S.T.A.R.

Rules, rules and more rules. The beginning of each school year is a marathon of jumping into classroom rules. The school and the district have mandated behavior regulations and the consequences for not following protocol. Then there are specific expectations for individual teachers and their students. Many rules, district, school or teacher created, end up being posted, and most often rules are led by 'DON'T' ! Don't talk, don't leave your seat, don't hit, don't steal, don't curse, don't cheat, don't disrupt.....

Ew. I find this method too punitive, distracting and meaningless.  When I first started teaching, I encouraged the class to develop their own set of rules. Man, were they tough on themselves! And picky and downright mean. One student might suggest there should be no littering, and the consequence for littering should be no recesses for the whole week. Or another would say gum chewing shouldn't be allowed, and if the student gets caught with gum they should have detention for a week. In one middle school class I taught, the students came up with a list of twenty classroom rules! It was exhaustive and labor intensive to try and track and modify so many 'don’ts'.

Over the years, with trial and error, my students and I have utilized a system for behavior modification that seems to work. There are just four things to track, and these values are wrapped up in what we call our STAR system. STAR stands for Stop, Think, Act and Reflect. If 'googled', this STAR system will yield a ton of information, texts, charts and videos. I didn't invent it - I just adopted and adapted it for my class.

We post a traffic light in the room, and I have smaller handouts of traffic lights I give to each student. I also have overheads or other graphics I can use for whole class discussions. The red light symbolizes STOP. The yellow represents THINK, and the green is for ACT! Reflect or review is our discussion time. The students determine the STOP actions, which primarily are any actions that can cause harm, physical or emotional, to another person or themselves. Any such act is an immediate RED LIGHT STOP! The THINK behaviors are actions that distract or derail the learning process in class, such as talking out, moving about or being inattentive. These are YELLOW LIGHT THINK behaviors. Green is go - and together as a class we decide what actions and behaviors represent a readiness to be a good citizen and student in the class. The list of positive traits include attitudes such as willingness, kindness, or perseverance. We might also list actions such as getting enough sleep, eating breakfast and being prepared.

Once or twice a week we reflect on how we are doing as a class. There are also daily check-ins. And if there is a problem, we immediately refer to the stop light and review what has happened in class. I have a chart by the door that places students’ names in either red, yellow or green. Every morning the class starts out in green for GO. If there are minor disturbances, a student’s name will be moved to yellow and a conference with the teacher will occur. If the student continues to act out or distract, they will move to red and receive consequences. If there is any threat of danger or injury, the student is removed from the class and disciplinary actions are taken. The STAR system is a simple, easily understood, and graphically displayed way to modify behaviors in the classroom.