It’s a common practice.
One teachers have been doing since time immemorial.
A student breaks a class rule and you write their name on the board.
Check marks follow any further transgression.
It’s a simple way of keeping track of consequences that also acts as a visual reminder to students.
So what, if anything, isn’t to like?
Well, a lot. In fact, here at SCM we recommend you suspend the practice.
Here’s why:
1. It’s humiliating.
Having your name written up for the world to see for an entire day can be humiliating. In this way, it also acts as an additional consequence, on top of whatever your classroom management plan calls for.
It’s a form of piling on, especially if the teacher performs the act with relish, as some are wont to do.
This, in turn, can have a negative effect on your relationship with misbehaving students, as well as your ability to influence and motivate them to improve their behavior.
2. It’s nobody’s business.
Although giving a student a consequence is something other students may be aware of, ensuring that everyone who enters your classroom knows who has broken a rule can be embarrassing to the student and their family.
The truth is, it’s nobody’s business.
Parents who stop by your classroom, and even other teachers, shouldn’t be able to see (or gossip about) who is struggling or having a bad day.
3. There is a better way.
I recommend keeping track of consequences with a clipboard.
Just attach a roster with enough columns for an entire month, and simply make dots or lines in the appropriate box for every time a student breaks a rule.
At the end of the month, place the roster in a file folder and attach a new one to the clipboard. Very simple. You avoid causing humiliation or embarrassment. You avoid additional consequence.
You avoid everyone knowing.
Furthermore, you have an accurate record to use at parent conferences, with counseling or resource staff, or if requested by an administrator.
Note: For more details on using a clipboard to keep track of consequences, please check out this article.
One More Benefit
Writing names on a whiteboard never feels quite right. I did it for several years early in my career and couldn’t get used to its public nature.
I’d wince every time I put a name up.
It felt as if I were marking students with a scarlet letter or handing them a dunce cap to wear. Of course, any resistance over holding students accountable makes it difficult to remain consistent.
A clipboard, however, never feels this way. It just feels like you’re doing right by your class. You’re doing your job protecting their right to learn and enjoy being in your class. That’s all.
There’s no piling on. No animosity. No public humiliation.
It’s just pure accountability, which results in true reflection and the intrinsic desire within the student not to make the same mistake again.
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I have a list of helpers I keep on the board in a lower corner. It is the kids, usually 1-3 at most, who haven’t returned the behavior letters after a couple of days. Walking around with me quietly during our 2 recesses until the letters were returned was not enough of a reminder to get the letters back. It was also tough, in the midst of all we do to remember who they were and to remember to ask then to follow me before we went out. I do keep a clipboard as you recommend and all I have learned from you over the years has worked absolute wonders for my students and for myself. Please keep doing the magic you do.
Thanks for the kind words, Mike! I’ll do my best.
Hi Michael,
This is very timely. I’ve never felt quite comfortable with the public nature of these consequences, either, although a good rapport with the class and an objective demeanor help mitigate the humiliation aspect. And I also found it helped students keep track of their misbehavior. I’m open to system improvement, but I have a few questions.
1) Do the dots or lines on your clipboard indicate which rules were broken that day? It seems they just indicate how many were broken.
2) Have you ever found this to be a problem if you needed to send home letters as the 3rd consequence and couldn’t recall exactly which rules each student had broken, so you could check them off in the letter, or describe them in a conference? Of course, we remember the nature of students’ general repeated misbehaviors, but I mean specifics.
3) Would it be possible to see an example of your clipboard roster?
Thanks,
Chris
Hi Chris,
The article linked within the article above should answer all your questions.
Another excellent article that highlights the importance of holding students accountable while maintaining their dignity.
Not related, but I wanted to share a suggestion for the future list of articles: strategies for helping students be respectful to each other. I haven’t had too much trouble with students being respectful to me, but they often argue and are rude to each other. Of course, creating a positive classroom culture, emphasizing politeness, and overall strong classroom management will result in students being more respectful to each other, but any additional specific suggestions for students who have a hard time getting along would be helpful.
I used the write-names-on-the-board technique for students who curse in class. Students who curse end up in the “cursing club”. My students rarely curse because they do not want to be in the “cursing club”. But I don’t write their names on the main whiteboard anymore. Instead, I write their names on a blank sheet of paper displayed on the back wall in small print. They know it’s there, but it’s hard to see for anyone not familiar with the classroom on a daily basis. Next to their names, is a “II” symbol meaning they lost two marking period grade points for cursing and also the first letter of the curse word is displayed. I’ve been doing it for four years and never had a parent complaint. I even had one student write their name on the board for me when he cursed. Another time another student volunteered to take the penalty for another student who cursed because this student admitted to causing a commotion in class. A lot of it is because I don’t make an issue of it myself. The penalty is issued and I move on. I respect them when they know they’re wrong.
Brilliant!
Thanks!!
I’ve written names of students who follow classroom rules on the whiteboard, followed by check marks. The student who got the most check marks at the end of the day got a prize from the treasure box. My students are happy to see their names and check marks. It’s positive and works especially with elementary grades.
When I started teaching, that was standard practice along with glaring at the repeat offender!! Lol but hey the name was not called out “so as to not attract” further attention😂🤣!! Being SPED all my career, I abhorred the practice! I love paperwork, so I always made my own charts!! Lord, it’s so much easier now with computers! Now we note behaviors right on the daily point sheet! I track each students behavior on other charts, I have tons of incentives so behavior really is minimized, I may do names on the board as a positive incentive for next year! Confidentiality should rule each and every classroom!
Thank you for giving us multiple ways to enforce consequences. In elementary, If I’m giving instruction and a student interrupts our learning, I may write their name on the board as a reminder of my expectations. It’s simple, immediate and effective. I can keep the flow of my lesson without going over to locate my chart. However, I only leave it up temporarily until the task we are working on is completed.
I appreciate your thoughtful post, but I think you’ve missed the reason why I write the students name on the board after breaking a classroom rule. Writing their name on the board is just the beginning of a process. After their name goes on the board they receive a discipline slip which they take home and discuss with their parents. The very next morning, they return with the signed discipline slip, and this is where the beauty of this systems plays out. This system allows me to have a short discussion with the student about how to avoid the process in the future, shake their hand, look them in the eye and tell them to go erase their name from the board. It is a very visual “healing” between student and teacher for them to erase the transgression in the form of their name. Don’t miss out on this very effective, albeit public, demonstration of restoration. Your clipboard system doesn’t account for any “fix” public or private.
Wow, good idea! I may try something similar.
Do you have a list of consequences that work well per grade level since children are so easily not bothered by consequences. Some first graders will bluntly say, “My mom don’t care.” I have even heard preschoolers that were excluded from receiving something nice because of misbehavior say, “So I don’t care I have a lot of those at home.”
I want a practical list of consequences by grade level because all consequences do not work well for all grade levels.
Hi JM,
When you get a chance, check out the classroom management plan guides in the lower right sidebar.
I agree and wish to add…
I have had huge success with tracking POSITIVE behaviors on the board. It makes me a happier and, therefore, better teacher. It reinforces that”look for the good” practice that is so important in our classrooms.
Agreed! And this should be used with an effective consequence system.
This article was perfect timing. I have been writing names on the board all year and feeling yucky about it. At conferences, one parent shared that her daughter is “so afraid of getting her name on the board”, (which has never happened). That got me thinking even further about this. I am starting the clipboard next week!
Kaylee, I love your “look for the good” practice. Thanks for sharing.
How will they know they’ve received a warning?
Hi Ali,
The article refers only to how to keep track of consequences. For how to give consequences, please check out the Rules & Consequences category of the archive (lower right sidebar).
I write names on the board with a Happy face 🙂 and an 🙁 Angry Face. I usually have small groups so I make a T-Chart with the names and emoji’s. But I tell he kids, if they get on my Angry Face side, no crying or tantrums b/c Mrs. Chun still loves them and wants them to learn.
And when I sometimes forget to put it on the board they ask for it. I tried just doing the Happy Face and erasing a mark when they did an infraction but they ask for the Angry Face 🤷🏻♀️!
Interesting! The same thing has happened to me with Pre-K & K kids. I tried using check marks for infractions instead of Xs, and they asked for Xs! And sometimes if I forgot to mark an infraction, the student who did it would remind me!
It really comes down to a good understanding between you. If they know you care and it’s not personal, they don’t get upset. My students can also “redeem” themselves by making a good choice instead of a bad one. After a period of observation, I erase their X. And I announce it and praise them publicly but without a big fuss, especially if they’re the quiet type. The public reminders of caring and encouragement that I think they can do better and erase their infractions soon help yo balance out potential negatives of a public reprimand.
I wholeheartedly agree with you and have had a similar experience. It all boils down to the relationship you have with your students!
I like this idea because I have not been good at tracking behavior, except for “warning” and 2nd offense consequence. But I don’t imagine you would show this check list with other children’s names on it to a parent because of privacy laws. So it seems like one would need to have a separate check list for each student that you would transfer info at the end of the day. And that’s where I personally get hung up – one more task….
Hi Guile,
Indeed, Judith is correct.
I like this idea in theory, but it is difficult for me to carry a clipboard around or have to walk over to see if they already received a warning earlier in the day…also, as someone else mentioned, how does the student know they got a warning without you interrupting class to walk over to them and whisper that they have a warning? The misbehaving student may not even notice by simply writing it on a clipboard. I don’t write names on the board, I write numbers. I have a “W” and under it I put the student’s class number for a warning and a check next to it for time-out. At the end of the day, I keep record of it on a clipboard. Yes, the other students know, but any visitor coming in would not know. Wit the clipboard, the other students are still aware, as you would need to somehow let the student know that they got a warning. I also use numbers to record missing work on the board. I got the idea from another teacher and it is a huge help for me.
Hi Laura,
The article is just for keeping track of consequences. Please see the Rules & Consequences category of the archive or the classroom management plan guides at right to learn how best to give consequences. As for the clipboard method, which documents all misbehavior for the entire year, I think find it easier and more convenient than using a whiteboard.
Giulie – a few sticky notes over the other names should do the trick!
We are not allowed to write names on the board as punishment. I’m glad because that is public humiliation. One day we were working on projects with several parts and I asked the class for permission to write their names and check off as they completed each step so we could see who was where and if they needed supplies to complete the project. The class all agreed this was ok for me to do. It helped us all keep track of our work in a good way. I covered it up before the end of the day.
Likewise, I believe administrators should also be careful of publicly humiliation of teachers by posting classroom data and so forth. Posting this will not compel me or others to work harder. It is a morale issue.
I don’t know that “clasroom data” always equates to misbehavior or breaking rules. You might be conflating two ideas.
My classroom data is known to other educators, but not to compel me to work harder. There are productive reasons and methods behind doing so.
I would like to point out that if an adult breaks a law, and is convicted, their name is made public. Are we doing a disservice to our students by working with them to hide their transgressions?
I think individual teacher-student relationships guide how a teacher interacts with the class. Use common sense and your best intuition. I believe in all of you! 🙂
This relatively new tool called Catalyst K12 has helped me tremendously with tracking behavior (positive and negative). It’s not cumbersome like a clipboard, just a couple taps on my iPad to track anything I want and it even generates some really insightful reports and automates parent contact if I want it to. It has really improved my classroom management in a lot of surprising ways – free for teachers. Hope it helps others too. Catalystk12.com
I hope other teachers can get this method to work. As for me, I am writing their names on the board and if they have three checks by the end of the day they get a red dot on their take home behavior folder for that day.
I agree with the idea that putting names on the board isn’t a good thing to do. I tried it and one student in particular felt deeply humiliated. It took a long time to repair the relationship. The part I’m struggling with, though, is how to really make the clipboard idea work. If I’m in the middle of a lesson when someone breaks a rule, how much better is it if I have to pick up the clipboard and write on it? How surreptitiously can this be done when the whole class is watching me? True, they don’t all know exactly what I wrote, but it still seems pretty public.
Hi Zev,
You don’t have to use it immediately. Just when convenient. It’s a documentation tool, not a method for giving consequences.
I was just thinking about this. I used to track warnings with a clipboard, but students would get distracted and wonder if their name had been written down. They asked me if I could just write their name on the board… this is not just the students who rarely break the rules who made this request, but the ones who get warnings quite frequently. I am conflicted because I am not comfortable with the public nature of names on the board either, but it seems to be more effective.
Hi Jen,
A clipboard is merely a way to keep track of consequences. It is not a method for giving consequences. Students still must be informed when they break a rule.
I understand. Should I pause my lesson to tell students privately that they broke a rule? Or do I tell them publicly, and how is this different from writing their name on the board?
I’ve tried waiting until my lesson was over, but found it difficult because if they broke a rule twice, and I was only giving them a warning after it happened, it wasn’t really a warning.
Thanks again!
I’ve tried this clipboard method before and it works a treat for helping keep track of student behaviour. However, I received feedback that it was too negative, and it was suggested that I make one tweak…use it to track both negative behaviour, and positive behaviour!
I’m yet to set up my clipboard this year, and have just been relying on student initials on the whiteboard but I miss the long term tracking so much I will definitely bring it back in Term 2. I’ll be able to give the positives a go then, as well and we’ll see how it goes.
Either way, using a new chart for each month, or even each week is a really good idea for those students who can start to feel like they are the ‘bad’ students who are always in trouble.
Thanks for reminding me about the clipboard idea!
Writing names on the board and colored clip charts with student names are referred to as “shaming charts.” Not only are they ineffective in changing the behavior (no teaching of desired behavior involved), they are also HIPPA/FERPA violations. It is criminal to publically humiliate any human for misbehavior in a public setting, especially children! If your boss wrote your name on a public board every time you made an error you would be infuriated and most likely take action with upper administration. In addition, your attitude towards work environment would be soured most likely leading to a disgruntled employee. Why in the world do educators believe this is an ethical/effective intervention to changing behavior? Clipboard systems in addition to speaking privately to the student AND problem solving will make a marked difference in changing behavior.
I agree with everything you have said, but I have a question. I have been teaching for s number of years and when I found your article about giving warnings and began writing names in the board it revolutionized my teaching in a good way! It has also helped my entire team!
Here is why. In the past I would not want to verbally reprimand students (for instance while I’m teaching) because it was very distracting. Simply writing the name let them know that I was aware of the infraction and they stopped immediately.
This brings me to my question. How do you give a warning during a lesson? It seems like pulling out the clipboard might work, but how do they know that they were the one warned? I hope this question makes sense.
As a rotary foreign language teacher without her own classroom, I really have no choice. Remembering to bring a clipboard with me to the carpet area in each classroom, along with all my lesson materials, flipping through umpteen pages to find each class list, dealing with having to teach in different classroom set-ups every 40 minutes…I cannot add this to the list. If there is a chart stand with a whiteboard, I will write the child’s name out of sight of the class on the back or side of the stand. If not, they’ll just have to deal with it. All my warnings are in front of the class anyhow, since we have a language lesson every day.
Instead of having the names up on the board for everyone to see, or for you to track them on a personal board, how about assigning a beadle for every class to do the monitoring? It could be a different student every day. They could check the attendance and note students behaving unrulily.
Interesting…You have always advocated writing names on the board when students break the class rules. I have read and re-read many of your books, and they have transformed my teaching. The children know what is expected of them and what the rules are after lots of modeling and practice. When they choose to break the rule(s), their name goes on the board as a reminder and/or warning. Now you’re saying that not good practice?
Hi Teresa,
Although as stated in the article I have changed my thinking on the practice, this was many years ago. I don’t recall ever advocating it (or even writing about it). Would you mind showing me where this is?
Hi Michael!
I’m wondering about writing names on the board. In the article linked below, you mention writing names on the board silently, without fuss, and moving on with the lesson. But since the article was written in 2010, I’m wondering if experience has caused you to change your mind on this? I just want to be clear on this as I go into 2019-2020 school year.
Thanks,
Kate
https://smartclassroommanagement.com/2010/05/22/how-to-give-a-warning-that-improves-behavior/
Hi Kate,
No, I believe using a clipboard is the best method. The linked article about warnings was acknowledging the most common methods. ( “. . . or do whatever you do to signify a warning.”)
When you mark a behavior on your chart, do you inform the student at that time?
Thanks,
Kristina
EXACTLY. Thank you so much for this. It definitely creates resistance in me because I do think it’s humiliating and it encourages students to keep track of others’ misbehaviours (and consequences) rather than focus on their own. Because it creates hesitancy in me, it then makes me more inclined to indulge those lapses (i.e. “they only called out because they were excited to give the answer”) that cause the behavioural death spiral.