"Mystery" Points

In my class of 19 kiddos, 12 of them are boys. This makes for some wild behavior (no, it is not okay to wrestle at the carpet!). I started off the year simply teaching them how to sit at the carpet, and go through classroom routines, if they forgot I would redirect them, and occasionally if they were too disruptive I would ask them to leave whatever activity we were doing until they were able to handle themselves.

Right before conferences this fall I brought in a jar of marbles. I told my kiddos that they could earn marbles when they were on task, following directions etc. This worked fabulously and was a great incentive for my kiddos when I was out of the classroom an entire week for conferences and then 4 days after Thanksgiving while I was in Hawaii (an already planned vacay for a family friend's wedding). After their second party (early in February), I decided to try the “Superstar” chart, if I noticed kiddos following directions, being on task etc they could go and sign their name on the chart. Both of these are great tools, but I was having problems with what to do when a majority of the class wasn’t following directions. I don’t want to take marbles away or have kiddos erase their names, both seem too punitive.

Then came my brilliant idea, okay it’s not really “mine” as I kind of stole it from other teachers in my building - “Mystery” points. On my side of our rolling easel I made a T-chart. One side says "Mystery Points" and the other side says "Teacher Points", and underneath it says "Goal". When the kiddos are being rockstars, they earn points, when they are having a tough time, I earn points. The goal is to reach our “Goal” first. It’s great! All I have to do is put up one point on my side and they immediately start quieting down, and paying attention, and it helps with counting by 5’s and tally marks (two of our PE’s).

When I was student teaching I had a serious aversion to any sort of program like that (and don’t get me started on “cards”). But after 7 months of being in my own classroom, and this particular set of kiddos this really seems to work. They need some sort of incentive, and it puts the behavior back on them rather than on me. (something many of my kiddos have a hard time with). If they miss out on the “mystery” treat, it’s on them, but really, I think they will beat me every time!