Red light / green light behavior charts in Kindergarten - common?

[Anonymous]

My dd got a yellow on her second day of k last week. She definitely never wanted to get one again(and hasn't so far) but I personally find it extremely stressful. Like wondering every day what she will get. She has never had any kind of issue at school before. I get it's a big class, one teacher, blah blah it just totally took me by surprise and I hate having it stress me out

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My dd got a yellow on her second day of k last week. She definitely never wanted to get one again(and hasn't so far) but I personally find it extremely stressful. Like wondering every day what she will get. She has never had any kind of issue at school before. I get it's a big class, one teacher, blah blah it just totally took me by surprise and I hate having it stress me out

What in the world is stressful about it? I am not being a smarty pants, but what is stressful? Has your child never talked out of turn, not follow instructions, etc at home?
So now she did it at school and was corrected...what is stressful about that?

[Anonymous]

"I personally find it extremely stressful. "

hunh? Why would it be "extremely stressful"? I obviously encourage my kid to follow the rules & listen to the teacher and the consequence of this would be that she should normally be coming home w/ Green. If she came home w/ yellow we would discuss what went wrong & how she can try to earn green the next day but it's not like this would be some sort of crisis. If she ended on red then she probably did something REALLY bad though or was pervasively not listening - DD's teacher at least didn't toss kids to red at the drop of a hat. So if my kid was coming home w/ red a lot that would be "extremely stressful" since it means there is a big problem w/ her listening to the teacher. But the occasional yellow? I fail to see as how that's a huge deal.

[Anonymous]

pp just above adding that this below is exactly what the color charts try to encourage. Teachers need some type of leverage to coax kids in the right direction. To those complaining about this approach - what specifically do you think they should be doing instead?

"She definitely never wanted to get one again(and hasn't so far)"

[Anonymous]

This is just my experience with it as I adjust to this new system. This board has become way too judgemental and harsh

[Anonymous]

This is just my experience with it as I adjust to this new system. This board has become way too judgemental and harsh

Honey, if you find an anonymous board this harsh, your child might benefit from a little "shaming". By the way, a yellow on one day is not a life changing event.

[Anonymous]

18:52 here. My son did to see it as a motivation to improve. Instead he started crying at night saying "I'm no good at school. All the other kids are better at school than me." He then started saying he was stupid. One night, we had enough and tore up the chart in front of him, and he FREAKED. He thought we were going to get in big trouble. It took us half an hour to reassure him there would be no more charts and Mommy and Daddy weren't going to get in trouble. He also now started crying the night before first grade and the morning of. I think he has a more experienced teacher this year, so I am hoping his attitude toward school improves.

Not every kid is motivated in the same way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:18:52 here. My son did to see it as a motivation to improve. Instead he started crying at night saying "I'm no good at school. All the other kids are better at school than me." He then started saying he was stupid. One night, we had enough and tore up the chart in front of him, and he FREAKED. He thought we were going to get in big trouble. It took us half an hour to reassure him there would be no more charts and Mommy and Daddy weren't going to get in trouble. He also now started crying the night before first grade and the morning of. I think he has a more experienced teacher this year, so I am hoping his attitude toward school improves.

Not every kid is motivated in the same way.

Sorry, did NOT see it as motivation to improve...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school uses this but also has a color above green and emphasizes that it is difficult to get (really go above and beyond to help out a friend or someone in need). My kindergartener is obsessed with finding a way to earn it. In our experience, it's very motivating. Then again, my kid is a definite rule follower.

The teacher described the yellow and red in very P.C., non-shaming terms. I think this is all in the implementation.

Yes, if it's done publicly, then it IS shameful no matter how many "PC non-shaming terms" you use. If a teacher wants to privately let a student know where he or she stands, then fine. The issue is the very public "Larla go turn your card to yellow." Not one person on this site would be okay with their supervisor posting a chart showing their name and whether they earned an infraction. Not one. If for some reason you were messing up at work because you were dealing with issues at home, seeing your name in the company conference room with a red card would NOT motivate you to do better. You'd feel even worse.

Come on folks, this isn't that hard to understand. Red-yellow-green charts are not okay.

--Elementary school teacher since 199

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school uses this but also has a color above green and emphasizes that it is difficult to get (really go above and beyond to help out a friend or someone in need). My kindergartener is obsessed with finding a way to earn it. In our experience, it's very motivating. Then again, my kid is a definite rule follower.

The teacher described the yellow and red in very P.C., non-shaming terms. I think this is all in the implementation.

Yes, if it's done publicly, then it IS shameful no matter how many "PC non-shaming terms" you use. If a teacher wants to privately let a student know where he or she stands, then fine. The issue is the very public "Larla go turn your card to yellow." Not one person on this site would be okay with their supervisor posting a chart showing their name and whether they earned an infraction. Not one. If for some reason you were messing up at work because you were dealing with issues at home, seeing your name in the company conference room with a red card would NOT motivate you to do better. You'd feel even worse.

Come on folks, this isn't that hard to understand. Red-yellow-green charts are not okay.

--Elementary school teacher since 199

Get over it
It is not shaming if done correctly
We are raising a bunch of punks who cannot constructive criticism or ever be told that they are wrong.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school uses this but also has a color above green and emphasizes that it is difficult to get (really go above and beyond to help out a friend or someone in need). My kindergartener is obsessed with finding a way to earn it. In our experience, it's very motivating. Then again, my kid is a definite rule follower.

The teacher described the yellow and red in very P.C., non-shaming terms. I think this is all in the implementation.

Yes, if it's done publicly, then it IS shameful no matter how many "PC non-shaming terms" you use. If a teacher wants to privately let a student know where he or she stands, then fine. The issue is the very public "Larla go turn your card to yellow." Not one person on this site would be okay with their supervisor posting a chart showing their name and whether they earned an infraction. Not one. If for some reason you were messing up at work because you were dealing with issues at home, seeing your name in the company conference room with a red card would NOT motivate you to do better. You'd feel even worse.

Come on folks, this isn't that hard to understand. Red-yellow-green charts are not okay.

--Elementary school teacher since 199

Get over it
It is not shaming if done correctly
We are raising a bunch of punks who cannot constructive criticism or ever be told that they are wrong.

I consider myself to be somewhat strict and have clear expectations of my child, but I disagree with you pp. Have you worked in a school where they use this system? I have and it's just not a very good system. You mention that it is not shaming "if done correctly", well how often do you think it's done correctly? Your definition could be very different than other peoples definition of being done correctly.

I think that it could be used effectively as PART of a behavioral intervention plan for students that needed it, but it should be kept between the student and the adults that are working with him or her. It shouldn't be up on the wall like the clip charts they used in the school I worked at. I'd have certain students that looked so sad and I'd ask them what was wrong and they'd tell me they were on yellow and they were so worried about this or that. I can not imagine these kids being able to concentrate when they are so upset. How are they able to learn anything then? It always made me feel so bad. I always tried to cheer them up and tell them something to try to put things into perspective, but too often, it did not work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school uses this but also has a color above green and emphasizes that it is difficult to get (really go above and beyond to help out a friend or someone in need). My kindergartener is obsessed with finding a way to earn it. In our experience, it's very motivating. Then again, my kid is a definite rule follower.

The teacher described the yellow and red in very P.C., non-shaming terms. I think this is all in the implementation.

Yes, if it's done publicly, then it IS shameful no matter how many "PC non-shaming terms" you use. If a teacher wants to privately let a student know where he or she stands, then fine. The issue is the very public "Larla go turn your card to yellow." Not one person on this site would be okay with their supervisor posting a chart showing their name and whether they earned an infraction. Not one. If for some reason you were messing up at work because you were dealing with issues at home, seeing your name in the company conference room with a red card would NOT motivate you to do better. You'd feel even worse.

Come on folks, this isn't that hard to understand. Red-yellow-green charts are not okay.

--Elementary school teacher since 199

Get over it
It is not shaming if done correctly
We are raising a bunch of punks who cannot constructive criticism or ever be told that they are wrong.

I consider myself to be somewhat strict and have clear expectations of my child, but I disagree with you pp. Have you worked in a school where they use this system? I have and it's just not a very good system. You mention that it is not shaming "if done correctly", well how often do you think it's done correctly? Your definition could be very different than other peoples definition of being done correctly.

I think that it could be used effectively as PART of a behavioral intervention plan for students that needed it, but it should be kept between the student and the adults that are working with him or her. It shouldn't be up on the wall like the clip charts they used in the school I worked at. I'd have certain students that looked so sad and I'd ask them what was wrong and they'd tell me they were on yellow and they were so worried about this or that. I can not imagine these kids being able to concentrate when they are so upset. How are they able to learn anything then? It always made me feel so bad. I always tried to cheer them up and tell them something to try to put things into perspective, but too often, it did not work.

Should have mentioned, I'm not the pp that posted above that is an elementary teacher since 1999.

[Anonymous]

I hear you OP. I hated this when my DS was in a DCPCS preschool, because they implemented it in a punitive, peer pressure way that IMO was not appropriate for 3yos. Our parochial K uses it, but it is private info for the parents sent home daily on a monthly calendar. The kids can earn little rewards for staying on green so many days out of the month. It's much more positively implemented and at 5 seems to be working.

[Anonymous]

Well our DS was also green all year but we don't like the system at all. The fact that he was at green all the time was what stressed him out. He really, really wanted to be on blue or purple but apparently it wasn't clear how to get there. He cried a few times saying he was trying "really, really" hard to do everything right and listen and do all the right things and help everyone, but the teacher would always pick the same kids for blue/purple. He was devastated.
I think the arguments against this system hold whether your kid is always at red, yellow, green or purple.

Anonymous wrote:Interesting that the people who dislike this system have kids that can't behave themselves. I have 3 kids ranging from 12 - 9 who all had this system and never had a yellow. They were all proud of staying on green all day and all week. If this system keeps some peace so my kids can learn more then I am all for it.

[Anonymous]

Oh my goodness big babies