Would you do it? I have a behavior mod plan in which students earn stars daily for choosing to do the right thing (homework, uniform and positive behavior). I was thinking about letting the students know that everyone with 10 stars may attend our classroom holidya party. Our party will be on the 22nd, so they have 12 opportunities to earn 10 stars. Do you think this is too harsh? Essentially I am putting the opportunity in their hands. Your thoughts and ideas...
Yes I kinda agree with that, but what happens when someone doesn't get the required amount of stars? Are you really going to deny them the holiday fun? Where would they go?
Also, do you have a plan as to where the kids not attending will go? My worry with this is that the kids who usually don't get as many stars will just figure it's pointless and not bother to even try to earn stars. Is this a system you already have in place or is it just for the party? Maybe give everyone 5 tokens. Those who still have their five tokens on the day of the party get to go. You could do a sundae or something, 5 tokens gets the works, 1 token means just ice cream, no tokens means you are out of the room and in the office or something.
I don't know exactly what your set-up is, but for me it would be too harsh. I would love to do that, but parents come to eat breakfast with their child. I could tell them to go eat it in another teacher's room, where their child is, but I don't think that would fly. However, I am going to have some miss other parts of the day and week. No "Polar Express" movie if work isn't all caught up or constant misbehavior or missing homework. No board games after the breakfast for the same reasons. Would that help?
Our "star" system has been in place since October. Each month we start over. The party would be held during one of my prep periods and my/students' lunch. So students who don't earn the party will be in their prep and eat during their regular lunch period. Students will be rcv'ing a gift bag from me, whether they earn the party or not. I just need the students to realize that there are consequences for their actions and that the "stars" DO matter.
If it's during lunch, that's not so bad. I think it's fine... if you have a prep period, does that mean some kids will got to music or something and others will skip it? How does the special teacher feel about it? I know our specialists don't like to feel like they are just covering us for preps, but that they are teaching a program. We aren't really allowed to keep kids from going to specials (as a punishment) or skip them for a reward.
I think the only thing you need to think about is what to do with the child who gets sick and misses 3 days of school. He couldn't get the requisite 10 stars, through no fault of his own. Would you have a way for him to "make up" stars?
I can see connecting behavior with just about anything but Christmas. (Nope, we were never one of those "Santa's naughty list" families.) I think that Christmas is so very special that as long as the child hasn't been suspended from school, the holidays should be open to him. And I think the holiday party should be about bonding as a class and enjoying each other, not about good verses bad. I'm fine with just about any other punishment, but I say leave Christmas out of it. Then again, what happens to your behavior plan in January?
I'm with Alice on this one. To me, class parties for holidays (Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, etc) are to celebrate the holiday, not to reward good behavior or punish bad. They are an opportunity to ALL of the children to have fun. This time of year, and especially this year, is very stressful for many families, and that filters down to the children. Why not let the kids enjoy a stress free 20 or 30 minutes with no strings attached?
I'm with Alice and Mrs. R., it's Christmas! Bad kids are excluded from everything in life, they get hard hearted. It's no wonder they grow up and are mad at the world. And... why are they bad? Generally it's circumstances from their home lives. Will they actually be better for the rest of the year if they miss the party? I really don't think so. Geez... I've never excluded a kid from a field trip or a party in my entire career and in my first 10 years of teaching I had some bad kids. Someone needs to cut them a break, they're kids.
I agree with this. A student would have to do something pretty extreme to miss my holiday parties! Sometimes those kids need a break more than the "good" kids! Maybe you can come up with some other consequence that occurs before the holiday party (even a day or 2 before).
I think only being allowed to miss 2 stars is very very harsh, unless it is very easy to earn stars and you have to do something pretty extreme to lose a star. Personally, I do not exclude students from holiday parties or field trips unless its something serious. I WILL send them out during the party if they misbehave and won't calm down, but that is rare.
I would never keep a student from a party. I know a young lady who is currently a sophomore in high school who still remembers being held back from a few parties her third grade year. I would not want a student to think he or she was less deserving than the others. Christmas is about love and bringing your whole class together. I apologize if I am playing devil's advocate.
