Reflection on student behaviour goal book

At the end of term one I was growing increasingly concerned with Student A's behavior, social skills and ability to stay focused on independent tasks.  These concerns were presented at the first parent-teacher conference to the mother who was seemed apologetic, exhausted and not sure what to do at home.  We both agreed that a system of constant communication was needed in order to battle the behavior on both fronts, but it needed to be simple to avoid the system becoming too onerous for both myself or the parents to consistently stick to.  It also needed to be 'owned' by the student so that they felt that it was something they would be motivated by.  I was determined not to turn this into a 'reward' system as I believed the goals were there to bring Student A to where he needed to be anyway; a 'reward' for reasonable behavior seemed counter-productive by taking the focus off the personal gratification of learning to be a model student.

At the beginning of Term 2 I sat Student A down and said I'd like them to think of two goals for school and that I would think of two others that would help them become a better student. After discussing our ideas we crafted the final four goals. Taking these goals I designed a small points system where they would work towards a daily target.  It was a simple system that I would fill out in 10 seconds at the end of each day, but it was the student's responsibility to bring it to and from school.  Extra space on the pages allowed myself and the parent to write notes to comment of specific incidents and celebrations.

I have found that the goal book achieved far more than was anticipated; firstly the communication channels opened up almost immediately between home and school as the parent felt there was support.  This was most apparent when after a specific incident that was reported through the book was followed up on by an email outlining the new family dynamics and the issues being faced at home.  This in turn created a deeper understanding of the root to the disruptive behavior and cast the student in a whole new light.

This project has changed all those involved- student self-worth, parent-teacher communication and teacher-student relationships.  After talking about the success of this system with my team, the same system has been implemented with another student in another class.


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