I have talked about this in seminars and even seen it in my own classroom, but the other day I saw my student teacher do this and I saw an instant change in the overall attitude/energy of the class. What am I talking about you ask?

If you're using the scoreboard as it is discussed in the "first steps" portion of his site then you are going to need...the power of the "Bounce". Imagine it's the last hour of the day and kids are drained...and so are you. They are behind by three marks and you see them quickly heading down the path to more sad faces, or minus points. What can you do? You remember the +/- 3 rule so you just let it go. You don't want that because then they get worse and you have no power.

In a group of 30-35 kids there are a few kids that are doing the right thing...reward for them. "I see that this group is quietly working...Mark the Smiley and they are slowly turnig back from the dark side. One minute later find another group that is doing a procedure right and reward them.

"Oh, I didn't see all of you cheer...(Mark a sad face)...give me a mighty groan!"

In the span of about 3 minutes I have gotten them back closer to the reward by bouncing them back and forth from Smiley to Frownie. It's a great thing to do to infuse energy into your class.

Power to the Teacher!
Chris R.

Oh Mr. R how right you are. Using the scoreboard all day, every day, the same way is so important. It's easy to forget to give points and become complacent, but don't do it. Points are a powerful tool, don't be afraid to use them I say.

My classes have become so well behaved - I have been forgetting to give points. I have to do lots of bouncing, or we will not get any points and it will mess up the fun part of my class. Lately, I have had to write it into my daily plan - so that I have planned stops in the lesson to give out points, I have been slacking!

I have also been bouncing a lot lately, and it works like a charm. I let the kids pick what we are playing for before we start. I use the 1's and 2's to move people around a couple of times a week so they really like playing for free seating. Their other favorite to play for is an Instant Game.

Bouncing helps a lot with this. I too have had to remind myself to up my vigilance on using the points, but it totally pays off!

The Bounce is essential for those days when you just need a little flair. I also try to switch up the titles for the scoreboard. We sometimes do Tears/Jeers, Make it Rain/Bring the Pain, etc. The kids have fun ways to respond to each and it keeps it fresh.

Currerntly my Scoreboard reads "Naughty and Nice".