Super Improvers Wall

6/19/2012

How do you motivate students to want to improve their behavior, academic skills, or social skills without the need for candy, pop, or monetary rewards?  How do you reach tough to teach middle school students?  I found the answer in the Super Improvers Wall.

After looking at fellow wibeteer Staci Glass’ pictures of her Super Improvers Wall for inspiration, I dove right in.  I created pages for each student in all four of my Resource Room classes and posted them on an empty wall.  The kids were immediately intrigued and started asking what this wall was all about.  After explaining how the Super Improvers Wall worked, my students were eager to start earning stars.

One of the most pleasant of surprises was my 8^th grade reading and writing class.  This group consisted of boys and girls with various disabilities ranging from learning disabled to emotionally impaired.  One of my toughest girls bought into the program the minute she earned her first star for cooperating and following the class rules (WBT’s 5 rules, of course).  After that, she was asking and even begging to earn more stars or wanting to know if she earned a star at the end of the hour.

After students had reached the first level, I started giving out small rewards such as stickers, trinkets from my “junk” drawer, and such. After kids starting moving up several levels, the “rewards’ were not the goal.  They were working to improve whatever skills were targeted for that week and merely moving up levels and receiving stars was reward enough.

What a great feeling for the kids to see their own accomplishment through hard work and perseverance.  I too felt a glow of accomplishment at having found something that helped kids improve their skills and was fun for everyone.  Super Improvers Wall really works, even with middle schoolers.




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