Level 4: Independents

Weeks, maybe even months, after you’ve added the Guff Counter to your Scoreboard, you may be ready to address the problem of rebellious cliques of students.  These are the kids, usually friends, who support each other’s disruptive behavior.

One bright morning, draw a line under the Guff Counter on your Scoreboard and write “Independents.”  Say, “As some of you may have noticed, a few students have been causing us to have the majority of the negative points in our system.  I’m now giving them their own section of the Scoreboard.  We’ll call these students ‘Independents’ because they have been independent of the goals of the rest of the class.  I’ll tell them at recess who they are.”

At recess, gather your rebel clique together and say, “This is a special opportunity for you.  You only have to worry about each other.  If you do well, then you’ll all receive a positive mark on your part of the Scoreboard that the rest of the class won’t get.  However, if even one of you misbehaves, then you all will get a negative point.  This will mean you all will stay in a recess and practice the rule that one of you broke.  So, you’re a team.  Encourage each other to work together to score positive marks!”  Additionally inform the rebels that they only have to stay in the Independent group for one day.  Whenever they have had enough of each other’s company, all they have to do is ask you to let them join the rest of the class.

Now, in actual practice the Independents will not score more positive than negative points.  You’ll see to that.  As the misbehavior of one effects the rest, note something wonderful ... your rebellious clique begins bickering and quarreling.  The former friends turn against one another; the solid unity of their resistance evaporates, as they angrily criticize each other for misbehavior!

A key feature of the Independents is allowing a student, after one day, the option of leaving the group.  Whenever students learn that being in the wrong crowd, even if they are innocent, can have negative personal consequences, they have acquired an important life lesson.  Some of your rebels may be in and out of the Independent group for months.  That’s fine.  They are learning, over and over, the importance of staying away from friends who make foolish choices.

Additional details about the Independents may be found in free downloads at this site: “Teaching Challenging Elementary Students” and “Teaching Challenging Teens.”