Special Area Behavior Management System

I am an elementary librarian that teaches in the special area rotation full time. I am on a team with a PE, Art, and Music teacher. The 4 of us see the entire school every day. Getting an entire special area team on board with a behavior management plan can be very daunting. I am fortunate to be on a team with teachers that have stayed the same over the last 4 years. We started a school wide behavior management system for special area 3 years ago, and have tweaked it every year. I am finally happy with what we have! 

Before I introduce our system, I want to preface that we are a PBIS school. I know there are several mixed opinions on PBIS behavior systems, but these are the parameters I can work within. That being said, I fully believe behavior systems in special area should be on the more positive side. We see kids once a week, and only have short moments to build relationships with them. I want their experience in the library, and all special areas, to be positive and fun. How I approach behavior as a librarian is different from how I approached it as a classroom teacher (I was a middle school science teacher before I became a librarian). 

Library Genius Wall

There are two components to our behavior system: a whole class point system, and individual students of the week that we call “special area geniuses.” 

This is the behavior management system I am going to outline today. It is available on my TPT account.

Whole Class Point System

Our point system resets every 9 weeks and lines up with our grading periods. The amount of points they earn as a class determines the type of reward they get. Each class has separate point sheets for library, art, music and PE. The point sheets are hanging in our special area classrooms. 

Each class, students have the opportunity to earn 3 points. The way they earn points in each special area varies because our classes are very different. However, the way points are earned for each class are explicitly stated to make the system as objective as possible. 

For example, here is the way students earn 3  points in my library:

1 Point - Read Aloud/Mini Lesson

• Entering library quietly and calmly

• Listening to directions

• Engaged in read aloud or mini lesson

1 Point - Checkout

• Calmly and safely checking out books

• Keeping shelved organized

1 Point - Centers

• Actively participating

• Working together as a team

• Cleaning up correctly and quickly

Library Points Poster

The points have to work for you and your space and can be whatever you want them to be. The key is to make the points defined chunks of time or something concrete. Students will know if they earned points or not. They know when things go well and when they don’t. Having objective ways to earn points means you can’t change your mind and give them 0 points at the end because they didn’t follow directions for the last five minutes. When you approach a point system from a subjective viewpoint on how you think they did students will lose trust in the system. Our first attempt at a behavior system was a stop light system. Green was great, yellow meant we had a few hiccups, red meant we did not follow directions well at all. This type of system made it way too easy to give classes with a few students with behavior needs red tickets because you felt overwhelmed during the class. Two or three students with behavior issues during the class should not ruin the points for the majority of students. 

Whole Class Rewards

At the end of the 9 week grading period the amount of points classes earned determines their reward. For our system, students need 20 points to earn a reward. 25 points increases their reward to something better. 30 points means they earn the best reward. For example, the reward in library could be free choice centers. 20 points earns you 15 minutes of free time, 25 points earns you 30 minutes of free time, and 30 points earns you the entire class for free time. Rewards do not have to cost you money! 

Some examples of rewards we have done in the past:

• Dance party

• Outside time during special area

• Free choice play centers

• Watching a movie

• Pick your seat for a day

• Board Games 

Extra Whole Class Incentive

We are doing an extra incentive for each grade level. The homeroom with the most points overall across all special areas during the nine weeks wins a popsicle party. Popsicles are inexpensive enough that we don’t mind footing the bill. However, talk to your administration, some schools have money set aside for behavior systems they can buy rewards with. 

Special Area Geniuses

Separate from the points system, students have the opportunity to be selected as the special area genius. How you pick this student is totally up to you. I have number spots on my floor where students line up when it is time to leave. In the past I have had an issue with students getting in line. They want to clump together which inevitably causes issues. This year, they have to be on a number if they want to win Library Genius. I have a bucket of geese with numbers on them. I randomly draw a goose, and see what number it is. If the person standing on that number had a great class, they win library genius. If the student on the number that was called did not have a good class, I throw the goose back in and pick a different one. I personally do not call out the number that I draw right away. Calling out a student that did not have a good class in front of everyone is not something I want to do. Simply throwing the goose back in is enough for kids to think about their behavior (several will think it's their number you threw back in). 

I do call out the number of the student that wins. In my library the student receives a custom “Library Genius” sticker and their name gets written on their class point sheet for everyone to see. At the end of the 9 week grading period our school does a celebration with awards for academics. Students that win a special area genius award get a certificate at that celebration.

How you want to celebrate the student is completely up to you. Some ideas are:

• Treasure box

• Stickers

• Certificate

• Special pencil

• Positive phone call home

It is important for the student to receive their reward right then. It makes them feel special and motivates other students to try to win next time. If your school does some kind of school wide celebration, ask to be included!

Certificates and Points Posters

Making the System Work for Your School

What works for my special area team might not work for your school. How students earn points and the rewards they receive are up to you. There are several decisions to be made before you start the system. Here is how I recommend setting up and starting your system.

1. Make sure the entire special area team is on board with the system. If it is not implemented with fidelity in each class it will not be effective. Also make sure your admin is on board with the system.

2. Determine how students will earn points in your class. I recommend typing up a one-pager for classroom teachers on how students earn points in each special area. 

3. Create a poster for your library or classroom for how students earn points when they are with you. Display it somewhere prominent. My library is large enough that I have the poster in 2 locations. 

4. Decide as a team the amount of points classes need to earn to reach different levels of the reward. Also decide what the rewards will be.

5. Edit the introduction presentation to meet your needs. Share the presentation with staff members so everyone knows what to expect. 

6. Print the point charts and hang them up. I have mine printed on full size printer paper because I had the space for it. If you have less space, scale down the size when you print. 

7. Introduce the point system to students. Have every special area present the system on the same day so the entire school learns about it at the same time. Then when they go to other special areas later in the week you can go over how they earn points in each individual class. 

8. The same day you introduce the system, start the system! Throughout class, remind them how they can earn their points. Save enough time at the end of class to fill in the point chart with students. Go through each point and ask them if they think they earned the point. If they did, celebrate! If they don't, talk about what they can do better next time. I set alarms on my phone to go off when there are 5 minutes of class left. This gives us time to clean up, line up, and fill in our point chart. 

9. Make picking the special area genius exciting. Hype it up! Teach students to be excited for other students when someone wins. Tell the teacher who won when they pick their students up so they can hype them up too!

   
   

10. Stay Consistent! Don't let the system fall apart. Be intentional every class about keeping the system going.