best explanation possible from the man that made the idea famous.

Basically, the kids move up and down the chart based on their choices throughout the day.  Good choices send them skyward, and poor choices bring them back to down to Earth. At the end of the day, my students wrote in their agenda the color they finished the day on. Green, blue, yellow, what-have-you. Agendas went home for a parent signature.  This was one tool I used to communicate classroom behavior to my parents.  Easy. 

This year, I wanted to do more. After a year of using the clip chart, I noticed a lot of my students always stayed on green and only certain students routinely made it to the top of the chart. I wanted my students to be aware of their behavior, look for trends, and set goals for themselves.  Do they always end up on yellow? Why? Do they always finish the day on green?  Why aren't they getting to clip up? What can they do to move up on the chart? Anyway, you get the idea. It was time to look at take a closer look at our behavior, hence the behavior graph.

At the end of the each nine weeks, my students will take their conduct data from their agenda, graph it, analyze it and set behavior goals for the upcoming nine weeks.

Here are the graphs and reflection pages I created for the 1st nine weeks.  I apologize for the blurry pictures. There are two different graphs to choose from depending on how you want your students to look at their behavior.

The first graph breaks down the data by each level on the clip chart. 

The second graph is a bit more broad and focuses on whether the student was below, on, or above green at the end of the day.

I kept both the graph and the questions relatively simple as this is the first year my students will be tracking data like this at our school, and it may need to be tweaked as we go along. The reflection questions do change slightly throughout the year to encourage students to look at their progress and assess whether or not they are successfully meeting their goals. Students will also need to set the scale on the Y-axis of the graph.  They can count by 2's or 1's depending on their data.

There is also a place for students to calculate their attendance percentage for the nine weeks.  I don't know if other school have an attendance problem, but we sure do.  It will be powerful for kids to see that they were only in school 72% of the time.  Maybe that will explain some of those low grades.

My students will keep their graphs and reflections in their data notebooks throughout the year. I see this as being a powerful tool for the students, but also a powerful tool during conferences.  Imagine showing parents a graph of their child's behaviors.  The good, the bad, and the ugly will certainly stand out.  Plus, the attendance percentage will be powerful too.  It doesn't seem like a lot when you miss five days of school a nine weeks until you realize that your child was only at school  about 88% percent of the time.  Think about your kiddos that are gone 10 days a nine weeks, that means they were only at school about 77% of the time! Good grief! Hopefully breaking it down into numbers will help parents understand the importance of being at school each and every day!

Just click the images to go directly to my TN store to download all the graphs and reflection pieces... for FREE! Woot! Woot!

I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback on the graphs and reflection questions before I launch with my class in the fall.  Also any other feedback and/or suggestions for data notebooks would be greatly appreciated.  Thank you in advance!

Also, don't forget to link up with Friday Fiction: A Celebration of Children's Literature.  We'd love to hear about any children's book you or your class have read recently.  Share your reviews, lesson ideas, and more through Fiction Friday.