Teaching School-Wide Expectations (Ron Clark Academy Inspired)

This post about Teaching School-Wide Behavior Expectations is part of my Visit to Ron Clark Academy series.  You can find all of the posts in that series here.

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When we visited the Ron Clark Academy, one of the things that really impressed my colleagues and I was the fact that the students were SO well behaved!  

I have already shared the 55 Essential Rules that the students follow at the school, and how I have adapted them in my own classroom, but today I am going to share how we implemented the idea of having school-wide behavior expectations.

My Principal was most impressed with the fact that the students followed essentially the same rules in all of the classrooms, and in all areas of the school.  If we could get the students at our school to do the same, we could accomplish so much more!

We put together a plan that involved the students rotating through behavior stations where the school expectations were taught.  Students rotated with their teacher as a class, so that everyone received the same information.

We go through these rotations once at the beginning of the school year, and then again when we return from Winter Break.

One of the stations was the cafeteria.  Our Dean of Students reminded the students of cafeteria expectations including: cleaning up after yourself, speaking volume, and using manners with the cafeteria staff.

At the Ron Clark Academy during educator training days, students are asked to pair up with several of the teachers to eat lunch together.  I was very impressed with the way that the students interacted with us and were able to answer our questions about the school and their experiences there.

I occasionally share lunch with my students so that we can practice these skills as well.

Another station students attend teaches them our school-wide expectation for assembly behavior.  During this station, our principal also reviews ideas we learned at the Ron Clark Academy such as tracking the speaker, and staying engaged.  She reminds the students that they can use these skills not only during assemblies, but in class as well.

The bathroom expectations station is another important place where we teach school-wide behavior expectations.  We have a sign that is displayed in front of the bathroom to remind students of what is expected when they need to use the restroom.

One thing that I loved about the Ron Clark Academy was how clean the bathrooms were.  You can see pictures of them here.  

There ALWAYS seem to be problems at recess, so one of the stations focused on a problem-solving wheel that is painted on our building.  

The school counselor spoke with the students about coming to the problem solving wheel so that students can learn to solve their own problems.

Here is a close-up picture of the problem solving wheel.

In the past year that we have been teaching the school-wide behavior expectations, we have seen a dramatic increase in on-task behavior and a decrease in problem behavior.

Do you teach school-wide behavior expectations? How are they taught at your school?  I would love to hear your ideas as well! Leave a comment below or tag me on Twitter or Instagram!

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Rethinking Behavior - Freebie

I don't know about you or your class, but every year about this time my students start to get a little squirrely.  I don't know if it is Spring Fever, or the anticipation of summer coming so soon, but they just seem to forget all of the rules! 

I always have to become a little stricter, give many reminders, and pull some new tricks out of my hat to keep those darlings working hard (we have tests coming up soon!).

This year I have made some reflection sheets for my students to fill out when they receive more than one reminder from me about their behavior.

With conferences coming up soon, they really don't like filling these out knowing that their parents will see them.  You can see an example of a filled one out below (along with my interpretations for you!).

I have uploaded these as a freebie to my TpT store in case you have a case of the squirrels in your class too!

What tips and tricks do you have up your sleeve for dealing with spring fever behavior?

Behavior Clip Chart

I am enjoying my second official day of Spring Break, but I still wanted to share something that I have tried this year that has really helped behavior.  Since I am on Spring Break, I didn't want to go down to school just to take a picture of it, but luckily, I had a picture I had already taken that had it in there!  Happy Dance!

I can't find the exact one I have (I printed it out a few years ago) but here is a similar Freebie I found on Teacher's Pay Teachers.

This is the behavior clip chart that I have my students use.  I love the fact that students can move up instead of just down.  When I ask a student to clip down, I try to find at least two students who are modeling the appropriate behavior and I ask them to clip up.  I really want to encourage making good choices instead of just focusing on the bad.

Each student has a copy of this sheet in their planner.  Each afternoon before we pack up, the students use a crayon or marker to show where they ended up by the end of the day.  They take their planner home to their parents who must initial it.  I give each student a sticker in our sticker economy the next morning if they have their parent's initial.  I collect them at the end of the week and give an additional small prize to all students who have initials for the whole week.  I save these in their files and share them with parents during conferences.

You can download a free copy of this clip chart weekly behavior chart here from Classroom Compulsion.  It is editable, so I edited for font and to match my own clip chart.


 I am linking up this week with Fourth Grade Flipper for Tried It Tuesday.