Caught Doing Good Slips

Sometimes, it's the littlest things that help the most.

This is a blank Caught Doing Good Slip:

I have a bunch of these sitting on my desk.

Any time I see a kid trying really hard to do the right thing, I either:

• Quietly pass him/her a slip, smile/nod, and whisper what they did good. For example "You were listening well." OR...
• Make a big show out of it to the whole class. Eg:"Class, this morning I noticed that Tommy did not get distracted when he entered the class even though the class was very noisy. He simply put his bag down, went to his seat, sat nicely, and started his own meditation."

After I pass them the slips, they fill them up on their own time, and bring it to me to sign (so that no one "forges" any slips). Here are some example:



After signing, they put the slip into a jar (I use a transparent box I recycled):



Once their names are in the jar, they stay there for the month.
During the month, I can at any point pull out a slip as a form of a lucky draw (the kids love this!). Thus awarding a higher probability of winning to those who have more slips.

I also give an award to the kid who has the most number of Caught Doing Good slips at the end of the month (as mentioned in an earlier blog post).


Quite simple but really effective.

I initially got the idea from Rick Smith, and adapted it to suit my own needs.
Mainly I find that it helps:

• Teach kids what they are doing good (immediate positive reinforcement),
• Affirm even the quiet kids,
• Emphasize certain classroom procedures that are important,
• Gives them something to work towards.

Hope this helps you!
Please let me know if you adapt this, and what worked or didn't work.
Thanks!