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I use a "Power Scale" to manage behavior in my
classroom. The scale is composed of five
different "power"
levels:
Maximum Power, Super Power, Full Power, Low
Power, and No Power. Each Level is
represented by a different color (shown in the
picture to the right). The children move
up or down the scale based upon their behavior
throughout the day. |
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Double-click on the image to enlarge |
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The
students have a "clip" or clothespin labeled with their
name. The clips are color-coded based on which
class the students are in: a.m. or p.m. My a.m.
students have purple clips, and my p.m. students have
yellow clips. Each day all of the students start
at “full power” (green).
After the first part of the day (prior to recess), if
the child has made good choices they may move to “Super
Power” (purple). If they
continue to have a good second half of the day, they may
be able to move to “Maximum Power” (orange)
by the end of the day. However, if they make a poor
choice the first part of their day, they will move to
“Low Power” (yellow). If
they continue to have difficulty following the rules
they will move to “No Power” (red).
The students move up or down on the power scale
depending on the choices that they make daily. For
example, if a child moves to orange and then later makes
a poor choice he or she will then have to move down to
purple. Likewise, if a child moves to yellow but
has a great rest of the day he or she may then move back
up to green. The goal for is for each child to
remain at “full power” or above throughout the day.
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 aximum
Spartan Power
(orange)—Excellent
Behavior: the student will get to choose a treat
out the "orange" Spartan jar. |
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 uper
Power
(purple)—Super
Behavior: the student will get to choose a treat
out of the "purple" jar. |
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 ull
Power
(green)—Good
Behavior: the student will choose an item out of
the "green" jar. |
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 ow
Power: Warning! Warning!
(yellow)—Rule
Broken (recharge): child loses 5 minutes of
recess, and will use the 5 minutes to correct
whatever was done (For example: drawing on the
table = washing off the table, not kind to
someone = drawing them a nice picture, and
apologizing to them verbally). |
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 O
Power: Empty
(red)—Rule
Broken x2 (reflect/recharge): the child loses
his/her entire recess. The time will be spent
reflecting on the poor choice that was made, and
what the good choice would have been. The child
will also use this time to correct whatever was
done (same as with “Low Power”). |
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A
variety of treats can be found in each of the
jars. The prizes get larger as the power
gets higher. Many of things that I use in
the treat jars can be found at the dollar store
or ordered through Oriental Trading in bulk.
I also ask for these types of items in my
monthly donations.
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Examples of Green
Jar Treats (smaller treats): stickers,
tattoos, tootsie rolls, hershey's kisses/hugs,
small individual gumballs |
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Examples of Purple
Jar Treats (medium-sized treats): bouncy balls,
mini-tops, blow pops, nerds candy, pencils,
rings, sweet-tarts candy |
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Examples of Orange
Jar Treats (larger treats): ring pops,
baby bottle pops, Spartan bucks, nerds
gumballs, individual-sized packages of skittles
candies, candy necklaces |
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riday
is treasure box day. If the student has remained on
“Full Power” or above for four days or more during the
week (they can only have been on “Low Power” or “No
Power” one time during the week), they will get to visit
the treasure chest. |
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On
the first day of school, I have a discussion with
the students about making choices. We talk about
good choices and poor choices. I explain to them
that we all make our own decisions/choices about how we
are going to behave. Again, we talk about how some
of our choices are good (like when we follow the rules
or help a friend without being asked to do so), and good
choices give us power; however, some choices can be poor
(like when we break one of the rules), and poor choices
decrease our power. I think that it is important
for them to know that they are in charge of themselves,
and they need to think about the choices that they are
making. We also do some role-playing to
demonstrate good choices and poor choices to ensure that
students are making the connection. Once I am sure
that they understand we start the chart. One of
the biggest ground rules for the chart is that they may
not move up if they ask. I found that this rule is
necessary or else they would ask all the time.
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The
students track their daily behavior on a
daily behavior sheet,
and then record their high/low power for the day onto
their daily behavior calendars. If a rule is
broken and they had to move to “Low Power” or “No Power”
during the day, the child will also record the number
for the rule that they broke onto their behavior
calendar. Recording the rule number is a way to
hold the child accountable, but also to inform the
parent about the specific reason their child was moved
to a red or yellow that day. The behavior
calendars are kept in their take-home folders.
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