Points

I have a child this year who is incredibly smart. He's intuitive, clever, and has a great memory. The last two weeks he's been such a behavior problem in my classroom. And it gets the whole class off task. Like the PE Coach tells him, he's a leader, but the wrong kind.

On Monday I approached his parents, telling them some of the things he'd done in class. I asked if they would come in for a meeting to discuss his behavior and possible solutions. His mother's first response was to ask if there was an opening in another classroom.

They did come in yesterday and we had a fantastic hour-long meeting. I had been keeping notes on his behavior and read them to his parents. I wanted to be sure I was objective - I told them that I was frustrated and apologized for projecting that. The notes were a way to show them exactly what he was doing. They were shocked.

I also found out that he's been lying to his parents: he went home with correct work with a minus on top and told them "Why did she give me a minus when all my work was right?" When they told me that I asked him what the minus meant and he said, "It means I wasn't well behaved during math." At least he clears it up on his own.

We decided to set him up on a points system. He can earn 5 points during school for staying in his seat, following directions, and not teasing. He earns points for reading class, math class, science class, centers, and PE (where he really causes the most mayhem). He can also earn 5 points at home for behavior, chores, etc. He has to earn 3 points to got to that day's football practice. He has to earn 15 points to play in the weekend game. And he has to have at least 150 points to go on the fieldtrip on September 29th. While we were deciding these rules he was in tears. He loves football and he thinks our fieldtrip is going to be really awesome. Which it is. It's a wildlife safari!

Well, the moral of the story is, he earned 5 points today. And the day was great for everyone.