Pages 98-106
Full credit: 25 WBT Certification Points
Partial credit: 10 WBT Certification Points
Chapter 15: The Super Improvers Team
Evaluate the strengths and weakness of the Super Improvers Team as applied to weak, intermediate, and academically advanced students. Include a note evaluating the Super Improvers Team’s possible effectiveness with extremely challenging students.
Pages 98-106
Full credit: 25 WBT Certification Points
Partial credit: 10 WBT Certification Points
Pages 98-106
Full credit: 25 WBT Certification Points
Partial credit: 10 WBT Certification Points
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For academically weak students, I see two major strengths. In my classes, the weakest ones always make the most growth in the year. To be able to reward their growth with stars and recognition will boost their confidence and increase their stamina to keep trying and to move forward. Second, even if the weak ones aren’t making as much growth as I’d like, I can still reward them for behavior. They receive recognition either way. A weakness I see with this could be potential embarrassment for still not being at the same academic level as their peers, but I will have to keep reminding them to compete with themselves and not with others.
ReplyDeleteI tend to get more leaders in the intermediate groups. Though they may not be the brightest or the best, they know how to lead and encourage others in success. They can receive the advantage and honor of becoming Student Leaders. A weakness could be that not all of my intermediate students are leaders, and they can be very passive in their growth. I may have to find a way of motivating them to beat their previous scores beyond growth on the wall.
For advanced students, a strength is that the Super Improver’s Team never ends! They can continue to climb and climb, and advanced students can continue to enjoy recognition and growth. A potential weakness might be their clamoring for more success could give them poor attitudes when I don’t recognize them for every little improvement they make. In which case I may need to pull those students aside, have my “fair isn’t everybody getting the same thing” talk, and give them the “special” privilege of being on the lookout for those who are making improvements. If they improve by being on the lookout for others who are improving, I can recognize them for their philanthropy.
With my most challenging students, I have found that when I trust them with positions of authority, a lot of their behavior disappears. By encouraging these students to grow into Student Leaders, I could potentially see a decrease in behavior issues. Next year I have an autistic student coming in. What she craves most is attention and praise from her peers and teacher. I think the Super Improver’s Team is going to be an excellent resource to help her feel valued and successful. I also like that I can choose one behavior to work on with her (maybe one each week) to help make improvement a more manageable task for her.
Meredith Pearson
Meredith,
DeleteNice job, With your weaker students, you do't have to worry about embarrassment over being at a lower academic level because no one will know. They are receiving stars for multiple things, not just one, so no one can relate their number of stars to their academic level. Also, don't forget that Rule 5 is a gem when it comes to students complaining that they are't getting stars. Here are 25 Certification Points for you!
Even though my low students have only ever competed with themselves, they still know they aren't on grade level. With all of our testing and data collection at our school, they know, and they still feel embarrassed even though they are only compared with their own growth. It's a personal struggle of each of those kiddos.
DeleteThe Super Improvers Team is a flexible tool that works equally well with students of all ages and abilities. Albert Einstein once said “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” It’s time we realize that this is what schools are doing when we reward students only for good grades and not improvement. Throughout my teaching career, I have taught children with profound multiple disabilities as well as the children identified as gifted and talented. The one thing the students all have in common is they all can improve on some task in some way based on their specific needs. The Super Improvers Team provides an exciting way for teachers to easily reinforce student improvement without using valuable teaching time. The only weakness that I see is that teachers are human and might stray from the path of consistency occasionally which would render The Super Improvers Team ineffective. It’s easy to get back on the path and bring the level of Funtricity back up in the classroom. Kids thrive on praise and accomplishment. Some kids won’t find any praise in classrooms that don’t use a system that rewards improvement instead of good grades or perfect behavior. This is where even the most extremely challenging student will likely experience his first taste of success. Success tastes good and it’s likely he’ll want more. By helping students practice the correct behavior or skill a teacher is giving a challenging student a different way of learning. I love the Ignacio Estrada quote: “If a child cannot learn the way we teach, maybe we should change the way we teach.” That is exactly what Whole Brain Teaching helps teachers do! A Mighty Oh Yeah It’s About Time!
ReplyDeleteKathy,
DeleteI can feel your excitement in your post! Here are 25 Certification Points!
YES! The Super Improver Board excites me! Whole Brain Teaching is exciting and I have so many students who are going to love, love getting stars for progress.
DeleteThe Super Improvers Team is a great idea for students of any academic or social level. I have many students that may never make it to age appropriate social skills but should be recognized for the improvements that they make. My ear-licking kindergartner certainly wasn’t going to be acting like a first grader at the end of the year, but simply not licking another students ear while in music class was something to be recognized. (I wish I could make that up, but it’s 100% true. I swear it is!) On the flip side, my “ideal” students who felt they didn’t need improvement in behavioral areas can also be challenged to up their participation and risk taking. What I love about the Super Improvers Team is that no one is ever at the top and it’s great to see weak, intermediate, and advanced students working towards a common goal: to move up the ladder. My more challenging students feel like they’re in the game and often make it further up the ladder than my more appropriate students. The great thing for these kids who often never quite measure up to their peers is that they are consistently meeting goals. This makes them more comfortable and confidant in my music classes and they will then work more for me.
ReplyDeleteA special note: I do my Super Improvers team with 30 separate classes a week. This creates a special challenge but I can speak to the fact that even in my situation, it’s very effective!
Gwenn,
DeleteI am speechless. Ear licking? Really? What a great behavioral improvement to refrain from doing that in class. That might earn a coveted double-star. Good for you for being so positive and energetic. Even in 30 classes, the SIT is magical! Here are 25 Certification Points!
I absolutely love the Super Improvers Team! I think what I love the most is that it enables each and every student to have some recognition!
ReplyDeleteFor the weakest students, I think a strength is that they can succeed in an area that’s not necessarily academic. They can also move up the scale by their behavior growth. In addition, if and when they do move up academically, they will be able to see how much they’ve grown. I believe that a drawback of this system for the weaker students, might be that they compare themselves to some of the brighter students. If this happens, I will have to be sure to pull them aside and really stress that they are competing only with themselves, not other students.
The Super Improvers Team will probably work best for the intermediate students. I say this because these are the students that make progress no matter what. I think a strength for them would be being able to see how much they’ve improved. Also, I think a great motivator for them will be the Student Leader. A weakness for the intermediate students might be just keeping them motivated. At times, this group tends to become passive in their learning. I think the Student Leader will help with this (especially with the picture), and I think letting them take home their card once they’ve reached a new level will help.
I love the fact that the scale never ends. I think this is a positive point for the advanced students. I like the idea of putting up pictures of all the students who make it to the “Living Legend” level for future classes to see. I think this will be very motivating also. A weakness might be just the fact that advanced students are so used to succeeding, that they might feel the scale is too easy and just not try. For those students, I might wait to introduce the wall pictures until I see a need for it.
I have noticed with my extremely challenging kids, if I can give them a leadership position or some kind of responsibility, it helps with their behavior. With the Student Improvers Team, encouraging these students to reach the Student Leader level should help with their behavior tremendously. In addition, breaking down the areas that these students need to work on and starting with the easiest gives them a taste of success and shows them that they can reach their goals.
Cheryl,
DeleteNice job. You don't have to worry about your weaker students comparing themselves academically with the stronger students. Since you are rewarding for academic and behavioral improvement there are multiple chances to earn stars in various areas, so no one will know their level! Many times, it's these weaker students that earn more stars than the stronger students! Here are 25 Certification Points for you.
The Super Improvers Team is a management system I am eager to implement. I highlighted many quotes in Chapter 15 including, “From Special Ed to gifted, students’ goals should be the same…to surpass their previous best effort” (p.98). Students, of all levels, are competing against themselves. Differentiated goals take into account each child’s ability level and assure that each child will experience growth.
ReplyDeleteThe high achievers, who often have to do little work to meet set grade level expectations, now have to put forth effort to excel. Gains are recognized, especially dramatic gains. This will be challenging to those who are already at the top of the class. How rewarding it is for them when they to attain a new level. This management system has an endless amount of levels to strive for when you add on additional Living Legend rungs. As far as weaknesses, high achievers often have personality traits that might conflict with the Super Improvers Team. Perfectionism, sensitivity and intensity are three personality traits associated with high achievers. I worry they will compare themselves to the others on the wall. Care will be taken to make sure all students understand they are competing against themselves, and that we all make gains at different speeds.
The academically challenged students can have attainable goals set, thus experiencing consistent success. RTI goals can be recognized smoothly using this system. Also, non-academic areas can be recognized. A weakness of the Super Improvers Team when it comes to academically challenged students would again be the chance for the students to compare themselves to other students. Care will be taken to make sure they are able to make gains for their efforts, both academic and social. If attainable goals are set, this shouldn't be an issue.
Students who are behavior challenged, possibly more so that other students, crave recognition. This allows a platform for them to be recognized and gives the teacher the ability to structure goals that are based on recognizing positive behaviors individualized to their learning styles. Simple behaviors like keeping four legs of their chair on the ground and turn taking can be rewarded with ease. This system is flexible and able to be differentiated to individual students.
Kate Bowski’s idea, to have students nominate classmates for stars, is one that I will use. I think having students nominate classmates based on the Five Powerful Classroom Rules would be fabulous. This would show an understanding of the rules and require students to share supports that persuade the teacher to grant their classmate a star. I also think that having the students write a persuasive paragraph on why they should earn a star would be something I’d like to try, along with having students give the teacher a suggestion on a goal that could lead to them earning a star. As she stated, giving the students ownership of their growth is important.
Catherine Cassaro
Catherine,
DeleteNice job! Your Super Improvers Team will not only impact your students, it will impact you with the positive climate it creates. In regards to this tool and high achievers, I found it caused a whole new energy with this group. Each student felt challenged to step up to a new goal, and each appreciated the individual teacher attention as well. Here are 25 points for you!
The Super Improvers Team is a wonderful tool for a classroom because it encourage students of all abilities to improve upon themselves rather than comparing themselves to each other. For academically weak students, having the SIT encourages them to make growth and improvements rather than sit back and have a pity party because they do not understand. Students love to "see their name in lights" and earning stickers and moving up levels in the SIT makes them feel better about themselves. I had a couple students this past year that were weaker academically, and they would have loved the SIT if I had been implementing it in my classroom. At potential weakness I see is that students may go for a period of time that they are not making growth and so they are not improving on the SIT as others, which can hurt their self-esteem and willingness to work to the next level.
ReplyDeleteFor my intermediate students, I am going to see them have up days and down days. These students are going to be the ones encouraging and helping others who they see are struggling, because they too have probably felt that at some point or another. As I see these students becoming leaders, they can move up in the SIT levels. A weakness is that many times, my intermediate students are my shy students, and becoming a classroom leader is going to be a struggle for them to become leaders.
For my academically advanced students, the wonderful thing about the SIT is that it encourages students to continue to grow! These students are going to excel at most everything you throw at them, but give them a challenge and see what they can do, most likely they are going to thrive with the challenge as well, but if you don't give them the chance to continue to grow, they won't! A potential weakness for these students is that they may become discouraged when they are not recognized for each and every improvement.
Lastly, for my challenging students, a strength of using the SIT is that when these students make any small behavior improvement, they can be rewarded for this immediately. When they continue to see the reward of making smart behavior choices, they are more likely to continue making these better choices and move up in the SIT. Using the SIT may be a rather effective tool for these students because they can see themselves making growth and feel more equal with other students. Sometimes these students feel inferior to their peers because of their behavior choices, but now they can feel equal if not superior to those because they can see themselves making so much improvement while others may not.
Allyson Sutton
Allyson,
DeleteGreat post! Your SIT takes on a special energy of its own, but it requires management by you. Just like the Scoreboard, if you don't use it, it loses its power. Watch the student that is "slipping" on a set goal. Evaluate that goal, and readjust if necessary to get the student back on track again. Here are 25 points and a 5 point Bonus!
I think there are strengths of the Super Improvers Team for weak, intermediate, and academically advanced students. I think about my one low student from this past year. She remained in the red area on all state assessments but she improved. I praised her for improving her score. She is one of those students that will never be at grade level. This is not for lack of trying. She really does try her best. On the other end of the scale I had a student so high that there was very small room for improvement on test scores. Sometimes our highest students get forgotten about because they are doing so well.
ReplyDeleteThis is a big strength of the Super Improvers Team. All students can feel successful no matter where they are academically or socially. Our weak students get acknowledged for their improvements. We can make a big deal about it! Our intermediate students will also get acknowledged for their improvements. It will make them try that much harder. Our academically advanced students can also be acknowledged for their successes. They can set personal goals for themselves. This gives them something to strive for.
One weakness I see is possible frustration when students are not given a star for every single achievement. The teacher has to be consistent with noting successes on the Super Improvers Team. Another weakness could be not being able to reach every student. You might have a student that just does not care. You would have to find a way to reach that student.
I believe the Super Improvers Team would be effective with our extremely challenging students. These students are recognized for their poor behavior and poor academic achievement. Here is a chance for them to be recognized for a positive reason. We could start with setting one goal. Noting the improvement on the Super Improvers Team will make them want to do better.
Elissa,
DeleteOne great part of the Super Improvers Team is not that students are rewarded for improvement, but that they are motivated to continue improving! Your weaker student could very easily get frustrated and stop trying. Your stronger student could very easily be content with their level and not put in more effort. With the SIT both students are motivated to continue moving forward! Here are 25 Certification Points for you.
WBTs Super Improvers Team strengths, most certainly, outweigh its weaknesses! Here are my top four strengths:
ReplyDelete1. The Super Improvers Team is individualized. Children race against themselves as they work for stars. By removing the ‘competition among peers,’ students are highly motivated to break personal records. All students, no matter their ability or age, love setting and breaking personal records.
2. It’s visible and color coded. I love the simple, yet brilliant fact, that the SIT is visible to everyone. When individual stars and levels are added, students receive immediate feedback, personal gratification, and success. Now, who doesn’t want to see themselves move up the ranks? All kids, no matter their ability, love to do well, and they love for others to know they are making progress. Everyone has areas they can improve in, but the challenging students will quickly advance because they have many areas for improvement.
3. The Super Improvers Team has levels! There’s something mysterious about ‘levels.’ Even adults love a good game with levels. The SIT has 10+ levels, so there’s no end to the ability to progress. I loved the WBT book idea of taking photographs at various intervals with the finale of level ten students making it to the ‘forever photo wall of fame.’ SIT levels appeal to all learners.
4. The SIT is versatile. There are an infinite number of ways to award stars. Following classroom rules and procedures, correcting disruptive behaviors, improving handwriting and writing skills, completing homework, showing leadership, helping, and participating are only a few of the reasons for awarding stars. Teachers can even set ‘team goals. And, if you run out of ideas, teachers can ask their students to help. As WBT veteran, Kate Bowski suggests, your students can suggest and nominate their classmates for Super Improver stars. The possibilities are endless.
It was difficult to identify SIT weaknesses, but if I am completely honest, I was able to identify a one concern. As a middle school teacher, I only see each class 50 minutes per day. In the spring of 2013, I started my own SIT, and with the content that must be taught within one class period, I found it difficult to award stars. On a positive note, the SIT brought attention to the importance of ‘noticing the good’ in my students. Near the end of school, one student suggested many good ideas for awarding stars. I think consistency is key, and the more I reflect on the SIT, the more ideas I will have for awarding stars and promoting it with my students. This year, I am excited because my sixth grade team will be implementing WBT together. This will make all the difference when concerns arise. Four brains will be better than one!
The Super Improvers Team is a highly effective tool for helping extremely challenging students. I have seen, first hand, the usefulness of the wall with difficult, hard to reach students. These children crave attention, and unfortunately, it is usually negative. The SIT visibly rewards these students for positive behavior, one goal at a time.
Personal Note: I am currently using the Super Improvers Team at home with my 8 year old son. He loves the wall, and I have seen improvement in his behavior. He’s not a bad kid, but the wall has encouraged his kindness toward his younger brother and his helpfulness around the house. He loves the fact that I will not take stars away for poor decisions or behavior. He loves the stickers and the levels. It has been fun to work with at home this summer.
Melinda Sprinkle
Melinda,
DeleteI completely agree with everything that you included in your post. I love the fact that you are using it at home with your kids! You should post a link to your picture either here or on our Middle School Facebook page! Unfortunately, you didn't fully answer the prompt. How does the SIT benefit the academically weak, intermediate, and advanced students? What are the weaknesses for each of these groups of students. I can't award you any points for the post, but I am going to award you a 5 POINT BONUS for your extra effort using this system at home!
The Super Improvers Team allows students to reflect on their own personal growth. It rewards students based on where they are at and how much they have grown academically as well as behaviorally. For academically weak students, the biggest strength is that the Super Improvers Team allows the student to focus on his or her own personal goals, instead of feeling compared to other students. It allows for the students who typically feel like the underdogs in the classroom to feel like they are succeeding. The only negative, or weakness to the system, is that students may be embarrassed that they are not at the same level as many of their peers. This can be remedied though with reminders that everyone is only competing with themselves, not their classmates.
ReplyDeleteFor the intermediate students, this gives them the chance to earn personal reward and praise. Many students who fall in this category often get overlooked (sadly) in the classroom. Teacher’s attention and priorities are usually targeting those academically weaker students and giving accolades to the advanced students. Through the Super Improvers Team, all students, including those that fall in the middle are recognized for their growth and improvement! This is a huge positive in which these students will feel seen and heard and hopefully put forth more effort instead of just trying to get by. The only weakness I can think of is that theses students are traditionally not used to this expectation of growth and may get too comfortable when a certain level is achieved. I will need to make a point to make a big deal about each student’s growth and success in moving up a level to make the achievement worthwhile to all students, especially the intermediates.
For the advanced students, the Super Improver Team is another venue where they can feel that sense of accomplishment and give them something additional to strive for. These students love the feeling of achieving and succeeding, and will love the challenge of competing with themselves. It will help these students not to become lazy or lackadaisical, but to always strive for excellence. The only drawback would be these students are used to being at the head of the class. They might not understand how a student with academic struggles could be in the same level as they have achieved. This would require students to be reminded often that they are competing with their own personal growth and not everyone begins with the same strengths or abilities.
For challenging students, the Super Improver Team provides a reachable and measurable way to succeed. This will instill a sense of pride and create a more comfortable learning environment. Even the most challenging students can find confidence in their ability to improve and meet goals. It is important that they seek and will find positive attention instead of negative. The only weakness to its effectiveness is teacher consistency and making a point to see the good in ALL students.
Amanda,
DeleteNice job. With your academically weaker students, you usually won't have to worry about them receiving less stars than their peers. Many times these students actually earn MORE stars because they have more room for improvement! Also, you can award stars for behavior improvements too, so the levels don't reflect academic levels. Here are 25 Certification Points!
A strength of the Super Improvers Team is that it reaches all social and academic levels. Students crave recognition and attention, so the Super Improvers Team is a great way to give that recognition. Another strength is that all students have an equal chance at success. I can see my students working very hard to reach the next level. What an awesome way to motivate students to be their best and go beyond their own expectations. From special needs students, to average, to the most challenging students, Super Improvers Team allows each of them to become successful for any improvement they make socially or academically. No matter the challenges faced by students, they each have an equal chance of being successful, and all students can see their progress.
ReplyDeleteA weakness I see is that I have students for only a semester at a time. I do not think I can get students to the upper level in that time frame. Students may notice this and not see the validity of the Super Improvers Team and not try to improve. There is probably a way to fix this problem, but I am not seeing it at this time since this is all new to me. Another weakness is teacher continuity in rewarding stars. Keeping up with all students may be a challenge for rookies like me.
I feel the strengths outweigh the weaknesses and should be implemented into anyone’s curriculum. It is a win, win situation. I look forward to going outside of my comfort zone and creating a group of students who are eager to always out do their best.
I tried Super Improves Team this past year and was somewhat successful. I was not consistent with giving stars. It was hard for me to keep track of 100 students and find a place to display all of them. Now that I know a little more about SIT, I will be able to make it work this coming year, and my students will reach new heights, not only socially but academically as well.
Debora Manuel
Deb,
DeleteGreat post! Thinking about how to implement the SIT in your situation is important. You have to make it manageable for you, and it has to be easy to implement. Requiring less stars to move levels or having less levels are two ways that you have talked about to modify the SIT to fit your classroom. You can do it! Here are 25 Certification Points for you!
The biggest strength of the Super Improvers Team is that it levels the playing field for all students by recognizing individual growth rather than requiring students to compete against one another.
ReplyDeleteMy own son is academically “gifted,” however this “gift” at times has caused him to lose motivation and do just enough work to get by. Getting stars, stickers, etc. in his traditionally taught classrooms has come so easy that he has gradually lost motivation. In a WBT classroom, my naturally competitive son would have remained challenged and thrived as he worked to improve on his personal best.
Well behaved students at the intermediate level are often overlooked. They are not typically recognized for academics and because they are well behaved, they are not gaining negative attention either. In this system, these students have the opportunity to gain recognition for their efforts and personal improvements.
One of the most exciting parts of the Super Improvers Team is the fact that academically weak students have the same opportunity for improvement and recognition as the most advanced students in the class. Often, students who are weak academically are overwhelmed because they are so far behind and are almost never recognized for academics. In this system, a weak student could make an academic improvement based on their individual needs and gain recognition for their efforts to improve.
Finally, the Super Improvers Team is a powerful tool for extremely challenging students. By choosing “the easiest behavior to fix” first, the challenging student experiences success (perhaps for the first time) and gains recognition. Later, by providing the student with a list of behaviors and allowing him or her to choose the next area of focus, the student has a sense of ownership which is extremely important.
As far as weaknesses, the only one I can foresee is on my side. I will need to be consistent and fair when recognizing students for improvement in my classroom.
Jamie Rickman
Jamie,
DeleteThis is a great post! You have captured some great strengths and weaknesses! Here are 25 Certification Points, and 5 BONUS POINTS for your detailed explanation!
This year will be my first experience with the Super Improver Team so I was really excited to read this chapter and find out how I can use it in my classroom! Since I was a Title-1 teacher, my principal gives me a lot of the special education/struggling readers in my classroom. The SIT will be a strength for me because these students make great progress but at a much slower rate than the intermediate and advanced students. I can reward them for different levels of improvement such as knowing their alphabet, sounding out their words, studying for their spelling tests. Although these weaker students may not be able to read the words, which could be seen as a weakness of the SIT, they will be able to count their starts and distinguish when they get to move up a color.
ReplyDeleteMy intermediate students come to me on grade-level but are normally the quiet ones who I have to pull information from to get them to participate. I can use the SIT to encourage classroom discussion and great partner-teaching with gestures for these students. The advanced students are my teacher-pleasers who always do what I ask, study for their tests, and listen in class. I will use the SIT with my advanced students to watch for great partner teaching, assisting struggling classmates, challenging themselves to do something they are not comfortable with. Most positive reward systems have a level that is just capped off and the advanced kids have nowhere to be rewarded for their great classroom behavior; the SIT does not have this weakness and will really motivate these kids because they are not used to having to work for rewards!
Lastly, my challenging students will notice the other students getting stars (ladybug dots for my SIT). I like how the book discussed pulling these students aside and telling them one thing to work on. I would probably put a reminder on their desk of what I am looking for and I could point to it or they could look at it throughout the day. Eventually, I will do ask Coach said and let the student pick what they want to work on for the day, which will put the SIT in their hands, not mine.
Unfortunately, one weakness I am struggling with does not have to do with the SIT solely but in conjunction with my school’s clip chart system. I love the clip chart system and it really motivates my students but I do not know how I am going to do both. In the book, Kate Bowski let her students distinguish who needed a star and this could really work if I train the students well. I would just forget about the clip chart but our principal requires it. I am excited to let my students take charge and look for excellent growth and classroom behavior because they will always be watching their fellow classmates because they know they are going to be watched by their classmates too!
Laken,
DeleteNice job! You have some wonderful details on how the SIT will benefit your students. Managing what your principal wants with that works will be a difficult task, but one I know you can accomplish! Here is a very insightful blog post that explains my own person feelings on the clip charts and red/green/yellow charts that are used in so many classrooms. Here are 25 Certification Points!
Having used the Super Improvers Team for a year now, I can see how each student in my classroom reacted to the incredible, motivational, gesture of a single star. With each student working their hardest to earn the next level on the Super Improvers Wall, I was able to find the perfect motivational tool to meet students at their academic and behavioral level and raise them to their personal best. It was incredible to see the lower achieving students reach to beat their goals in academics and behaviors. Man did they move fast. In my opinion so many of my challenging students were rarely told they can accomplish greatness. I witnessed my intermediate students who could get by with just their bare minimum, strive to be better because they were only competing against themselves. My high achieving students were celebrated for their greatness, but the SIT kept them reaching for the stars because it was no longer about being on top and outdoing others, it was about beating themselves.
ReplyDeleteWe used the SIT for rewards in so many areas. We charted growth in multiplication and division timed tests, books read per week for Accelerated Reader, homework excellence, test improvement, rock star behavior, behaviors with partners, and so much more. The great thing about the SIT was that students were rewarded for some of the smallest things, yet this made a huge improvement in their overall confidence in themselves and their behaviors in class.
Each week my students filled out a SIT half sheet of paper. They wrote down if they had met their prior week’s goal, what their new goal was, and what they think the teacher thinks their goal should be. This helped me see what they want to work on and helps them reflect on what they know I want them to work on. They keep this on their desk to remind them of their goals.
At the end of the year, my students received recognition from our principal for reaching personal goals and accomplishing the coveted top tier to the SIT! To see the look on some of my most challenging students when their name was called (and the look on their past teachers faces) I knew I had found a gold mine! It was such a motivation key in my classroom this past year and I wouldn’t go without it in years to come!! Talk about TEACHER HEAVEN!!
Krystal,
DeleteIsn't Teacher Heaven a wonderful place? I like that you kept your students focused on their goals when it came to the SIT. How awesome that your principal supported you. Here are 25 certification points plus 5 BONUS POINTS!
I whole-heartedly agree that the Super Improvers Team is “democratic” and “differentiated” (98). I adore the analogy of the two students racing for a grade in a fair and unfair classroom scenario. I am finding that so many people in our field are highly focused on numbers and scores of formal assessments. Children, even on the kindergarten level, feel this pressure to receive higher grades and numbers for the sake of the score. This motivation is taking away from the love of learning. The Super Improvers Team allows for the students to refocus on their learning and enjoy their cognitive growth in a visible way. My lower students will be able to celebrate personal bests on the same level as my higher students. All students create a habit of setting goals, achieving goals, and self motivation that will last them throughout their school careers. Often times, lower students are not celebrated because they do not achieve the high scores. The SIT gives them the opportunity to be celebrated! Higher achieving students often lose momentum and are recognized solely for their scores. The SIT gives them the opportunity to be recognized for other wonderful attributes and ensures that they are constantly engaged. Those few challenging students I encounter every year would benefit from the SIT, too. I find that these children are attention seeking, in many cases, and the attention they receive is usually negative. The SIT allows them to be acknowledged for the great things they do. Their goals are meaningful and realistic. Any and all efforts are recognized in a positive way and celebrated by all. This system allows them the attention they crave but in a positive fashion. I love that the SIT is so positive! I am reminded of the well known educator Rita Pierson and her story about a student answering all but two questions incorrectly on a test. She marked the inevitable “F” but pleasantly drew a smiley face. The student asked why she drew the smiley face when he got an “F”. She said, “because you’re on a roll! You got two right…you didn’t miss them all!” She makes a remark that looking at the wrong answers “sucks the life out of you” but the plus two says “I ain’t all that bad”. Challenging students need to know they are not all that bad.
ReplyDeleteThe only potential problem I foresee at this point is that some students may turn the competition against one another rather than themselves. They may begin to compete by comparing achieved colors to one another and making less than nice comments. I just know that some of my Kindergarteners may like to call each other out by saying things like, “Johnny’s still on white with only 6 stars while we all have 9 stars or more”. I realize that this is fixable and a teachable moment. I am already thinking Rule Five could easily alleviate this problem. A discussion pertaining to kindness towards each other and group motivation could also solve this problem.
- Jennifer Mulcahy
Jennifer,
DeleteGood thinking about the SIT. It is wonderful to have a tool that motivates all students. You are right about the fact children will recognize and possibly call each other out on the level differences. I would definitely do a mini-lesson about being caring and kind should that happen. I would put the "offender" on a plan to earn stars when he/she is kind to others in an effort to correct the behavior. Consider, too, having your students nominate others for stars. This would occur later in the year but it puts your students in your shoes and makes them start to see the good in others. Here are your 25 certification points!
If anyone would like to hear a motivational speech by Rita Pierson, I would strongly suggest Every Kid Needs A Champion. You can find it on YouTube. It is very motivating from a teacher’s point of view. It also goes hand-in-hand with many of the WBT beliefs.
ReplyDeleteThe Super Improvers Team (SIT) is a great tool to motivate students. Any student that lacks confidence or feels like they need to act strong in order to fit in with the cool kids will no longer need to. The SIT creates a positive environment that shows our weak academics or misbehaving students that they too can be successful in something and with more effort to do well is a great trait to have. Any teacher using the SIT will be able to easily redirect a students constant rule breaking by telling them they can get a star on their card. The student now knows that the teacher is not looking for perfect kids! The teacher just wants the student to make the effort to improve; everyone has something to improve upon. The great addition of the "team" creates an even more positive environment for the weak students because now even though they may not be able to move up a level, when the class has earned the extra point, they can feel good about making an improvement to help someone else reach the next level.
ReplyDeleteTeachers do not always praise or punish the "smart" kids or the "good" kids. Sometimes those are the students that are left out of the love from a teacher because the teacher already thinks that kid is fine and needs to deal with the struggling or bad kids first. The SIT helps to let the above average kids know that they too can improve either individually or use their greatness to help earn the class the extra point for someone else to move up the scale. These students may always receive "A"s but lack social skills. These students may be too shy to stand up and lead the class. A consistent rule follower may be a "B" or "C" student.
This past school year, my class was made up entirely of students that had been kicked out of their original classrooms, expelled from other schools, and the ones the school talked about as "that kid". The Super Improvers Team showed my students that they are loved for who they are and what they can be. Those clip charts and flipping card systems do not. All those do for students is discourage them because the same kids will flip and the same kids will stay on green. The SIT made my students excited to work! My class wanted to earn stars and wanted to help each other out too! They would count each others stars and cheer each other on to make the next level.
Stephanie,
DeleteGood thinking about the SIT and how it applies to different students. I am so glad you got to see it in action with some of the toughest students. On future posts, be careful of your sentence structure (paragraph 1) and possessives (students/students'). Here are 10 certification points!
The Super Improvers Team was created to address what every child in the world craves. No, not ice cream! RECOGNITION! Rewarding children for how far they've come as apposed to where they are now, is sheer genius. Every kid, no matter what level they are on, has what to improve on. The Super Improvers Team sends this message to our students: Your goal here in this classroom is to grow along your very own path and I will recognize and celebrate each and every success you have and each and every improvement you make on your journey to greatness. What a powerful message!
ReplyDeleteMy weak students will feel great as they earn stars for all of the areas they need to improve on. My strong students won’t be content with where they are, they will work harder to soar higher! My intermediate students will have the opportunity to become Student Leaders and grow to heights they never tried to reach before they started competing against themselves.
The Super Improvers Team is fun, cheap and doesn't take time away from teaching. I’m trying very hard but I can’t think of any weakness in this program. The only weakness I can think of which is related to the program would be in how consistent I am with recognizing and rewarding my students successes throughout the day.
The possible effectiveness of the Super Improvers Team with extremely challenging students is infinite. By focusing on easy to improve habits for them to work on and change, the Super Improvers Team becomes this incredibly powerful way of showing them how great it feels to be noticed in a positive light. Even the smallest iota of success will be recognized on the wall and once they taste that sweet taste of success, they will keep coming back for more.
-Rivky Greenberger
Rivky,
ReplyDeleteThe SIT does send a powerful message doesn't it? You are correct that our SIT will only be as strong as we are consistent. Double check this sentence for clarity: "Every kid, no matter what level they are on, has what to improve on." Here are 20 certification points!
For the academically weaker students, this method’s strengths lie in the focus on striving to beat your own records rather than someone else’s. The playing field is leveled here visually on the board, which allows these children to work their way up academically, all the while adding stars for behavior points. This will keep them from falling far behind the intermediate and advanced students. The students that are weaker in reading can actually make great strides on the SIT if they are allowed to include even the smallest improvements. This would motivate them to try to pass even some of the advanced students, which in the regular academic classroom would rarely happen. The only weakness I could think of for this group would be that the weaker students are often the ones that tend to “act out” in class (often to save face). This may create a more difficult situation when trying to award stars. But, in reality, I think that they will actually try harder when they see that visual representation of their improvement on the board.
ReplyDeleteFor the intermediate students, the SIT is a way to help keep them from falling under the radar in the classroom. I think back and wonder how many times I went a whole day and barely had a conversation with some of my students because they were “fine” academically, and “fine” behaviorally, thereby not needing my constant attention. The SIT would help me, as a teacher, to be reminded to look for those improvement moments in these students on a consistent basis. I think it would be a way to motivate these intermediate students to strive to make self-improvements daily. I struggle to think of a weakness in this area so I will say that the weakness would fall into my hands. The program wouldn’t work unless I followed through consistently every day. If I didn’t these intermediates would be back in the “cruising through” zone without enough of the needed reinforcement to remind them how wonderful they are and how much they are improving.
For the advanced students, the SIT is another way for them to challenge themselves. These are usually the competitive students that try to finish everything a day early and never miss a beat. Although these students are far fewer in number, the SIT provides a visual representation for them as they set higher and higher goals personally. I think the teacher would need to meet privately with the students and help them set attainable goals that would still take concentrated effort to reach. These students may actually move up the ladder slower than some of the other students, but they will feel that the stars are well earned. The weakness that I can imagine would be typical comparison of stars between students due to these children being competitive academically. I would need to remind them that the stars are earned for behavior as well as academics.
For the extremely challenging students, the SIT would work effectively to offer them a way to show themselves, the teacher, and the class that they are just as capable as everyone else of setting a goal and reaching it. By setting goals that are easily within their reach, especially at the beginning, these students will finally receive some positive feedback from their peers as they begin to move up the ladder. More importantly, they will feel good about themselves. I like the idea that other students can nominate them for points. I can imagine that stars received from their peers would be a huge bolster in their self-confidence. Then, as they are feeling more positive about themselves, they will be more willing to challenge themselves to achieve new goals academically and behaviorally. The only negative I see in this group would be the typical question of “What do I get when if I reach the top”. Many of these students are so used to being given prizes and candy etc. that I wonder if that will deter them somewhat. Overall, the strengths far outweigh the weaknesses in each of these groups and I’m looking forward to using this in my classroom this year!
Michelle,
ReplyDeleteGreat job! One "prize" that you can offer for reaching the "Living Legend" level (level 10) is to post their picture on a separate bulletin board. Forever. Having a spot designated for Living Legends, the kids know that their picture will be posted up there for the coming grade levels to see. It's a great motivator! Here are 25 Certification Points!
The Super Improvers Team
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of the Super Improvers Team! It is so amazing because it will focus on improvement rather than achievement. Academic weak students will be encouraged when they see their growth being rewarded instead of the amount of questions they still need to correct to get a good grade. I believe they will end up making more growth and enjoy coming to school. Students will love to get stickers and move up the board and get ‘new colors’! The only weakness I foresee would be the amount of time it might take some of my weaker students to meet their goals. It will be up to me to keep them motivated and excited about the Super Improvers Team.
The Super Improvers Team will have a big impact on my ‘intermediate’ students as well. Unfortunately, sometimes this group of students may get left behind due to the attention being focus of my more needy kids. A definite strength of the SIT will be goal setting. By setting their own goals and being acknowledge for their improvement and their hard work this will keep my intermediate students motivated and focused on their learning and successes. A potential weakness might be their acceptance of being left in the background and not wanting recognition for their achievements. My hope is that this structure will help them become leaders in the classroom.
Finally a challenge for my advanced students! The Super Improvers Team is the answer to the question, “How will you challenge my gifted child?” The awesome thing about the SIT is that no student can get complacent with their academic success, they need to continue to grow no matter what! Teacher Heaven!!
The only weakness I see potentially being a problem is the length of time it will take to achieve some of their higher goals. Not all of these students may want to rise to the challenge and instead want to be acknowledged for every little success and high score they receive, as they may be used to.
Lastly, for my challenging students, the Super Improvers Team will recognize behavior improvement. It can be individualized for their behavior needs without the whole class knowing they are on a ‘behavior plan’. They can be rewarded immediately instead of waiting until the end of the day or week. These students will not feel like an outsider but and equal to their peers. The Super Improvers Team is an effective tool that will enable students to feel success. “Every child, in every way, can grow.”
Sara,
DeleteGood thinking about the SIT. If you are concerned about kids becoming lackluster because it's taking too long to reach their goal, then lower the goal. Keep them moving forward toward where you want them to be. There is nothing wrong with taking things in small steps. :) For future posts, please watch those writing mechanics. (Academic weak students > academically) (...this group of students may get left behind due to the attention being focus of my more needy kids.) (By setting their own goals and being acknowledge for their improvement and their hard work this will keep my intermediate students motivated and focused on their learning and successes.) Unfortunately, this post earned no points due to the writing errors.
A strength of the Super Improver Team is that students are not competing against others, but against themselves. This means that there is much more room for improvement for each student, and they are free from comparisons that might discourage them, or make them haughty.
ReplyDeleteStudents who are academically weak will find the Super Improver Team motivates when they realize that they are not competing, or even being compared, against others who are academically stronger. I think a lot of kids are afraid of failure and unfair comparisons, and therefore never really apply themselves. If they are awarded for even the smallest improvement, they will gain more confidence, and try harder. The SIT gives them the freedom to try and the encouragement to improve. A weakness of the SIT, for academically weak students, would be that the teacher needs to be on her A-game to make sure she does notice and rewards those small improvements.
Intermediate students could possibly make the most gains, if they apply themselves. These are the students who seem to go “under the radar” at times, since they might not stand out academically, nor need extra help from their teacher. The SIT is a wonderful way to recognize and encourage them. A weakness here would be if the teacher is inattentive to their improvement, or if they become satisfied with a certain level achieved, and stop striving for their goals.
Advanced students would be pleasantly surprised to find that they really need to put forth their best effort to improve (earn stars). There is no “easy A” here. This is a great way to get those academically advanced students to not grow lazy with their work and efforts. A weakness would be discouragement when the advanced students realize they are not earning those stars as quickly as others. The teacher would have to encourage them to not compare themselves to others. I also found that I had to be really creative with goals for these students.
I have not yet used the SIT with extremely challenging students, but I do believe that it will be received as a breath of fresh air. Instead of a negative approach, such as having their clip moved three times before 9am, now the focus shifts to a positive approach. What student would not respond to encouragement? In this approach realistic goals are set, even the smallest improvement is rewarded, there are no comparisons, and as a bonus they will have public recognition and support from their peers. That sounds like grounds for improvement to me.
By Mariaan Carreiro
Mariaan,
ReplyDeleteI think you have found the common thread for the SIT to be successful - the teacher! You are so right that we have to be on the ball and if we are, our children will really work for us. Here are 25 certification points for you!
The biggest strength of the Super Improvers Team is that all students are personally recognized for improvement and visibly experience success! Academically weak students benefit greatly for being recognized and rewarded for improving. This grows their self-confidence and motivates them to keep trying. Additionally, the Super Improvers Team approach provides multiple opportunities for these students to receive stars and shine in other areas such as manners, social skills, kindness, and effort. Often my struggling students are leading on the board! I do not see any weaknesses associated with these students.
ReplyDeleteMy intermediate students are very motivated to set and break personal records. These children often quickly develop into student leaders who can recognize the success and growth in others. These students are frequently the ones suggesting their classmates get stars for growth they witnessed! Sometimes it's hard for me to decide and be fair in giving out stars when their classmates suggest.
For my advanced students, strengths are that the Super Improvers Team continues to push them and doesn't allow for them to be content or coast! The possibilities of recognizing growth with these students never ends! They can continue to grow, reflect, and set personal goals for themselves. The Super Improvers Team really does push and stretch them in other non-academic areas such as: going above and beyond, displaying their personal best effort, being a leader, initiating compromising, neatness, and social skill growth. A small weakness might be that these students are accustomed to having things come easy and being at the top. Therefore, initially it may be more difficult for them when they see others excelling at a quicker pace than themselves. I found that this is my opportunity to encourage them to really be the best they can be.
I love that my most challenging behavior students are recognized for the positive contributions they make and improvements they display. Too often, I have focused on recognizing and correcting what they are doing wrong, but with the Super Improvers Team I can emphasis and reward their growth. I have seen this is very motivating for them and that they love climbing the levels and experiencing that success. I also believe the Super Improvers Team creates concrete examples and immediate feedback for them to feel proud of themselves.
-Shelley Nizynski Reese
Yes! Yes! Yes! Well done, Shelley! Here are 25 points and a 5 point bonus!
ReplyDeleteWow! I feel like now I’m beginning to understand Teacher Heaven! When I finished this chapter, my brain went crazy. The Super Improvers Team will be a wonderful addition to my classroom management plan.
ReplyDeleteAs far as weaknesses, I believe I see they are only for me. For me personally, I may have a difficult time remembering to award stars. I like the idea of students having cards themselves so I or another teacher can record improvements. Keeping the level of desire to move up is going to be very important in the classroom.
Strengths, there are so many and I’ve never done anything like this in the 13 years I’ve taught! As for my weak students, I can only imagine the huge feeling of accomplishment as they move up the scale. How powerful for them, that when they work hard they will see themselves improve. Instilling in them a sense of accomplishment can only prove to be a wonderful feeling for them. Once they understand that they can do it, that feeling of accomplishment can only get bigger and better.
The intermediate students I’m wondering if these would be the hardest to keep moving up. Would they become complacent? So urging them to keep improving will require me to keep the levels exciting. The picture idea from the book is great. However, a trip to the principal’s office with my Super Hero’s cape would be sweet too. (We call those Positive Referrals at our school. Students love going to see our principal for something fabulous!)
With the group of challenging students, I see similarities between them and the intermediate students. The challenging students could also climb the scale easily so again finding ways to encourage them to strive to do their best is the challenge for me. Using their strengths in the role of leaders would certainly instill in them a sense of pride and accomplishment to climb the scale.
As for the extremely challenging students, at this point maybe they’ve only experienced negative responses. However with the Super Improvers Team, to be able to visually see that they are moving up the scale and are doing well because they are trying harder can only be a huge positive in their day. With the help of other teachers to see improvements whether small or big will bring their self-confidence to a new level.
Cathleen Cunningham
Cathleen,
DeleteWell stated post! The SIT will change the energy in your clasroom! Get ready for a great year with your WBT class! Here are 25 points!
Last year was the fist year that I “fully” implemented the Super Improvers Team. I had the wall up, the first level up, and a plan for putting the names on the wall before students walked through the door.
ReplyDeleteThe intermediate and advanced students took to the wall fairly quickly, diligently, and enthusiastically. The competitive nature in many of those students (the majority of which were boys) came to the forefront very rapidly!
As the weaker students learned it wasn’t about getting straight A’s they also began to put forth effort to improve with the others along the levels on the wall. I had one particular student (not on-task too often) whom I had made a positive call home and this spurred a particularly fast increase in interest and level completion. That was a great experience.
The more challenging students did not independently get themselves motivated to take advantage of the Super Improvers Team Wall. However I did have some success when I introduced the concept of there being incentives when the WHOLE class had leveled up. This prompted other students to begin urging the challenging students to perform the tasks needed so they could level up. I wish I could say that happened with 100% of them but I was pleased with the amount that responded.
I look forward to seeing how all of my students respond to the opportunity to succeed this coming year!
-Jason McKinney
DeleteJason,
DeleteIt's great to hear that you found success using the SIT! It would have been good to hear a bit more detail about the strengths of weaknesses regarding students performance and behavior. A little extra detail goes a long way towards earning even more points! Here are 20 Certification Points for your efforts.
There are many strengths in using the Super Improvers Team (SIT) in your classroom. For the academically low students the SIT provides a positive way to help with confidence and self esteem. Low students often feel inferior to other students. Low students will often give up on achieving any kind of success and shut down or cause behavior problems. With the SIT the lower students can see immediate improvement as they receive stars and move up the ladder. Giving stars for just the slightest improvement can build self-esteem and encourage more and more improvement.
ReplyDeleteFor the middle achievers the SIT can be the catalyst that brings about a spark of desire to improve. The middle students are comfortable in their mediocrity. They don’t cause problems and they don’t care about being the star of the class. As these students see others improving and moving up the ladder, it creates a slight competition in them. Many times this will give them the determination to accomplish great things too. I saw the magic of the SIT for that intermediate student last year in my class. One student had never met the required reading assignment for each nine weeks. He was a middle student very capable of achieving this goal; he just didn’t like to read. When he knew he could earn stars for the SIT he met each goal every nine weeks. He would come into the room and give a cheer for every star he received.
For the academically advanced students the SIT can be the most beneficial. Often these students don’t challenge themselves to see how far they can go; they feel as if they are already on top. It is sometimes difficult to see improvement. I believe it is important to meet with these students to help them set goals. As their goals are achieved, these students realized that there are always things they can improve on and feel successful.
For the extremely challenging students the SIT can dramatically alter their behavior. Deep down all of us want that feeling of achievement and pride. The SIT can instill that pride in even the most problematic student. Since the SIT can be used for all types of improvements, the SIT can improve the classroom behavior of the most difficult student.
The only weakness to the SIT is a very small one. I saw many students become agitated when other students moved up the SIT wall faster than they moved up, but I used this to prod them to achieve more. I would have to control their negativity and get them to help celebrate others’ achievements.
The SIT is one of the most powerful tools in the WBT tool belt.
Kathy,
DeleteExcellent breakdown of the SIT! Here are 25 certification points plus 5 BONUS POINTS!
The Super Improvers Team is designed to provide students the affirmation they need and deserve. It is the embodiment of differentiation and individualized attention for students of all ability levels.
ReplyDeleteFor academically weak students, the Super Improvers Team provides them a long-awaited opportunity to be recognized for their hard work and personal achievements. Too often our hyper-competitive society values only "the winner." With this system, everyone has an equal opportunity to be deemed a winner based on their own accomplishments. It inspires these students to persevere in their learning. Students with intermediate academic skills will also benefit from the Super Improvers Team. They can often be caught between two extremes - the lowest students who need so much of a teacher's attention and the highest students who so easily garner the teacher's praise. Finally, the academically advanced students are pushed to reach their full potential with the Super Improvers Team. No longer can they "coast" with minimum effort. In order to rightfully earn their stars, they must also show continual improvement...perhaps for the first time in their academic experience.
Conversely, for weak students the Super Improvers Team might seem like a teacher is lowering the standards. After all, these students can earn stars for improvement even if that improvement falls short of the state academic standards. Is student learning sacrificed at the expense of a "feel good" system that boosts students' self-esteem? Students with intermediate and high academic abilities could become discouraged when they notice students with weaker skills being rewarded for what they perceive as "less" work. Also, these students might attempt to manipulate the system by doing just enough to show improvement and thus earn a star. However, I think a wise teacher will be able to discern when this is happening and act accordingly.
For extremely challenging students, the Super Improvers Team could be very effective. Here is a system that offers students a reward (stars, affirmation, fun photos, etc.) for showing improvement without regard to anyone else's performance. This concept could truly be revolutionary for students who have only ever known judgment and condemnation based on a standard they were not yet behaviorally and/or academically ready to meet. Also, the fact that rewards are never "taken back" sends a powerful message. In a sense, the Super Improvers Team creates a record of all the times that student has done well...something they probably have rarely, if ever, received. Now the student has a document that shows only their successes. This could be helpful when they have regressed and need a positive reminder of how successful they can be based on fact, not just hopeful thinking.
Overall I am looking forward to using the Super Improvers Team with my new group of 4th grade students. I'm sure I will make some "rookie mistakes" with its implementation, but with time and patience it will become an integral part of my Whole Brain Teaching classroom.
Sally,
DeleteFabulous job looking at the SIT from many different angles! Here are 25 certification points plus 5 BONUS POINTS!
Patrick Brûlé
ReplyDeleteI will use the Super Improver Team board to motivate my students to do their best and improve quarterly on their physical fitness tests administered four times a year. Since this is a physical education class, I will use Coach B’s sports team theme (fan to living legend).
As with all “reward” (intrinsic or extrinsic) programs or students in our classrooms, the lower level students are usually the ones who will make the most gains, therefore receiving the most points. This is wonderful for the lower students but will potentially discourage the higher-level students. In an effort to level the playing field, I will award a point for each percentage of gain made over 50% of the difference between their base score and the perfect score. For example, a 12-year-old student is expected to do 12 pull-ups to receive the “excellent” award. Student A does 6 and Student B does 10. Student A, the lower student, has a difference of 6 pull-ups between his score and the top score. So, he will need to do 3 pull-ups more (50% of the difference), or 9, to receive a point. Student B will need to do 11 to receive a point.
For the more challenging students, I will provide them with the opportunity to carry equipment after five stars, keep track of number of repetitions during fitness testing after 10 stars and/lead warm-ups after 20 stars. I found that the “challenging” students just need a little recognition/support/trust/caring. As educators, we are sometimes the only adults in their lives who provide it.
Patrick Brûlé
ReplyDeleteI will use the Super Improver Team board to motivate my students to do their best and improve quarterly on their physical fitness tests administered four times a year. Since this is a physical education class, I will use Coach B’s sports team theme (fan to living legend).
As with all “reward” (intrinsic or extrinsic) programs or students in our classrooms, the lower level students are usually the ones who will make the most gains, therefore receiving the most points. This is wonderful for the lower students but will potentially discourage the higher-level students. In an effort to level the playing field, I will award a point for each percentage of gain made over 50% of the difference between their base score and the perfect score. For example, a 12-year-old student is expected to do 12 pull-ups to receive the “excellent” award. Student A does 6 and Student B does 10. Student A, the lower student, has a difference of 6 pull-ups between his score and the top score. So, he will need to do 3 pull-ups more (50% of the difference), or 9, to receive a point. Student B will need to do 11 to receive a point.
For the more challenging students, I will provide them with the opportunity to carry equipment after five stars, keep track of number of repetitions during fitness testing after 10 stars and/lead warm-ups after 20 stars. I found that the “challenging” students just need a little recognition/support/trust/caring. As educators, we are sometimes the only adults in their lives who provide it.
Patrick,
DeleteYou are so right that we can sometimes be the only positive light in a child's life! We want all children to feel successful in school. You are certainly welcome to use your method of reward but in general, WBT gives the advantage to the students with lesser abilities. In thinking about your Students A and B, there would definitely be a difference between a student who only did 6 pull ups initially because he didn't feel like trying vs. a student who truly could only muster 6 pullups. If the latter student only did 2 more pullups, would he/she be deserving of some recognition for the improvement? Please consider this as you begin the next school year. :) Here are your 25 certification points.
I am really looking forward to using the Super Improvers Team with my new students. I think it will help motivate all the children, no matter their ability, in different ways.
ReplyDeleteIn the current school climate, some academically advanced students can easily switch off from lessons and ‘coast’ through each activity. They produce the bare minimum that they need to rather than taking on a challenge. With the Super Improvers, coasting will no longer work in the classroom - only by improvement will they achieve their rewards. I am looking forward to seeing more of my able students taking on this challenge.
The intermediate students tend to make steady progress throughout the year which will be reflected with the Super Improvers Team. I will be particularly looking out for this group and recognising all types of improvement from test scores to handwriting to behaviour. This group can sometimes get overlooked in a classroom and I think it is important to show them the attention they need to improve further.
The weaker students tend to receive a lot more support from the Learning Support Assistant, particularly in extra activities such as recognising sight words and number bonds to 10. With these activities it is easy to see their progress, which will then transfer to the Super Improvers board. This should encourage them to continue trying their best as they see that they are on par with the other students on the board.
Students with challenging behaviour enjoy attention - the Super Improvers allows a great deal of attention but for positive reasons, rather than for the negative of their behaviour. As they see the rewards for improving their behaviour I would also encourage them to work towards being a Super Improver Leader as this position of responsibility should also help them control their actions.
Laura Ward
Laura,
ReplyDeleteGood thinking about the SIT! Here are your 25 certification points!
August 15, 2013
ReplyDeleteSuper Improvers Team
This year will be the first year that I implement the Super Improvers Team wall in my classroom. Just yesterday I finished putting it up. I am excited to use the SIT to help all of my students to be able to receive recognition on their improvements. Some strengths I foresee for students when activating this wall are that all students can show improvements. I like that this wall is not just based on academic progress. For my weaker students, together the student and I can work on an area that will be helpful and possible for them. Last year, I had a 3rd grade student in my 1st grade classroom. Had I had this wall, I could have easily chosen an area where she could also be one of the top students too. An example of how I would have used this wall for her is instead of tracking her reading fluency we could have worked on letter recognition fluency. She, too, would have been able to move up the ladder along with the rest of the class. A strength for my intermediate students is most of them know they are not the “bottom” of the class nor are they the “top” of the class. By using this wall they, too, can receive recognition from classmates of their personal improvements. I work hard in my class not to allow students to compete against each other, but there are always those that have to make sure everyone knows how well they are doing. I can see that using the SIT wall, even the intermediate students can be proud of their improvements. For the academically advanced students, the SIT wall could help them to try their best in everything they do. In the book, Coach B talks about how advanced students can slack off because they do so well. By using this wall, they will want to keep trying so that they can get higher and higher on the ladder.
The only weakness that I can foresee about the SIT wall is me. This is a new strategy I will be implementing this year and I will need to be on top of it. I love everything about it and to make it successful, I will need to be consistent in its usage. I want the students to be excited and inspired by the wall.
I can see how the SIT wall can be a good tool to help those students with challenging behavior. Last year I had a student that would not, could not stop talking. I decided that his mouth was like his heart, if it wasn’t flapping, I needed to make sure he was OK! I tried so many behavior attempts at getting him to stop talking, but nothing worked. I believe most of them did not work because they had a negative impact on him. Had I used this wall and he could receive positive feedback on his improvement, I believe I would have gotten farther with him. By having students compete against their own personal best every day, we are bound to see good results for our students.
Terri,
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your personal stories. Kids make much bigger gains when we show them where they are improving rather than punishing. Knowing that we are the weak link in the SIT is half the battle! Just keep evaluating how well you think you are doing at finding the improvement in your kids and the SIT will be your biggest asset! Here are 25 certification points!
The Super Improvers Team (SIT) benefits students of all academic levels. For academically weak students, it offers them a chance to be recognized for progress. That progress may not result in great grades or test scores, but a student can still move up the wall. This is also a wonderful message to send to parents. They can often see their student sincerely trying, but not achieving the desired grades. One weakness for these students may be in setting realistic targets. I will need to guide students as they choose attainable goals.
ReplyDeleteMy intermediate students will benefit from seeing an opportunity for limitless progress. Because there is no ceiling, students can just keep on succeeding! A potential weakness may be that students aren’t used to a never-ending measure. They may think that once they achieve their usual level of success, they are done. I will be sure to encourage students to keep beating their own records!
I am excited about the opportunities for my academically advanced students to be recognized for behavior as well as subject area work. I believe that they will jump at the chance to soar up the wall! Actually this is a potential weakness for them. I think some may be frustrated that the don’t just sail up to the top. I will be encouraging them to celebrate their success and plan for more.
For my extremely challenging students, I will strive to recognize the positives right away to build in some success. I think they will also benefit from the suggestion of having students recognize each other’s efforts. Sometimes students try to create a power struggle with the teacher. They will complain that their good efforts aren’t being recognized. Now there will be more eyes noticing their accomplishments!
I am excited to celebrate student success with the SIT!
Heidi Keith
Senora,
DeleteExcellent job evaluating the SIT! One little writing error in this essay. (I think some may be frustrated that the don’t just sail up to the top.) Here are 20 certification points.
The Super Improvers Team is beneficial to all ages and academic classes. Each student has the ability to rise to the top and be rewarded based on personal strengths. What a wonderful concept! This being my first year I will need to stay motivated myself and not allow it to get ignored. I don’t want to become my own problem.
ReplyDeleteFor the weaker students this should have immediate results. There is so much room for improvement they will move quickly which will also result in higher self-esteem. I will throw out ideas on how they can move up and what it takes to get to the next level. Essentially, a road map to success!
The intermediate students should progress at an even pace. The possibilities are endless knowing they get stars for more than just an A paper. Advancing and beating their own goals should keep them motivated and ready to take it head on.
Advanced students may find it a bit harder to compete. I have noticed with this group of kids that naturally things come easy. They don’t have to go to much effort to excel. This could be good or bad with the SIW. They already have the confidence and the academic report card ideal to parents and teachers, therefore being motivated might be a little harder. However, if the child has a sports-like mentality they may want to beat everyone on the board including their own and reach for the stars. I will track all the groups to see what works and what doesn't.
I have two students who are special needs and they tend to want to blend in and work hard trying to fit into the mold of kids. I think they will do just fine working their way up. Because the wall is for any reason of improvement, they will be able to excel at something just like the other students. The only possible problem would be that they themselves don’t think they could improve so building their self-esteem and confidence will be important.
I will be encouraging them and actively reminding them all that they can move up levels. I think once someone moves up it will take off. I know competition is inviting to children.
Julie,
DeleteGreat job thinking through the SIT! Here are 25 certification points!
I love the Super Improver Team! It is wonderful to be able to reward students for their improvement rather than only for their achievement. I also love that it can be tweaked to fit whatever you need to reward your students for: achievement or behavior goals. I think it offers the most benefit for the weak students. These are the students that have rarely ever succeeded in an academic area. Now, they have the potential to surpass some the more advanced students because they have so many areas where they can improve. SIT has the power to change the entire school environment for them from a place that they always approached with dread to a place where they know they can succeed. By having a place in the classroom where students’ achievement is kept, they even have a record of their success. The only weakness I can find for the low-achieving students is they may recognize their goals are not as difficult as those of the high-achieving students. However, I believe the fact that they are achieving and earning stars and possibly outperforming the high-achieving students will greatly outweigh this fact.
ReplyDeleteThe SIT benefits the intermediate students in a couple ways. First, it pushes the intermediate students to become more advanced. Next, it helps me remember to reward and focus on these students. Many times it seems the intermediate students get forgotten because they are not low enough to require special one-on-one attention and they are not high enough to earn constant praise and recognition. The only possible downfall I can identify for the intermediate students is that they may eventually realize their goals are more difficult than the weaker students. Every student will have an individual goal that I will not publicize, but it is amazing what information they find out even when I am trying to conceal it.
Finally, SIT benefits the advanced students by continuing to push them. Many times these students know the exact amount of effort they need to put into their assignments and will not push themselves to do anymore. SIT will not stand for that, it pushes the advanced students even further. It also helps them work on their behavior since that can be a goal as well. I have taught some of the advanced 8th grade science students in the past and some of them had worse behavior than my intermediate and weak students. Since these students are more advanced, they may have more difficult goals, which will take them longer to achieve. It may be challenging for them to see some of the other students with smaller goals advance more quickly since they have always been able to easily advance in the past. However, that is the only drawback I can identify for the advanced students.
SIT is extremely effective for challenging students. These are students who generally only receive negative recognition. SIT would allow them to receive positive recognition. It gives the chance for students to earn recognition for self-improvement. Students could also choose which behaviors to work on with teacher approval. This would really allow them to take ownership for their goals and really feel a sense of pride when they earn a star or increase a level. Over time, with the use of the stars you can see the behavior of these challenging students change slowly over time. Finally, I really like Kate Bowski’s idea of having other students nominate students for stars. I think it could be even more rewarding to earn this reward from a peer.
Erin,
ReplyDeleteGreat evaluation of the SIT! You noted concern that the students will feel that another student's goals are easier/harder than their own. If you keep the goals fluid and evolving with the students individually, they won't be as aware of what other students are working toward. They will be more focused on their own goals as they meet one and set another. Here are 25 certification points!