I amvery excited for this years new school year!

We will be tryingsomethingnew this year with

your child. We will be implementinga card
system. This card systemwill help students
manage their own behaviours so we can spend
more class time learning.

Students will have a pack of five different

cards which will be displayed in a pocket
chart that has been placed in a prominent
position of the classroom. Every card is a
different colour and means something
different. Similar to the zones of
regulations we are beingintroduced to,
these cards give a visual representation of
how the students are behavingin the
classroom

The goal of implementinga card systemis to

promote healthy, safe, and supportive
learningenvironments for all students.
Students will create a dynamic classroom
environment that promotes learning, growth
and positive relationships. We will discuss
how to respond to negative behaviours,
conflicts and bullying. With the card system,
it is our classroomgoal to eliminate these
situations in our classroomand school.
Introduction: Why create safe, supportive & healthy environments?
Creating safe, supportive & healthy learning environments for all
students to excel in, is one of the most important things a teacher can do. It
is the teachers responsibility to ensure students are welcomed into the
classroom and have strategies set in place so students can regulate their
behaviours to communicate effectively with their peers. Dr. Fred Jones once
said, For teaching to be enjoyable, you must be able to simply relax and
teach. Classroom management must be built from the group up so that most
problems do not occur.
An effective classroom discipline plan is one of the most powerful tools
an educator has at their disposal. Much research has been conducting
showing that 50% of class time is lost due to student misbehavior and 99%
of those misbehaviors result from talking without permission, daydreaming,
making noise or wandering around the room. If teachers can implement a
plan to address these miniscule issues on the broader scale, more class time
can be spent shaping the minds of the children of our future, and less of
being the police officer. Creative a systematic approach to discipline and
classroom management needs to be created from the beginning. Seems
simple, however, finding a plan that is not only consistent and effective, but
also easy to use is a difficult task.
Personally, during my practicums I have had a class where minimal
disruptions occurred. I asked my associate teachers as to why this was (as I
have heard of classroom that were the complete opposite) and they cannot
recommend enough about creating strategies from the beginning that
students will follow and reflect upon throughout the school year. We are not
just trying to control student behaviour in the classroom, but we need to
promote positive behaviours so students can create safe, supportive and
healthy relationships outside of the classroom walls. The idea of behaviour
management goes far beyond the classroom.

How can we create safe, supportive & healthy environments?

 For the duration of our class Creating Healthy, Safe, and Supportive
Learning Environments we have explored theories and practices associated
with approaches that foster positive behaviours and build community;
examine values and principals of different approaches and their application
to individual students, classrooms, schools and the community in an effort to
create these environments. We have been introduced to proactive
approaches for creating dynamic classroom environments that promote
learning, growth and positive relationships. We have also discussed how to
respond to negative behaviour, conflict, harm and bullying. We have thought
critically and creative as we practiced the creation of safe, supportive and
healthy learning environments. However, throughout our classroom
practices, it is difficult to imagine such activities working in a real classroom.
In a reading by Alfie Kohn he stated, But modeling, like reinforcing, is just another
technique for getting someone to behave in a particular way; it doesnt necessarily promote a
dedication to, or an understanding of, that behavior. Because mere imitation doesnt achieve
those more ambitious goals, we need to supplement the showing with telling the precise
inverse of what Ive proposed for academic instruction in classrooms. Understanding that
modelling does not only contribute to positive behaviours, we have to have children understand
their behaviours and act accordingly based on prior agreements.

The Card System

I had the opportunity to create a card system at my practicum school
during my second year. The card system encourages students to take an
active part in classroom management to ensure they can create a safe,
supportive and healthy environment. Everyone is responsible for their own
actions, and when they are healthy responsibilities, students will bond
together to create a community of togetherness to learn in.
The card system needs to be implemented on the very first day of
school. As Dr. Jones stated, it needs to be started from the ground up.
Classroom rules, expectations, jobs and routines need to be implemented on
the first day of school and need to be agreed upon by the students. Students
need to feel they are contributing to their environments and responsible for
their actions within the classroom. The card system helps manage these
behaviours throughout the early days of the school year, as well as everyday
throughout the year and even beyond.
Students will have a pack of five different cards which will be displayed
in a pocket chart that has been placed in a prominent position of the
classroom. Every card is a different colour and means something different.
Similar to the zones of regulations we are being introduced to, these cards
give a visual representation of how the students are behaving in the
classroom. On the first day, each student in the class will receive a green,
yellow, red, purple and orange card. They will write on these cards and
design them themselves according to what the teacher sets out.
Green card The students will draw a large, smiling face at the top of the
card with the words, You are doing a great job! Keep it up written
underneath.
Yellow card- The word Caution will be written at the top with the words You
have a warning written below.
Red- The word stop will be written at the top, Note home in your agenda
written below.
Purple: The words Lose Privileges will be written at the top, with a list of
potential privileges to be lost written below. These privileges will be different
for each student, and thus why they create their own card. They will be
agreed upon before writing and students will know the consequences if they
get to this card. (Example that was used this year in my classroom was,
Inability to participate in special classroom activities like a good behaviour
reward party.
Orange: The words Severe Clause should be written at the top, and the
words Meeting with parents/guardian written below. (This can also include
Go to Principal, this depends on the class. During my placement, I never
used the principal method as I practiced managing behaviours myself, but
there may be some situations where extra guidance is necessary and these
actions need to be readily available).

The Procedure
Each day students start with their green card exposed at the front of
the pack. Since the cards are prominently displayed, students will be well-
aware of the fact that they are doing great. If and when a disruption
occurs, the students will be given a verbal reminder or what whatever
negative behaviour they are exhibiting, the classroom rules that correspond,
and the positive behaviour the teacher would like to see. The student will
also be told what the next step will be if they choose to continue the
behaviour. In this case, the next step would be changing their green card to
the next one in the pack, the yellow card.
A real example from my practicum: John, I see that you are poking
Jessica with your finger in line. Our classroom rule is to keep our hands to
ourselves and feet on the ground. I then pointed to our classroom rules (Bill
of Rights) on the wall. If you choose to continue this behaviour, I will ask you
to flip your card. John did stop poking Jessica, as he was able to self-regulate,
reflect on previous agreements and recognize his behaviour was
inappropriate.
However, if John was to continue his behaviour, this is how I would
have responded using the card system. I would have calmly informed John
that he has not had a verbal warning and I would instruct him to walk to the
card board and flip his green card to the back so the yellow card was
exposed. He would have a visual warning yellow as well has his written

warning, caution. If the behaviour continues, the procedure also continues

with each infraction causing more significant punishments as laid out by

what has already been written on the cards. Depending on the disruption,
the teacher has the authority to skip multiple cards and that is determined
on the disruption. For example, if a student throws a pair of scissors, they
would not receive a caution warning, there would be a loss of privileges as
well as a note home explaining their behaviour in the classroom.
The card system serves as a visual cue for all students to monitor their
own behaviour and progress throughout the day. They are able to self-
regulate and change their behaviour if they are not following the classroom
rules. Students will need to see a visual representation of the card system
and thus, why it is important to display the list of consequences should a
student break a rule as a reminder of what they can expect. Students will be
exposed to a verbal warning as well as a written warning they wrote
themselves.
To encourage students to follow the classroom rules the teacher needs
to reinforce appropriate behavior with verbal recognition and praise, positive
notes or phone calls home, individual certificates or classroom rewards.
Contact with parents/guardians should not be limited to negative responses,
but more so positive reinforcement. It is important to remember a discipline
plan needs to be implemented at the very beginning of the school year, so it
can be used to train the children to behave properly and spend less time
managing behaviours and more time learning in the classroom.
If students are having a difficult day in terms of beahviour, I would use
a circle where students can sit down and discuss their feelings. Laura Mirsky
suggests that when schools use restorative practices to build relationships
and community, students attitudes change for the better. Students need to
discuss their problems, just like anyone else. They need a chance to tell
someone how they feel. Using a circle is important and creates a community
that would calm students and allow for more learning time in the classroom.

Conclusion
Fostering a discipline plan in the classroom not only will promote
positive relationships and safe and supportive learning environments, but it
will also broaden to school-wide and eventually out-of-school behaviour. We
need to teach our students proper behaviours so they can build on those and
become the best person they can be. The objective is to start at a micro
scale and shape students so they can act at a macro scale. They will
eventually be the role models to younger students taking part in the same
discipline plan. The plan needs to be a yearly tool where it stays visual for all
students to monitor their behaviours. I will certainly be using this classroom
management strategy for years to come as I enter the wonderful profession.
I have created a letter to hand out to parents that I would give children to
take home on the first day of school. That way the parents will know if they
do get a phone call home and a red card is mentioned, they will know their
student was not following the classroom rules. This allows parents and
teachers to work as a team to help shape the minds and behaviours of
students to promote positive relationships.

References

"Inclusive, Safe And Caring". Ottawa-Carleton District School Board. N.p.,

2017. Web. 27 Mar. 2017.
Kohn, Alfie. "Challenging Students . . . And How To Have More Of Them". PHI
DELTA KAPPAN. N.p., 2004. Web. 19 Mar. 2017.
Mirsky, Laura. "The Power Of The Circle". Making a Difference 71 (2017): 51-
55. Web. 23 Mar. 2017.