Here are two things I use to monitor behavior and help with accountability.
#1 Class Dojo
Class Dojo was a game changer for me once I realized that I could have it pulled up on the board and on my ipad while I was at the back table and click students names to give them points. When I do this their name pops up on the computer and 'dings' and everyone in the class can see who gets a point! It is a GREAT way to show positive reinforcement for on task behavior during workshop and I don't have to say a thing! I promise it is like magic. I never take points away, and I do not invite parents to Class Dojo, I don't want to deal with parents e-mailing me asking me questions about points.
#2 Group Captain
A group captain is key! I do not let students move from their tables during workshop so the captain is in charge of getting all the materials for each rotation and passing materials to the next group. Captains are also in charge of making sure their group follows their CHAMPS and are on task. To make it official, I created Captain Sheets (Get it for FREE). I laminated these colorful papers one for each table group for each class that I teach. The papers have a "pledge" on it that the student signs their name under to state that they promise to follow their job description. Captains are to give points to students at their group that are making good choices, having great math talk, on task and helping others when need be. It is impossible for me to see everything while I'm teaching, but giving this job to the captain allows helps me keep the students on task. The Captains are allowed to only give 3 points per kid, and that is if that kid was absolutely perfect! Captain's receive 3 points from me every day as payment for their job. They get 3 points every day as long as I did not have to tell their group to get on task or to tell the captain to follow directions. You can come up with a system that works best for you in your classroom! I found giving a max amount of points works best!
On the captain paper there is a section for comments that they can write to me about a student if they feel the need too. It is awesome to see these notes about kids. Some notes are about how a student was acting up or not working. Most comments are super sweet, they love to write about how hard a student at their group worked or how one student helped another. Sometimes I give extra points or don't give as many points based on these comments!
At the end of the day I have a trust worthy student use my ipad to put in all the points into class dojo. The next day the kids are able to see how many points they have. I tell the captains to not show the people at their group their captain paper, they do not need to see how many points they are getting or notes written about them. Students at each group pick new captains each week. I tell them it is up to the old captain to decided who is the new captain, and I don't make people be captain, some students don't want that type of responsibility! ; )
I pass out Vis-a-Vis wet erase markers to the captains to use since they won't smudge when I stack the papers on each other. You could always use dry erase too.
You can get this captain paper for FREE on my TPT store!! Hope this helps you out as much as it's helped me! I've used this for 3 years now!
