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Stop publicly shaming students

Every parent struggles with the first day school for their first-born child. I am no different, but as an education specialist, I have very high standards that every one of my children's teachers use evidence-based teaching techniques. I knew when I walked into my oldest child's kindergarten classroom, we were going to have issues, because on the wall, next to the whiteboard, sat a behavior chart. You know the type, some ranking system that allows a teacher to move a student up or down according to the choices they make in the classroom... see what I did there? I just reframed the topic from behavior to choices. Because the behavior is the symptom, and the choice is the cause. Even the name "behavior chart" makes me pull my hair out, because we cannot help children change their behavior. We CAN and SHOULD help them identify their choices and make good choices, which results in better behavior.  But I digress from the topic of the loathsome behavior chart.
Classroom behavior charts are an easy way for teachers to keep track of which students are following the rules and staying on task. However, when publicly displayed, the result is a form of public shaming for student’s whose names are moved for making a poor choice. Students interpret this “clipping down” of their name as a loss of status and worth in their class – that they are somehow not as worthy of their peers – and this public display of shame causes a physiological stress reaction in young children with a flood of cortisol racking their brains (see Lewis and Ramsay 2002). Children are highly susceptible to criticism (see Kamins and Dweck 1999) and these public forms of criticism, which are in view of their peers, also have long term psychological consequences (see Dickerson et al 2004).

There are many easy alternatives to public displays of behavior, which all follow a similar theme of individual behavioral assessment.  Students have an agenda or notebook, where teachers can mark if a student has made a poor choice and needs to reconsider the choices they are making that day, or if a student chooses to go above-and-beyond by helping the teacher or other students.  These individual behavior charts are just as, if not more, effective at communicating expectations to students and tracking appropriate classroom behavior, but they do not project a sense of worth or inadequacy because they are not on display for the whole class to see. For other ideas, see Bradley 2013.

References:

Bradley 2013. Beyond the Spotlight: Ten Stoplight Alternatives. https://beyondthestoplight.com/2013/09/02/ten-stoplight-alternatives/

Dickerson, SS, Greuenewalkd, TL, Kemeny ME. When the social self is threatened: Shame, physiology and health. J Pers. Dec 2004. 72(6):1191-216. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15509281

Kamins ML, Dweck CS. Person versus process praise and criticism: implications for contingent self-worth and coping. Dev. Psychol. 1999 May;35(3):835-47.  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10380873

Lewis, M, Ramsay D. Cortisol response to embarrassment and shame. Child Dev. 2002 73(4) 1034-45. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12146731


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