Submitted by Martha Stanley, NBCT, Tallahassee, Florida
Idea posted August 26, 2003
I have a system that started back with Assertive Discipline by Lee Cantor, but I sidelined it one day... and every day after.
I was at the piano one day looking at my sweethearts thinking, "They're not being bad - they're just being enthusiastic and demonstrative," and yet that was interfering with progress. I just didn't want to have to write every kid's name on the board...
I silently sent up an appeal for help, and I swear that the following happened. An idea came through the roof and dropped into my head with a force that I could physically feel. The idea "poofed" into my brain, fully formed. I knew everything about it all at once. And with minor alterations over the years, it has stayed the same.
I call it Mr. Tape, who is your friend. In Assertive Discipline, you put the kid's name on the board for the first offense, and then put a check (followed up with the prescribed consequence) on the board. Mostly teachers allowed three or four checks before the nuclear bombs came out.
Here's my alternative: I put a piece of masking tape with three circles on the child's shoulder area (drawn with a sharpie as demand calls for it). That's it.
Here's the explanation as I would tell the kids: If you're having a hard time making good choices about something and I can tell you need some assistance in calming down, I'll let Mr. Tape come and help you. He is your friend because he'll remind you to stay out of trouble. If you get Mr. Tape, you're NOT in trouble... yet.
Pretend that Susie over there (aside: an imaginary Susie) keeps giggling and poking her neighbors. I'll say, "Susie, will you please come here?" And while she is walking to me, I'll get some masking tape and I'll draw three circles on it. When she gets to me, I'll put the tape up here (close to her shoulder, away from any personal areas), and I'll ask her if she needs to have any more reminders to calm down. If she says "no," I'll say "Great." And that's the end of that.
If she needs another reminder, I'll say "Susie, come here, please," and I'll put an X in one of the circles and ask her if she needs any more reminders about her behavior. Or I might ask her if there is something I can do to help her be good. (Aside: Sometimes the kids will ask if they can move or make other appropriate suggestions, which I will delightedly agree to.)
And if that's all it takes, Great! So she has one X and she's all better, so no problem.
If I have to call her up again, I'll give her the second X and I'll say, "Susie, you only have one more X. Do you need any assistance in getting and staying ready to learn?"
If she says "no" and calms down, great! But if she doesn't, then...
I ask Susie to come up to me, and I give her another X. Then she's in trouble. I'll write a Bad Note home, and her folks have to sign it, and she has to bring it back to me the next day. (Aside: Our school has created a special area discipline form in duplicate that we use. Kids have to return it signed. This is a great idea that every school could use. That way, there's always a copy.) And then I'll call home and ask her folks if they can help her remember how to behave at school. (Aside: I'll also very off-handedly say...) Well, I might not call if I think that her parents will convince her to calm down. But if she doesn't bring the note back the next day, I WILL for sure call, and then I'll have to tell them about the note AND the behavior. Double trouble!
So, she'll get a note, maybe a phone call, AND the class won't get its star for the day. (Aside: They hate this part. When the whole class has NO notes home, fewer than five X's total, and they've done an overall good job, I give them a star. Eight stars and they get a free music day, which has very limited boundaries, but they love it anyway. No food, nothing that costs me money, has to follow all school rules, and no kissing in the corner... "eeeeeewwwwww," they always say.)
If I give you Mr. Tape and you move it from where I put it, it's an automatic X. (Aside: Otherwise, it disappears or ends up on a nose or inside the jacket or on the chair. If I can't see it, sometimes I forget someone has it and then I forget to write it down.)
Now here's the thing, kids. Mr. Tape is your friend. I've been using Mr. Tape for about 20 years. I've used up many rolls of masking tape. Do you know how many times I've had to call home? Fewer than 10 times. (Aside: This is true unless there's extreme behavior, and then it's just automatic.)
When you leave the room, you remove Mr. Tape and put him in the trash can. We start up all nice and fresh the next time you come to music.
Remember, Mr. Tape is your friend, but if you don't need him, that's the best way to do it. (End of intro to Mr. Tape.)
In our school, we place a premium on "turning it around." If Josh got two X's and then straightens out, we are all delighted in his "turning it around." This promotes "turning it around" behavior rather than punishment mentality.
I think having to physically get up and walk to the teacher every time to get an X is a potent learning tool. And having three very distinct circles tells them exactly where the edge is.
When I was little and smart and cute and quite the chatterbox (are we surprised?), I'd get in trouble for talking or I'd get the "next time you talk you'll go to the corner" speech, which I could almost always get around by being contrite for a while. "The next time" got pushed back over and over. Mr. Tape has a definite, finite limit.
One day I - the teacher - had a bad case of spring fever, and frankly I was not terribly on-task, till I gave MYSELF Mr. Tape with the promise that if I got silly again, I'd have to give myself an X; three X's and I'd have to take myself to the principal and report myself for being a bad teacher that day. Okay, so that was weird... but what happened was that I found myself determined NOT to have to humiliate myself, and I did get two X's! Later that day, the principal wanted to know why I was wearing Mr. Tape. I thought she'd never stop laughing when I told her. Little did she know that I was very serious - Mr. Tape HAD been my friend that day. I experienced the power of accountability.
I record every time a kid gets Mr. Tape and an X. More than six X's in a grading period will drop his/her participation/behavior grade to a point where it will keep him/her off the honor roll. Getting Mr. Tape counts as one X, by the way. I had to do this to one of the most talented kids I ever taught this year. Straight A's in music and managed to get on the honor roll that last nine weeks because he really busted his chops keeping it together in my room. He was my best recorder player, and he busted MY chops keeping me ahead of him so he could earn more ribbons.
When the class earns its free time, I count up every X for every kid. Every X is a minute off free time for the individuals (not the class). I make sure that they "pay" at the beginning of class so they can be jealous. Every note home counts an automatic five minutes off free time (but that includes all their X's leading up to that note home). Three notes home and I just have them sit out the whole time (45 minutes).
If a great portion of the class is being loud for too long, I just sit down and get really quiet and look at the clock. When they finally get quiet, I write on the board the number of seconds it takes for them to be quiet. I don't tell them what I'm doing; I just stare at the clock until they're ready and then write the number of seconds on the board. At the end of class, I total the seconds up and record that on their star chart. I let them give me back "my teaching time they wasted" when they get their free day. Or if they're in need of a more immediate consequence, I'll get ready to do a fun activity, get the instruments all passed out, and THEN ask them to give the time back to me. Oooooh, they don't like that. "Too bad," I say. "Figure out how to avoid having it happen again and make us ALL happy."
Teachers will always ask if the class got a star today. Some more negative ones ask if anybody got X's today. Subtle but deviously different. It's a great way to reinforce kids for special things they did that day, and I learn a lot about how the teacher deals with certain kids.
Anyway, Mr. Tape for individual accountability; the Star Chart for class responsibility. The rewards/consequences are individual and communal. They all get woven in together because that's the way society works. Welcome to the real world, kids.