behavior color cards? does anyone find this offensive?

[Anonymous]

we have young children so we just encountered this in our moco school. children keep cards at their desk, with different colors denoting different things (one color for "you're behaving," another for "you're on warning," another for "you lost recess," and another for "we're calling your parents, you naughty naughty child"). these cards are displayed at the desk for all to see, so all the children can check each other's behavior status. children are told to flip their cards if they misbehave, and must sit with that "scarlet letter" for the day.

is this really any different than a dunce cap? i'm all for feedback and all, but this seems unnecessarily humiliating and harsh.

thoughts?

[Anonymous]

This would really bother me, too. My DC's K class has something vaguely similar which also bothered me when i found out about it. My DC is not a problem child in any way either but was still obviously worried when explaining the 'system' to me. I guess it's the price we pay for teaching them to function in an institutionalized setting where there are twice as many students in the classroom as there are in a private school setting.

[Anonymous]

My daughter's private school does this but they have traffic lights hanging in the classroom. The teacher even has one with her name. It doesn't bother me at all. I thought it was smart. It makes the kids want to behave well because they don't want to get the yellow or red light. I know my neighbor's school does this too, cause her son brought home two reds last week. When she told me that I thought it must be common.

[Anonymous]

My child's private school had this system. It was a chart up at the front of the room, and the teacher would turn the card to the next level for infractions after giving a warning. Very few kids ever got to red more than a few times. As a teacher in the public school system, I've also used this system. I am not sure why the public nature of the discipline is a problem -- usually the kids have to turn their card for public behavior, for hurting another student or for running in the hallways after being reminded to walk -- so having a public consequence doesn't seem out of line. I FAR prefer this system to something like withholding recess from the child, or to having the child sit at a "time out" table and miss instruction or somehting.

[Anonymous]

No recess as a punishment is cruel and unusual and COUNTERPRODUCTIVE!
The card system: I agree, OP, a card per child would bother me.

When DC was younger several teachers used a similar system to 8:20's and gave out cards if a child acted up, a yellow card was a warning, a red card was a consequences, several red cards was a call home to parents. I can't remember how public this was, I don't think terribly so, I think the cards were on display on a wall but names weren't posted anywhere. It was effective, it was a real deterrent.

[Anonymous]

8:18 and 8:20 - can you share which private school your child attends, please.

[Anonymous]

This is very common at public schools around the country. I'm not a fan, but many of my long-distance friends have it their schools too.

[Anonymous]

Oh I forgot to mention that although my school uses the traffic light system, they do not take away recess as punishment. I wouldn't be happy about that. It seems to be counterproductive to take away the kids outlet for energy, frustration or whatever it is they were feeling that day that earned them the red light. Unless they were physically hurting kids on the playground or something like that.

[Anonymous]

This is the type of discipline at my child's public elementary. In addition, her teachers use positive behavior management practices too, such as tokens for appropriate behavior. I have not had a problem with it. Although, maybe it's because my child has remained "on green".
Maybe a teacher could weigh in...what are other forms of "discipline" schools use?

[Anonymous]

This is used commonly in FCPS as well, altough it varies by teacher. My older DD's first grade teacher used it, her second grade teacher used a variation that was not as publicly humiliating and her third grade teacher not at all. My kid is VERY sensitive, VERY emotional and has anxiety. This system is a disaster for her. She literally internalizes and stews over this for WEEKS afterwards. Can you tell I hate this system?

It seems to be counterproductive to take away the kids outlet for energy, frustration or whatever it is they were feeling that day that earned them the red light.

I have NEVER understood the logic of taking away recess, the ONE physical outlet that many young kids get in a long day at school.

[Anonymous]

This seems like a good idea to me.

[Anonymous]

A variation on the 'traffic light" version is the "Name on the Board with an Unhappy Face next to it." Public shaming works but it is also harmful to young children, IMO. Teachers who use these types of systems generally have larger class sizes to manage and thus believe that the negative discipline techniques are justified by their need to be able to maximize teaching time for all the students. Basically, teachers with large class sizes are placed in a pretty difficult situation. For parents that can afford to go private ... much of the problem is thus addressed by smaller class sizes plus more use of positive discipline. But a good question to ask during tours ... and watch out for parochial schools who seem to believe that negative discipline is actually helpful to molding good students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A variation on the 'traffic light" version is the "Name on the Board with an Unhappy Face next to it." Public shaming works but it is also harmful to young children, IMO. Teachers who use these types of systems generally have larger class sizes to manage and thus believe that the negative discipline techniques are justified by their need to be able to maximize teaching time for all the students. Basically, teachers with large class sizes are placed in a pretty difficult situation. For parents that can afford to go private ... much of the problem is thus addressed by smaller class sizes plus more use of positive discipline. But a good question to ask during tours ... and watch out for parochial schools who seem to believe that negative discipline is actually helpful to molding good students.

My daughter has 11 kids in her class so I know the teacher doesn't use it because she has too many kids. She uses it because it works. My daughter is thriving in this environment unlike anything we've seen from her. It's a night and day difference. It's not just a result of using the traffic light system for behavior, but the school as a whole. Therefore I trust their judgment in this, as well.

[Anonymous]

My first reaction to your post was "lighten up" but then I remembered my own experience. When I was in third grade, in moco, our teacher would write our name up on the board if we misbehaved. This was the warning. Then if you misbehaved again, you got a checkmark and missed the first 1/2 of recess. If you misbehaved a second time, you missed all of recess. Wanna know how many times I went to recess in third grad? Once. For half of recess. Fast forward a few years...turns out I had ADHD, which I still struggle with today. Clearly this method did absolutely nothing to model my behavior, as I consistently got in trouble throughout the year. And my infractions were things like chatting, which I just couldn't help. My parents were never called. That part is the saddest. I probably thought it was a blessing at the time, because I would have thought I would be in trouble with my parents, but at least if the teacher/school had told my parents I could have gotten the help I desperately needed and didn't get until I was in high school. Sorry for the memory lane rant, but no, I don't think it's a good idea. Maybe including the parents makes it better, but what do I know.

[Anonymous]

"My first reaction to your post was "lighten up" but then I remembered my own experience. When I was in third grade, in moco, our teacher would write our name up on the board if we misbehaved. This was the warning. Then if you misbehaved again, you got a checkmark and missed the first 1/2 of recess. If you misbehaved a second time, you missed all of recess. Wanna know how many times I went to recess in third grad? Once. For half of recess. Fast forward a few years...turns out I had ADHD, which I still struggle with today. Clearly this method did absolutely nothing to model my behavior, as I consistently got in trouble throughout the year. And my infractions were things like chatting, which I just couldn't help."


They use the traffic light program for the younger grades in our MoCo school and a gold, silver, bronze system for the older kids. It works well for most of the kids, but not for my ADHD kid. So, my ADHD kid has an individualized behavior program. I'm sorry for your experience, PP. Sounds like the schools are doing a better job now with kids who don't fit into the norm.