Wheel of Progress

This is an update relating to the previous post about the PBIS classroom management system I've been trying out this school year. The mixed-and-matched method I've been using involving the clipboard and "The Wheel" (as my students call it) to select students to win prizes for their good behavior has been in effect for six weeks now. It's easy to tell that the students love seeing their name projected on the board in a color wheel and they get quite excited when the wheel slows near their name. Likewise, the prizes have also been going over quite well-- the "Listen to Music for a Day" coupon being the most coveted. Until last week, however, there wasn't much to suggest the level of impact this method has on students. And then it became exceptionally evident.

A crude picture, but this is what The Wheel looks like. You can find this resource at http://www.classtools.net/random-name-picker/

The largest of my classes has emerged as the most talkative. It's collective talking, so the sources are difficult to pinpoint. Since I know I will never win a shouting match against 26 7th graders, I'd been giving them both verbal and nonverbal cues to stop talking. Though this has saved my voice and somewhat works, the wait time was too long and we were not accomplishing everything on our daily docket. Last week the students were especially talkative every time there was even a second to spare. I announced that we were not going to spin The Wheel because they had not earned it. The students seemed disappointed and apologized, but I expected no lasting effect.

The next time I saw them for class, the first student walked into the room, said hello, and went to put their backpack down next to their desk. Nothing out of the ordinary. But as the second student walked into the room, the first student turned and immediately whispered "Shhhh!" At first I thought this was a joke between the two of them, so I continued getting the projector ready. But when the third student stepped across the threshold into my classroom and the second student wasted no time in whispering "Shhh!", I started to get the idea that something was up. Amusingly, this cycle went on with students reminding each other to be quiet before they had even entered the room until the entire class was seated and silently doing their bell work before the bell had even rung.

This unusual behavior continued during the lesson, producing silence when normally there would have been conversing. Occasionally, when a student did talk out of turn, they had to answer to the wrath of their classmates and quickly learned not to repeat the mistake. Suddenly, I did not need to remind them to stop talking and the wait time whittled to nothing. At the end of the class period I made sure to tell them that their good behavior was appreciated and had earned them The Wheel once more. We spun The Wheel to pick three winners for prizes and the students seemed happy with themselves.

So far, this new behavior has continued during other class periods. Now that the students have made the direct association between their behavior and privileges, I hope it remains ingrained in the long-term. Though I wasn't expecting such dramatic results so quickly, I'm glad to see that a little positive reinforcement can go a long way.