Checking In, Checking Out

Teachers,

Here is your weekly dose of “5-Point Friday. 

Checking In, Checking Out  —

One of the ideas Kim and I wanted to work on this year were student discipline issues we have seen at our school. We don’t have serious issue, but we have some that get under teachers skin and sometimes ends up that the teacher needs a time out, or that the student needs someone to talk with.One of the new ideas we have heard about and are putting into effect this year is the Check-in, Check-out program. We have started small and are adding a few more students here and there. Some of the students really have made serious improvements, and some we are still working with. Let me explain what it is and how it works.

A student comes to my office in the morning before school, or right after school starts. Kim or I sit with them and see how they are doing, getting a feeling of how their day might be, and give them a minute to tell me something they want to get out. It is a time for us to build a relationship with them and they have a chance to be listened to, one on one. Then we talk about the “Check In” sheet. There are four things we talk about, “Listening to the teacher”, “Being on task”, “Appropriate talk with others”, and “Completing their work”. They have a chance to get a 2 (amazing, but not perfect), a 1 (part to most of the time), or a 0 (less than part of the time or nothing) during the morning, afternoon, specials, and during clubs. They set a goal of how many 2’s they will get that day. It might be 1, it might be 10. Theory set the goal. They take the Check In Sheet to their first teacher and they go on with their day. At the end of the class the teacher circles the numbers, gives a short explanation why they got the numbers they did, signs the paper, and they take it to the next class. At the end of the day, they “Check Out” with Kim or I by coming to the office before school is over and sharing with us how their day went. We discuss the 0’sand 1’s and celebrate the 2’s. We make a plan about what they will do to get 2’s in class and we send them home. After we have talked with their parents about the Check In sheet, the note goes home for the parents to sign and the student brings it back the next day when they get in their new Check In sheet. This paper is not a punishment. Even when they get 0’s it is not a punishment, it is a way to find out why they are getting 0’s and 1’s in class. It also helps us with patterns in their behaviors. 

If they are sent to the office because of a serious behavior problem, there will be a punishment of some kind. I personally like picking up trash and cleaning up our school during lunch. Then I can talk with them while we are cleaning the school up.

What we need from teachers is consistency in asking for the papers, taking a minute to talk with the students and don’t just circle numbers and push them out the door. We also need you to make sure they get to the office either before school or right after the bell. Some students in the upper grades can be sent after iReady time also. And the hard part is making sure you get the papers each day in the afternoon and send them to the office before school ends. It gets crazy with snack and other distractions as school ends, so if they are sent before the bell rings we can get them all and send them home. You can even send them before Clubs if you like. Please help us with this. Right now we have about 7 students, but we are hoping to have a few more and give Check in sheets to other people in our school. This gives students someone to talk with for a minutes twice a day along with the attention you give them as a teacher.  Thank you for all you do. We hope this program will help change a few of the behaviors that can distract a class and make your classroom a wonderful learning environment with few intentional distractions. From students.

Quote I’m pondering —

“Stick your neck out…it’s a lot more fun than sitting at home and watching other people do it.” 

– Sir Richard Branson

Favorite Video This Week —

Step your Steps

The Fitbit challenge has come to this! Red Mountain sent this out to all the principals. Enjoy the humor about our Fitbit Challenge.

Favorite Article This Week —

Training teachers in phonics should be prioritised, says thinktank

Ya. We know. We see the gaps and are starting to fill them with PD and a great Phonics program. 

A Big Thank You —

Thank you First Grade. Thank you for taking the learning you have gotten and putting it into your classrooms the next day. Thank you fro working with your groups of students and never giving up on any of them. Working with the students that need a little extra and building them up and giving them a reason to learn. No stone unturned, no student left behind. Thank you for your passion. Thank you for your ideas. Thank you for telling us what you need to get to the next step. Thank you for all you do. You are appreciated. Thank you.

I appreciate all of you and your hard work. Have a wonderful weekend.