Over my 24 years in the classroom, I have tweaked and re-tweaked my behavior management system for middle school and I have found that using tickets work best nearly every time.
I give a ticket to students who follow our beginning of the class routine and have their planner filled out and bell work ready before the song ends. I also give 2 tickets for every 100 on a test or assignment and 1 ticket for every 90. I give tickets for answering questions when I call on a student as I pick their name out of my cup. I give out tickets for someone caught being kind. I give out tickets for... well you get the idea. Then the students write their name on the back of their tickets and place them in the correct bucket.
This also connects nicely to "filling buckets"
On Fridays, I draw tickets for prizes. Students can choose the "sure thing" - a piece of candy from my jar...
I used to draw a random number of tickets every Friday. Now I keep a Scoreboard on the whiteboard. The class gets points when they are behaving according to our class agreements (see this post for more on that) and I get points when they are not - a take on the Whole Brain Teaching method. The difference between the two is the number of tickets I draw.
Now, what do I do when students are not following directions (other than not giving them a ticket)?
First, students receive a warning.
Then a parent phone call home.
Next is a "Take Home Detention" - Read more here
Finally, a referral.
I hope this helps you establish your own "brand" of classroom management. If you need something more structured, take a look at this:
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