Free Printable: Student Kudo Cards + Three Ways to Praise Students More Often
A student kudo cards free printable to help you praise students more often!
Confession Time (cue Usher)
It's time for me to come clean and make a confession. Sometimes I get too caught up in maintaining classroom order, meeting lesson objectives and disciplining students that I forget to praise and compliment my students.
Now I am sure, you've never had to this particular issue. But just in case, I wanted to share a few things I've been doing in an attempt to be more intentional about reinforcing positive behavior.
Sign Up to Download | Already signed up? Click to access.
3 Ways to Praise Students More Often
Kudo Cards
This past summer, I revamped my classroom praise cards. Before it was too general and blah. It didn't inspire me at all. So I created something new. Ta-dah!
The goal was to make it easy for teachers and peers to give specific praise for positive behavior. And I think the goal has been achieved. Now I just have to make sure I always have a stack printed and ready to go. You just never know when a kid is gonna blow your mind👏🏼
Sign Up to Download | Already signed up? Click to access.
Compliment Time
In addition to new kudo cards, this year I have been focusing on special "compliment time" at the end of each class. I've been ending class 3-5 minutes earlier than I did last year and using this extra to praise students. Each day (well most days) I take a few moments to highlight some of the positive behavior I observed during class. Some teachers find that kids don't enjoy the public praise but my kiddos quite enjoy the recognition.
Peer to Peer Praise
My end of class compliment time quickly grew another element as students were itching to share the awesome behavior they observed. In addition to teacher praise time, I also give kids the opportunity to compliment and give a kudo card to their classmates. This is definitely a highlight of my day. And the coolest thing, it isn't a popularity contest at all. Who says middle schoolers can't be kind!
How do you making student praise a priority in your classroom??? Please share your tricks, I am always looking for new ideas!