One of the hardest jobs as a teacher many times is administering consequences or punishments. It isn’t always pleasant to give out consequences, but we understand that consequences are necessary to maintain a managed and positive classroom environment. Have you ever thought that the actual consequences that you pick for your classroom could actually have a lasting and transforming difference on your students?
Did you ever have a teacher come up with a creative consequence that you still remember? That punishment will live on in your memories forever. I think we all have that one consequence or punishment that we witnessed or were the recipient of that for whatever reason just worked. Perhaps a deeper look at some creative consequences could help us understand why sometimes they can be very effective.
We all have management problems in our classrooms from time to time. Issues need addressed and even occasionally merits a punishment or consequence. Classroom procedures slowly but surely stop being followed and rules will be deliberately violated during the school year. We all certainly deal with our students testing the boundaries of our patience, procedures, and rules on a daily basis.
First lets look at three reasons why you should utilize creative consequences.
1. It’s memorable.
The first reason to use creative consequences or punishments is that they are memorable. Sometimes punishment becomes so routine that students don’t even remember it by the time they get home. Whenever the student gets in trouble, they walk at recess, fill out a reminder, etc. every time they get in trouble. The misbehavior in whatever form is remembered before the punishment ever is, and the question is if that is the impression we want to leave with our students.
Sometimes, the perfect way to get a student out of their pattern of trouble is to put them through a situation they will never forget. Not in a bad way, but a way that the student remembers the punishment perhaps more than the violation. A punishment that is remembered discourages future infractions. We have to ask ourselves some questions: if the consequences or punishments have become ineffective in our classroom perhaps change is needed?
2. It’s a change up.
The second reason to use creative consequences or punishments is that it is a change up for the student. Once you have received the same punishment over and over again it can sort of lose its effect on you. Almost like it is just a normal day for me to be on the fence at recess, or to apologize to whoever I wronged today. After all how many times can you really clip down before it just simply loses its effect on you? You have five minutes of your recess taken everyday, same old same old.
Sometimes, a creative consequence or punishment can have a lifelong effect on a student’s future if utilized in an appropriate way. We are not talking about some evil plot, but just a change from what the student typically received as a consequence in that particular situation.
3. It can cause permanent change.
At the end of the day, if a punishment or consequence isn’t changing or discouraging unwanted behavior it should be laid aside for an option that could. Creative consequences or punishments have the potential to open the door to lasting change. If you use creative consequences correctly, it can be memorable, a change up, and produce lasting change in a student’s behavior. Isn’t that the goal after all? No teacher gives a punishment thinking that the punishment will increase, foster, or encourage future misbehavior in the future. Creative punishments offer an opportunity to influence a student in the direction of lasting change.
We have looked at three reasons why you should consider using creative consequences in your classroom. Now let’s turn to the question of how to come up with creative consequences or punishments.
Creative ideas seemed to come to us at the strangest times. So, giving advice on being creative is very difficult. However, some general guidelines from teachers of the past can help to guide our creativity in the form of punishment and consequences. Some general areas that can be considered next time you are considering a consequence for a broken rule or procedure.
1. The Redo
One creative consequence used by teachers throughout the years is the old faithful redo. Sometimes teachers forget about the redo category of consequences as they go throughout their busy school day. The redo is a general area that a teacher can consider when coming up with unique consequences for students. The redo has done a lot of good for students throughout the years. The fundamental idea of the redo is when a student performs the task wrong or does something wrong, they redo the task in the right way. The teacher redirects or addresses the student’s misbehavior with a redo opportunity. Can’t walk down the hallway appropriately? ……….. You can redo that!
Basically any classroom procedure can be turned into a redo if the student doesn’t complete it correctly. Some might say that’s not very creative, just copying the redo strategy, but there is all kinds of room for the teacher to be really creative with the redo area of consequences. The how, when, and where are all areas where creativity can be inserted. The “why” you are giving the consequence should always be known. We are not looking for a consequence that is crazy. Just a consequence that is memorable, a change up, and cause permanent change in our students’ behavior.
Example:
One procedure that my wife uses in her classroom is that all students must move their magnet to hot lunch or cold lunch every morning. When students forget to do this, she has them move their magnet during recess time so they will remember that they need to do it everyday.
Another expectation my wife has in her classroom is to sit correctly on her stools at the small group table. One of her students kept rocking the stool and wouldn’t sit on it correctly, so she decided this student had to sit correctly on the stool during recess. The student finally got the idea that they needed to sit correctly.
2. Make it Right
We all have probably known the teacher that always wanted us to right any wrongs. Perhaps we have even found ourselves in the situation where we ask our students to right the wrong. Unfortunately, this typically ends with the student giving some type of half-hearted apology. If the apology was sincere you might not go any farther, but we have probably all witnessed the forced apology from our students. So, if the apology isn’t going to be sincere you might consider a more memorable, change up that might spark permanent change in your students’ behavior. Perhaps a student assignment to really make it right in some way.
Example:
I recall one situation when my wife caught one of her students writing on the bathroom stall door. This student vandalized the door to such a degree that in order for the situation to be made right, the janitor would probably have to paint the door. My wife asked me to come up with a creative consequence because the students had a record of insincere apologies that seemed to not create any lasting change in the student’s attitude. I said the student should have to paint the door. We discussed the idea and thought it might be unrealistic to get the paint and paint it. However, we thought if the student would have the experience of painting the door, they might think twice before writing on the stalls.
After our discussion, we came up with a memorable, change up consequence that we hoped would create lasting change in the student. This consequence included the student imaginarily painting the door. The student had an imaginary paint brush and brushed up and down over the writing. Needless to say, the student found this activity to be torturous, however my wife noticed a massive decrease of vandalism of the bathrooms for the rest of the year. Certainly, the make it right category can be a memorable changeup and foster a permanent change in behavior.
3. The Overdo
Another category to consider is the overdo. The overdo is basically when something is done incorrectly in the classroom, the behavior is acknowledged and the teacher gives the student the opportunity to repeat the behavior over and over again. The main point is the student realizes through the consequence, the behavior really isn’t that fun or engaging.
Perhaps not as common as the previous suggestions, but this can be an effective change up that is memorable and can cause permeant change in the students’ behavior. We might have even heard of a situation or story where a parent caught their child doing something that they shouldn’t been doing, and as a consequence the behavior was just duplicated to show the student or child that it really isn’t that fun or engaging to be involved in that type of behavior.
Example:
One of my students loved to throw trash away like they were playing basketball and did not pick up the trash that didn’t make it in the trashcan. After repeated offenses and no permanent change, I told the student they would have to throw the trash like a basketball at recess. I made them do this over and over again. The student eventually realized it was not as fun to do it over and over again, so the behavior permanently stopped.
Creative consequences or punishments can really be effective in the classroom. Sometimes, we all have those students that need a different punishment to make the permanent behavior change. I hope these three reasons to use creative consequences and the three types of creative consequences will help you in the future.
Thank you for Continually Learning with us!
Kyle and Sarah
