Teachers are often searching for systems, tools, and strategies for managing classroom behavior. Like most teachers, I experimented with many different behavior management systems over the years. This post will focus on one specific system: Classroom behavior clip chart system.
Let me start by saying that there is no one system that works for every teacher or every group of students for that matter. You’ll find that each group of students is unique in what they need to function successfully in the classroom. As a result, it’s important to have a toolbox of behavior management strategies and tools to pull from. After reading this post, you may decide to add behavior clip charts to your toolbox!
Truth be told, I have found that with clear guidelines and consistency, your classroom will run itself and your students will rise to meet the behavior expectations you set for them. However, it is important to have some form of a behavior management system in place.
One year, I had the absolute chattiest class I had ever encountered. They were wonderful children, but oh my could they talk! At one point when they were still talking over me and not listening to directions in late September, it became clear that I needed to try something new because (as I mentioned) you will find that what works for one class may not work for another.
I set out to find something new, and that was when I discovered the classroom behavior clip chart. I resisted it at first because of the size. However, since all else had failed, I decided to be open-minded. Over the weekend, I made the first of many clip charts, bought a package of pinch-style clothespins and hung it up in my classroom.
On Monday morning when my students arrived, I introduced the classroom behavior clip chart to them. Oh. My. Word. It was as if a switch had been flipped and their behavior improved instantaneously. Learn more about clip charts below!
What are Clip Charts?
A clip chart is a vertical display that is divided into sections. Each student’s name is written on a pinch-style clothes pin and all students start the day in the middle of the chart. This section is often labeled, “ready to learn.” Their choices during the day determine what happens to their clip. Teachers ask students who are exhibiting positive behaviors to “clip up.” They move their clip up to the next session in hopes of making it to the “top of the chart.” Teachers may ask students to “clip down” based on the choices they are making in the classroom. Clipping down comes with consequences such as lost time from activities, parent contact, etc. Learn how to implement a classroom behavior clip chart below!
Are Clip Charts Effective?
Clip charts can be a highly effective tool. Below are three reasons why clip chart behavior management systems work.
1. Clip Charts Reward Good Choices
In any given class, you are going to have your talkers and your rule-breakers, and you are going to have your good little doobies. The classroom behavior clip chart makes the doobies work for you. They become your allies, and they love it.
2. Clip Charts Encourage Improvement
Each student has a clothespin, and they all start the day in the middle of the chart on “Ready to Learn.” The clothespins move throughout the day. Positive choices enable them to move up one level at a time. If a student makes a negative choice, then the teacher moves it down. There is a buffer zone between “Ready to Learn” and facing any form of consequence so if a child “clips down” he can clip back up.
3. They Promote Positive Discipline
In this system, teachers recognize the students who are on task in a positive way. When the room gets a little chatty, I don’t concentrate on the chatty ones. I find the students who are making good choices and make a show of appreciating their role model behavior. They clip up. They beam. The others are quickly redirected without me needing to mention their chatting at all. It keeps things so positive and upbeat.
Even when a student makes a not-so-good choice, she can rally and move back up. As a helpful hint, I usually try to “clip up” my friends who have a tendency to “clip down” early in the day so that they have a bit of wiggle room.
4. They are Easy to Implement
Clip charts are very simple to implement. It’s a very straightforward system. There are no prize pails or trinkets or tickets or tokens or tchotchkes to manage or track. Instead of striving for useless junk, the kids strive for acknowledgement of good behavior.
5. It Can Travel with Students Easily
The clip chart can travel with your class to specials and anywhere else they go throughout the day. This consistency is very helpful and will help students behave appropriately even when you aren’t there.
How to Make a Clip Chart
Below are simple instructions for how to make a behavior clip chart for your classroom.
1. Download the Clipart Chart Resource
This clip chart resource includes a whole class behavior management system, as well as a clip chart system for individual students. It’s part of our classroom management bundle, which includes resources to help your classroom run smoothly.
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2. Read the Instructions in the Resource
After you download the resource, you’ll want to read through the instructions. Next, you’ll need to determine how you will be using the resources in your classroom. Specifically, you’ll need to decide if you are going to do a class-wide behavior management chart or if you are going to use individual ones. If you are going to use the individual ones, then you’ll need to decide if you are going to use them for all students or if you will use them on an as-needed basis.
3. Print and Assemble the Clip Chart
The last step is to print and assemble the clip chart. Reading through the instructions in the resource and looking at the pictures on this page will help you put the classroom behavior clip chart together.
In closing, we hope you found this information about using a classroom behavior clip chart helpful! If you did, then you may also be interested in this classroom management strategies post!
