Whole Class Behavior Management Downsides and Solutions

Whole class behavior management is the perfect solution for teachers who are wanting to simplify their classroom management systems. If you have been around for a while, you know just how much I am obsessed with this style of behavior management, and you can read more about my system here.

When I post about whole class behavior management on my social media, I often get a few questions and objections that are super valid. So over the years, I have learned a few tricks to combat these common hesitations to make whole class behavior management work for many different classrooms.

Downside #1: What do I do about the students who have a hard time transitioning or getting started with tasks?

Solution:

• I have a student right now who has a hard time getting started with tasks and transitioning. This student is currently on a different behavior plan (they earn stickers on a sticker chart to earn a break). It is working so great, but this student still takes a few minutes to get started. So I just don’t include them in earning the class point if they don’t make the transition, etc. I just ignore them and don’t point them out. I have never had a student question why the student isn’t with us at the rug. If they do join us, I make sure to praise them and include them.

Downside #2: What if students do not care, become defiant, and try to sabotage the class from earning points?

Solution:

• I personally have never had this happen, but a teammate once did. We made an individual system for these students. They had the same goal as the class, and we just put a sticky note on the students’ desk each day to track teacher vs. student points. So essentially, my teammate was tracking points on the board for the whole class behavior management, and the students who were on an individual system had their own “mini” board on their desk with the same goal as the class. At the end of the day, if they had more points than the teacher, they would get a punch on their punch pass.
• To combat students asking why other students have sticker charts or different ways of tracking behavior, I teach the bandaid lesson at the beginning of the school year. Here is a link to the TikTok explaining this.

Downside #3: How do I prevent students from getting frustrated with their peers when they don’t earn a point?

Solution:

• You need to nip this in the bud right away. Let’s say a student doesn’t quite make the transition to the rug, and the teacher gets the point (super common). Naturally, the rest of the class will get frustrated, and this can really hurt a child’s feelings. So immediately, I say we are a class family and we earn points together and lose points together. I ask the question, “How could we have helped so everyone could make it before the countdown runs out?” Then we generate ideas, (i.e. – We could help them clean up their crayons, we could give them a reminder to put their paper away quickly instead of talking about recess, etc.) Overtime, and this happens pretty quickly, the class starts to help each other out. It just builds a stronger classroom community when the goal becomes “we.”

Downside #4: How do I keep the students interested in this system? Won’t they get bored?

Solutions:

• Make it fun and start small! I always start with the goal just being 10. This year, we have already almost earned our third class reward. I think after the next reward, we will increase our goal to 15.
• This is why I solely use whole class behavior management – so I can have our rewards be a big deal! I am happy to invest my own money into something that will make class memories and build classroom community. It’s also so much better to spend money on fun activities instead of dumb little treasure box prizes, in my opinion.
• You can also gamify your rewards. I have a bundle of whole group classroom management games like Connect 4, Candy Land, and Chutes and Ladders.
• I also make it exciting by creating little challenges like if my class gets a compliment for their hallway behavior from an adult we earn two points, and if they make it to 10 by the end of the day, they also earn two points.
• I love how you can make it work for you and the system is easy to adapt but doesn’t change entirely.

If you are using a form of whole class behavior management, what are some of your hangups that you are experiencing? I’d love to help as much as I can.