June 19, 2012

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. 



15 comments:

  1. This is a WONDERFUL idea! I can't wait to implement this!!! I use a similar chart in my room and would LOVE to show the kids how to track their behavior over time plus there are some great math skills involved also, Bonus! Thanks so much for sharing this awesome resource with us, you rock!!!

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    1. Oh, yay! I'm so glad you will able to use it in your classroom. I'd love to hear how it goes.

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  2. I must confess- I am Twilight addict too! My entire school used the clip chart this past year along with our Leader in Me program. The kids and parents loved it because every teacher used the same one and it was easy to see how your child did at the end of the day. Thanks for sharing your data notebook pages. I might use those in our student data notebooks!

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    1. I wish we could get the whole school to use it, but alas...not yet. We are kicking off data notebooks this year. We are trying to start small and behavior seemed like a good place to start. Our kids could use a little behavior reflection. If you decide to put it in your data notebooks, I'd love to hear how it goes.

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  3. I love the idea of having kids write their color in their agendas each day,then analyzing the data. Great idea! Thanks so much for sharing! That would be a really great way to track RTI data for behavior.
    Farrah
    ThinkShareTeach

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    1. Oh my gosh! Yes, this would be awesome for RTI. It would be so easy to show progress or lack there of. Great idea! I wish I had thought of that, hehe. Thank you!

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  4. I am a HUGE fan of the clip chart. Unfortunately, I won't get to use it next year because I'll be teaching K-4 science, and I'll have 500 kids! :) But I can't wait to use it when I'm back in the regular classroom again!

    Anyway, I think this reflection is a fantastic idea. If you have kids fill in their color on the chart each day, then it doesn't take TOO long to analyze the data and fill out the reflection at the end of the semester. So many teachers just let the classroom management system run its course without ever talking about goals or reflecting about what different choices the students could have made. I love that this forces students to think about the patterns in their behavior and to actively think of better choices they could make during the next semester to reach a higher color -- good stuff! I also like that you can sneak in some extra percentage and graphing skills during this activity. ;)

    I'm pinning this!

    ~Mrs. K. from The Teacher Garden Blog

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    1. Hi Mrs. K! Thank you for all your kind words. I really think this reflection piece will help kids see their behavior in a different light AND it forces us to discuss what we could do to improve our behavior. The conversation around the reflection is so important. One of the things we discussed at my school was having a designated reflection day...school-wide. That way we all make sure to do it and don't miss the most important part of looking at data. Thanks for pinning!

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  5. I love this idea! I like how the students reflect on their past behaviors and can set goals. It also helps with making connections with the real world to math with the graphing and percentages! I'm going to your store now!! Thank you!

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    1. I know! Math and goal setting all in one. Hope it works for your class too!

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  6. Oooooh, you are a Twilight fan, too! To respond to your comment here, I will admit that Abe is not nearly as handsome and invincible as Edward, and he is not as sexy and handsome as Christian. BUT...there is something very, very charismatic about him in this book. He kicks some serious a**! I've never quite looked at Honest Abe this way before. Of course, it is all a made-up nonsense history, but it's really gosh darn good! The plus is that it is written excellently, which I cannot say about 50 Shades of Twilight. Don't get me wrong. I love me some Christian, and I'm Team Edward all the way. I am addicted to Twilight. AL Vampire Hunter is just a solid, entertaining, well written summer read. You should check it out, fo' sho.

    Heather
    Peacocks and Penguins - 4th Grade

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  7. I like the idea of having students reflect on their behavior. I use the clip chart as well in my classroom and this would be a great addition to that. Thanks for the great idea!

    Ms. Fiorini’s Stadium

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  8. What a terrific freebie! But seriously, isn't the actress for Renesmee perfect? She is exactly like my mental image as I was reading the book a few years ago! :)
    Thank you for sharing this at TBA and linking up!
    ~Fern
    Fern Smith’s Classroom Ideas!
    Fern Smith’s Pinterest Boards!

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  9. Do you still have these items up - I click on the images but receive an error message : /

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Thank you for taking a moment to share your thoughts!