Who Usually Gets The Teacher’s Attention?

You know…class clown, disrespectful students, attention seekers…on and on…you get my drift. Too often, in the past, I found my attention completely consumed by such students. I actually had a student ask me, “Do I need to be bad to get your attention?” What an eye opener!!! I felt awful and set about to do something about it.

The First Step…

As a result, I began to reward those students who followed the rules; turned in their homework; volunteered answers without blurting during class discussions, followed direction quickly; you know who they are in your classroom. Everyone wants to be recognized and I wanted to make sure my students, who were doing the right things, were recognized in a positive way. For those kids, I began by handing out homework passes to those who WERE doing what they were supposed to be doing. It was a success. Other students began to modify their behavior in hopes of a homework pass.

The Next Step…

Just as it took a student to open my eyes to the fact that I wasn’t paying attention to those students who were doing the right things, it was another student moved me on from handing out JUST homework passes!

Here’s how it came about…I used music to great my students as they came into the classroom and I won’t lie. I chose music I liked. Well, one of my students asked, when I gave her a homework pass for her good behavior, if instead of a homework pass, could she pick the music to be played the next day? Other students heard her request and hands shot up all over the room with ideas beyond just a homework pass!

The Final Step…

I took all the students ideas and compiled a list of ways to reward students that was more than just a homework pass! I then took that list and created a student reward coupon book! I have both boy and girl versions of each reward and I also have black and white versions as many of my students love to color! Who knew fifth graders were still all about the coloring?

Here is the girl and boy version of one of the 11 different rewards I give out to my students. Just click on either picture to find the coupon book in my TpT store.

How do you recognize your students who are always doing the right things?