Discover how a heartfelt tale of triumph over fractions can change the way we approach education. This episode brings you the inspiring voice of Autumn Thomas, a fifth-grade educator with a decade-plus of experience, who joins Dianne Ferrell and me to share her story and strategies for harnessing the power of personalized acknowledgment to inspire a love for learning in students. We discuss Autumn's transformative 10-day reward system and dive into the magic of consistent positive reinforcement in shaping not only behavior but the future of our children.
Ever wondered how to capture a student's academic journey in a way that bolsters their confidence and drive? We've got you covered with our exploration of student leadership binders. These aren't your ordinary school folders; they're a celebration of personal growth, a repository of achievements, and a roadmap for future success. We unpack how these binders, filled with star charts, leadership certificates, and even special programs like NBA (Never Been Absent), become treasured keepsakes that spur students to set and surpass their goals.
Wrapping up, we take a moment to marvel at the intersection of growth mindset principles and the PBIS framework, highlighting the game-changing role of leadership binders in recognition systems. Autumn's insights are pure gold, and we are eager to help educators everywhere tap into these strategies. So join our passionate education community, connect with us for resources and support, and let's work together to create an environment where every student has the opportunity to shine.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Welcome to PBIS.
Journey to Genius.
Are you in the process ofimplementing PBIS?
Are you wondering where tostart?
You are in the right place.
We are here to support you.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Welcome to our weekly podcast, pbis Journey to Genius
.
I'm Diane Farrell and I'm herewith Diane Ruff, and Diane and I
have worked together for manyyears and we have put a PBIS
system in our schools that hasreceived many awards, and we
have put a podcast together thatwe're doing every week to share
(00:55):
our trials and successes sothat maybe you might use those
to help you in your positivebehavior intervention journey.
So this week we're moving on toa new episode and hopefully you
can catch up on our oldepisodes by joining us on our
podcast.
So, diane, what's it abouttoday?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well, today we want to discuss personalizing the
acknowledgement system, poweringstudents to develop intrinsic
motivation, because that'sreally important.
It's really hard to motivatestudents and actually we need to
teach students how to motivatethemselves.
So to help us do that, we'veinvited Autumn Thomas, fifth
grade teacher, to be on thepodcast today.
(01:34):
Welcome, welcome, autumn.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited to be here, so tellus a little bit about yourself.
Well, I have been teaching for11 years in elementary.
I teach math and social studiesand I absolutely love it.
I could not imagine teachingany other middle school or high
school, so elementary is theperfect place for me.
I'm a mom.
I have two girls.
They're teenagers, so that'sfun.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
No one thinks that's fun.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I am an Army brat so I've lived all over the world.
I've been to 12 differentschools in my K to 12 years of
education, so I definitely thinkhaving that as a background
helps me reach my students.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Tell our listeners where you were born.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Well, I was born in Alliance, but I lived eight
years in Hawaii and eight yearsin Germany.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's what we find so incredible.
Those of us who haven't evenbeen to Hawaii or Germany think
that living there for like eightyears is amazing.
So Autumn does bring a lot ofexperiences to the table and to
her teaching.
So every time we do a podcast,every time we have a guest, we
ask them why they got intoeducation, what pushed them in
that direction, what do youthink pushed you into education?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I knew I wanted to be a teacher since I was a little
girl and it might be silly, butI was five, with the stuffed
animals lined up teaching them,and I've always known that that
was my purpose.
I've always known that this iswhat I was meant to do, this is
where I was supposed to be.
This is where I was needed most.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And we have yet to guess.
Both go both ways, because thatwas kind of my beginning.
I wanted to be a teacher fromthe get go, diane Nassimut.
She started out with anothermajor in mind, and then paths
lead us in different directions.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But I would say we have had quite a few guests say
that they knew from very earlyon that they wanted to be a
teacher.
So, that's great.
So what's your aha moment?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So my aha moment.
It was my first year ofteaching and it's fractions, and
no fifth grader loves fractionsand I was trying to get them to
understand how to add fractionstogether and I always ask them
to show me if they're a one, atwo or a three.
If they're a one, they'reunderstanding what they're
learning.
If they're a two, maybe theyhave some questions.
(03:52):
And a three, they are confused.
And I had this one kiddo thatwas confused, so I explained it
a different way.
I draw a picture this time andshe's still looking at me like I
don't know.
So then I pull out a third wayand the third way I teach her.
She says I get it, I understand, it makes sense.
And I was like I really wentthrough all of the different
(04:13):
ways to try and get her tounderstand because it was
important for the next steps andI didn't think anything of it
at that time.
I was just like, okay,checkmark, I did that at a
parent teacher conference is acouple of months later.
The mom thanked me for takingthat time and getting her to
understand and not just saying,okay, we'll do it at another
(04:34):
time.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
But she really appreciated that and so you need
to know.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
That little girl went home and told her mom about
that.
So that was so impactful to herthat day that she remembered
all the way home that night andreiterated that for her mom, so
much that her mom remembered atconferences to let you know.
So that's truly impactful.
Impact Because how many fifthgraders at night they go.
(04:59):
How was school today?
Okay, you know, like nobodysays anything, Right?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
What'd you do today?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Nothing, so look how we know that, because we had
kids, but she didn't.
So that is, that's an amazingexperience.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I try a big aha, and that was 11 years ago and that
has stuck still stuck with me.
Yes, awesome, awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Um, okay, so we have talked about the acknowledgement
system here in our school.
That's a big PBIS buzzword andAutumn does that in her 10 day
rewards and we're going to talk.
So we have had first grade talkabout it, we've had fourth
grade talk about it and eachgrade addresses it a little bit
different.
So we want to know how thefifth grade does it in your
(05:40):
class.
What are the rewards?
How does it happen?
How often do you meet with thekids?
You know what do you do.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Okay.
So students love 10 day rewards.
That is their favorite rewardsystem that we have come across
thus far in the classroom.
And every day, if they're safe,responsible, respectful, if
they are making good choices,then they earn a sticker and
they put the sticker on theirstar chart, which goes in their
leadership binder, which we'lltalk about later.
(06:08):
Okay, okay.
And so they get those daily,you know, because they earned it
that day.
I think it's most beneficial toget that reward that day the
star.
And then after 10 days, howeverlong oh, after 10 stars, excuse
me they earn a reward.
And so we have a list ofrewards and over the years kids
have added to those what theylike best or we've taken away
(06:31):
that nobody wanted to do.
And so some really popular onesin fifth grade are sit by a
friend, because they get to sitby a friend in my classroom and
in the co-teachers classroom.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And that's so important.
They love that, they lovesitting at our desk.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
That's another fun one they love because it's like
the throne of power.
They think they sit at the desk.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
They love that.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
In the cafeteria they love eating with a friend from
a different classroom.
That's a big hit.
Fifth graders love to help ateacher a previous teacher so I
have them write a letter and Ihave a letter template, because
a lot of them cannot write aletter, so I have a template and
then they just they have towrite it, set it up correctly,
and then they plug in theinformation and send it to
another teacher.
(07:17):
And they love going back.
And then those teachers areintentional with okay, I have a
fifth grader coming and I'mgoing to have them work with
these friends, or we're going toplay bingo and they can help me
do this, so they really enjoythat a lot.
That's a very popular reward.
Another one for fifth gradethat I think is super sweet is
they love bringing a stuffedanimal.
(07:37):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
They still like that, they still love it and they're
very proud to show it off.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So those are.
Another one that the boysreally like is playing a game
with a friend, and we have everyD maths, we have McGraw Hill
math games and they pick to playa math game with a friend.
Wow which I think is wonderful.
Yeah so they, the boys, love topick that and it doesn't cost
any money.
They can sit with their friend.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I just wanted to say not one thing, because we've
talked about that sometimes thatwas in one of our other
podcasts that they go.
Well, we just can't afford PBIS.
It's too expensive.
There's not one reward that ison the highlight, fifth grade
real that costs any money.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Correct?
Yeah, and did you have thestudents?
Or every year, do you have thestudents help pick the rewards?
Yes, so you don't say these arethe rewards we're gonna have,
right, they help to come up withabsolutely because sit at my
desk is not my most favoritething, but they like that.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
So, yes, they get to come up with a list.
Yeah, themselves.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, and then?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
I offer ideas of hey, what about this?
You know, do you like?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
right, because you know ones that have worked in
the past right, so you can likeinterject.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
They're like oh, yeah , that would be great, Right, or
sometimes it could be not wearshoes in the classroom and they
bring slippers to wear in theclassroom, so they like to do
that.
So, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Awesome, that's great .
Yeah, so another part of theacknowledgement system is the
leadership binders that wereally I think you started,
maybe last year a Little bit, ordid you dive in Um this year
with it?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
my previous co-teacher, who retired.
We were doing them as a folder.
Okay and then we expanded lastyear to a binder.
Okay, we added more things andthey're after doing the leader
and me.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Training right, and so the leadership binder Is
really all about trying to buildthat intrinsic motivation.
So do you want to talk abouthow, how you do your leadership
binders and how the, what thekids, how they all start?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
right.
So I love the leadershipbinders because it helps
students be accountable fortheir learning academic,
personal and behavior.
So how that works is at thebeginning of the year they have
the binder and it's divided upinto five sections.
So you have about yourself,they have wigs, they're wildly
important goals, they'relearning their leadership and
(09:56):
their celebrations.
So in those five main sections,like about themselves, there's
gonna be like at the beginningof the year, every teacher does
an all about me page where theywrite their favorite color you
know they have brothers andsisters what favorite things
they like to do and though sothat simply can be saved and put
in your leadership binder Someother things, like their star
(10:17):
behavior charts where they earntheir 10 star reward.
That star chart goes in there.
They have we do freckle andlift off and the students record
their levels.
Those go in there and they lovekeeping track of that.
If fifth grade we do leadershipjobs, so if they're a recycler,
they filled out like anapplication for these different
(10:39):
jobs and whatever they getchosen for.
Then we have certificates thatsays you've been hired and then
whatever their job.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
How cute.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
So that goes and I'm binder with map.
They have map growth charts.
They have one for math,language arts, science and it's
a graph so they write where theyare, how they would like to get
there.
So the steps they're gonna take, we meet one-on-one and talk
about this.
That's those are in theirleadership binders.
(11:06):
If they've got honor rollprincipal list certificates,
those can go in there undercelebrations the new one, the
NBA, the basketballs those arein their leadership binders.
Anything that's of interest tothe kids, that the kids want to
showcase, they can put in theirleadership I love that, so the
(11:26):
NBA is something new, say again,again, again.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
If you're out there listening for the first time,
I've retired this year, so it isvery important for Mrs Ruff to
keep me up to date as soon asyou said that I've go.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Okay, I know about everything else, but I don't
know about that let us know andlet our, let our listeners know
whose schools are reallystruggling with getting kids
back in school attendance, andthat's a big deal since COVID.
So one of the things that theassistant principal here in our
building came up with Was neverbeen absent.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I like it for the nine weeks.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So we broke it down by nine weeks.
So NBA for the first nine weeks, nba for the second nine weeks.
So we actually have basketballs, little basketballs that are
paper, like cardboardbasketballs that we write on it
and say you know, you're in theNBA for the second nine weeks,
never been absent and take theirpicture, give them a lot of
woohoo's, and now they can putthat in their leadership binder.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yes, because a lot of times students get papers.
You know they're like what do Ido with this?
I said, well, let's put it inyour leadership binder under
celebrations.
And they love that, I love thattoo.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So, and at the end of the year, this is a huge thing
to take home.
Yes, and be a part like this iswhat I did.
This was everything, becauseyou forget as the years going
through.
It was like a big scrapbook formom.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Absolutely, and that's what you, what students,
like about it is.
That's what one of I asked thestudents what they liked best,
and one little girl it was sosweet she said well, when I get
sad, I like to look at myleadership binder to see
everything that I accomplished.
So I know that I can stilllearn and I thought that was so
(13:06):
impactful from a 10-year-old torecognize that's an aha moment
right there, Autumn that's alittle genius, oh my gosh, it's
genius.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
That is genius because one the fact that she
can verbalize that Right.
You know that.
You asked her on the spot whatdo you like the most about your
leadership binder?
And she could say you know,when I'm sad, I can look at what
I do well, instead of thethings right now that are in my
mind about what I don't do well.
We all need a leadership binder, don't we?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I think we do.
Yes, and other students havesaid they like that it shows
their personal achievements,what they've accomplished so far
, like one gentleman I asked Isaid what do you like about your
leadership binder?
And he said I like that I cansee my levels.
He said I like to track mylevels in freckle and I like to
see that they're going up or fora lift off.
I like to see that they'regoing up and now do they set
(13:57):
goals for you in those.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Do they say, okay, in freckle, I wanna get to here
and then do that.
Or in map, I wanna get to here.
Do they set those ahead of timeor For freckle.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Their goal is to.
They wanna be in the purple.
Now they don't know what thepurple means.
They just know purple is fifthgrade, but they just know that
their goal is to try to get tothe purple.
And I don't tell them what thecolors mean, because everybody
is working at their own level,so their goal is just to get to
purple.
And when they get to purple theyget a certificate.
(14:30):
Freckle came out withcertificates this year, so I
just print out a bunch of blankones and then I write on there
they passed all these levels.
And once they've passed allfive freckle domains, then it
goes into our shout outs, whichI love that we're doing this
year.
I just email Mrs Miller and sheshouts out that they've passed
all their freckle levels.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yes, so Mrs Miller is doing the Lexia shout outs the
freckle.
Shout outs the 40 bookchallenge shout outs.
So we're tracking that.
In the month of December we didlike 550 shout outs Holy moly
Acknowledgement shout outs andalso in January it was 500 and
(15:09):
some and that's not all of theacknowledgments that happen in
the building.
These are just the ones we'retracking because we don't know
in the classroom really what allyou're doing too.
So we feel like we're doing alot of acknowledging of behavior
, but also academics.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Right and the positive academics I believe,
drives, then you have thepositive behavior too.
That's our next, thing, okay sowhat's new, but one leading to
another.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Look at you already going forward, Because you say
that the kids are excited abouttheir binders.
They love to share youthemselves, their parents, you
know all that kind of stuff.
Do you see that changing theirbehavior?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Well, I see that they love tracking their goals and
so we have a 230 study wholetime.
They're intentional with thattime.
If they don't have somethinglike missing work they need to
work on, then can I work infreckle?
Absolutely, they want to passthose levels and improve.
(16:15):
They also do.
We meet with another gradelevel and we meet with second
grade and we share binders.
So the kids are paired up withanother buddy and they share.
Look what I've done so far,because we do it a couple times
a year.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Look how cute that is , and they really like that
sharing.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
You know, the second graders look up to the fifth
graders and the fifth gradersare excited.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Sure, they're sharing their accomplishments with the
fifth graders.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
The fifth graders get to be mentors to the second
graders.
So that's the best.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I really liked the talk.
You know the students can saythis is where I am right now and
this is where I want to be.
We had made a video in Januaryand several of the students
talked about I'm not there yet.
Like you know, I haven'tmastered this yet, but I am
(17:05):
working towards this and I havenot heard students talk like
that and I was just so impressedby that that they understand.
They're not there yet, you know, but I'm working towards it and
I plan on meeting that goal bythe end of the school year.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Absolutely, and that's when I love.
When you come on theannouncements every day and you
say you know, why are you here?
And the children respond withto learn.
That applies in the classroom.
I use that all the time becauseif somebody gets frustrated
with not being where they wantto be, you know.
I say what does Mrs Ruff sayevery day why are you here to
learn?
So that's what you're here.
(17:39):
You're not here because youalready know everything.
You're here to learn things, sothat's okay.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yes, yes, yeah, I just I love it.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I do too.
And even that positive attitudeabout yourself, like when that
little girl said if I'm sad, itmakes me feel better about
myself.
If a student doesn't feel goodabout themselves, number one,
they don't want to come toschool.
Because that is just.
If I don't feel good aboutmyself, I don't want to get out
of bed, I don't want to come toschool, I don't want to do
anything because I don't feelgood.
But if I start to feel goodabout myself and I get SEMA
(18:11):
highlights, which is like ahighlight reel, then I'm a
little bit more motivated to getup and come to school, be in
the MBA, you know, do thingslike that.
So all of that is that positiveintrinsic, you know, motivation
.
I think it's amazing.
Well, okay, so now let's look atteachers who are sitting here
(18:32):
in all of you Autumn.
They're like oh my gosh, wewant to start that.
When you think back to when youstarted the leadership binders,
now you had always donebehavior conferences, you had
met with kids about behaviorgoals.
You know you kind of had thatalready in place and we've
talked about that in our thing.
But how did you transition tothe leadership?
How did you start it that veryfirst year?
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Well, my previous co-teacher and I, because this
is advice to other teachers- whoare starting?
We had all of these pieces ofinformation about the students
separately.
So we had star charts on thewall, we had behavior charts,
you know, and this we had, youknow, the all about me paper,
all of these separate thingsthat we already do.
We thought, well, why can't weput them together in one place
(19:19):
and then we save it?
And then they have it in afolder and then, when it comes
time for conferences conferenceswith the student or conferences
with the parent we have all ofthat information in one place.
So we started small.
We put their day, their 10 starreward charts in there and
their behavior goals in there,and we just started with that.
And then every year we thought,well, let's add this to it,
(19:43):
let's add this to it.
And then when we went to theleader and me and they talked
about leadership binders and wedid a little more research to
see how could we make itmanageable for us, we divided up
the binder and then we justfound, hey, at the beginning of
the school year we always do apaper for the kids to fill out
about themselves, because it'sthe first day of school, so that
can go in the binder.
(20:03):
We always talk about settinggoals, you know, and how they're
gonna reach those goals.
Let's put those papers in thebinder.
So it was already things thatwe did.
We decided to put them in oneplace.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
And then leader and me recommends the five sections
again.
Do you wanna say those fivesections again, because I really
like those.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
It's myself, my wigs, so my wild, the important goals
, my learning, my leadership andmy celebrations.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, that's really good and that's how you have it
divided up now.
But I like how you said youstarted small, because if I'm
listening to this and I'm not aleader in me school, so I don't
know anything about leadershipbinders and I don't know about
those five things, although nowyou do, because she just said
them.
We all, as teachers, havethings about our students, like
(20:52):
you said.
We've got this on the wall.
We've got this, this and this,but to begin that with maybe
three things, you know fourthings, five things, and then to
add on to it, but yourcategories from leader and me,
that's awesome, and anybody,even if you're not a leader, in
me school can do that.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
No, you can still do that for sure.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
What Autumn said?
Absolutely because aboutyourself.
That's just information aboutyou as a student, and then any
of your goals, any goal settingyou do, could go next and then
you're learning.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So if you do freckle or if you do Lift off the map
because, or map those can go inthere under their learning
writing right to do a sample ofwriting in the fall one and at
mid year and one at the end, andjust so you can see how your
writing is changed.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Absolutely.
I'm gonna interject a minuteabout using them in conferences
because you brought that up justa minute ago.
So Just say a couple minutesabout that, because I think
that's real powerful.
Look, as a teacher, I rememberwhen I used to prepare for
conferences I was getting outpieces of work, I was trying to
average great you know thatwhole thing to get ready for
that parent.
Where you have, you can justbring this out right, it's
(21:59):
already done, that's, and Ididn't do it and you didn't have
to prepare for it so if a car,it's apparent, just calls and
says I want to have a conferenceon my child, you go fine, we
can do it today Because I have aleadership binder already to go
over it with you absolutelyamazing and we started this fall
.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
We were testing it out this fall to see how it
would go and it went really well.
So we asked for the students tocome to conferences.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I was just gonna say did you I?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
wanted to say did you have student?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
conferences I want to say so we had the students come
in and we practiced beforehandwith the students, like before
parent teacher conference.
You know we would have themcome up.
Okay, show me your binder.
What's your most importantthings you're excited about?
You know we made sure theyunderstood what all those papers
were because parents, if theylook at the binder, they're not
gonna know what map goals aren'tsure.
Maybe kids have to explain,right.
(22:50):
So we practiced ahead of time.
I love the front loading Beforethe conferences yes, and so we
just said okay, and they satdown and they said you know my,
you know to their grown up, thisis my conference, this is my
binder, and they explained everysection and any question they
had, like they would look at usand then we would look at the
student and then the studentwould answer the question.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Of so empowering, so much empowering, and again, you
know that gives the child achance to show off their genius,
because we talk about everybody.
We talk about everybody.
Can everybody be a leader?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I don't know about that, but everyone can be a
genius in the thing that they'regood at, you know absolutely
and so that's an opportunity toshine absolutely, and I just and
be a part of the conference andbe an integral, not just
sitting there, you know, worriedabout what they're gonna say
about you, like you know, andwhat you can't do.
(23:49):
And right, it's what I can do.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
This is where I want to go next.
And that's what I liked when wemade the video, because the
kids we didn't and we did notfront load the kids, right, you
did.
We just went around and askkids to share and they just
shared automatically, whichtells us that a lot of teachers
here in the building areteaching that way you know, that
celebrate where you're at.
(24:12):
And then here's where I want togo next growth mindset yes, the
growth, my yes, the growth isthat is so awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Well, thank you, autumn, for coming we that.
I have learned so much today,absolutely, and this is just an
awesome, an awesome piece in thePBIS puzzle.
So if you have any questionsout there about leadership
binders or putting this togetherin your school, this kind of
acknowledgement system, be sureand email us, because we would
(24:41):
love to answer any emails.
We are getting emails coming innow and then, so that's awesome
and we can always hook you upwith.
She can now you back, if youhave anything specific, please
email us at PBIS journey togenius at gmailcom.
We're also on Facebook andInstagram.
If you just type in PBISjourney to genius, you'll find
(25:02):
it.
So thanks for listening to ourshow.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I'm Diane Farrell and I'm Diane rough and you've been
listening to PBIS journey togenius.
Welcome to PBIS.
Journey to Genius.
Are you in the process ofimplementing PBIS?
Are you wondering where tostart?
You are in the right place.
We are here to support you.
Stay tuned.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Welcome to our weekly podcast, pbis Journey to Genius
.
I'm Diane Farrell and I'm herewith Diane Ruff, and Diane and I
have worked together for manyyears and we have put a PBIS
system in our schools that hasreceived many awards, and we
have put a podcast together thatwe're doing every week to share
(00:55):
our trials and successes sothat maybe you might use those
to help you in your positivebehavior intervention journey.
So this week we're moving on toa new episode and hopefully you
can catch up on our oldepisodes by joining us on our
podcast.
So, diane, what's it abouttoday?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
Well, today we want to discuss personalizing the
acknowledgement system, poweringstudents to develop intrinsic
motivation, because that'sreally important.
It's really hard to motivatestudents and actually we need to
teach students how to motivatethemselves.
So to help us do that, we'veinvited Autumn Thomas, fifth
grade teacher, to be on thepodcast today.
(01:34):
Welcome, welcome, autumn.
Speaker 3 (01:35):
Thank you for having me.
I'm excited to be here, so tellus a little bit about yourself.
Well, I have been teaching for11 years in elementary.
I teach math and social studiesand I absolutely love it.
I could not imagine teachingany other middle school or high
school, so elementary is theperfect place for me.
I'm a mom.
I have two girls.
They're teenagers, so that'sfun.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
No one thinks that's fun.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
I am an Army brat so I've lived all over the world.
I've been to 12 differentschools in my K to 12 years of
education, so I definitely thinkhaving that as a background
helps me reach my students.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Tell our listeners where you were born.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Well, I was born in Alliance, but I lived eight
years in Hawaii and eight yearsin Germany.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
That's what we find so incredible.
Those of us who haven't evenbeen to Hawaii or Germany think
that living there for like eightyears is amazing.
So Autumn does bring a lot ofexperiences to the table and to
her teaching.
So every time we do a podcast,every time we have a guest, we
ask them why they got intoeducation, what pushed them in
that direction, what do youthink pushed you into education?
Speaker 3 (02:49):
I knew I wanted to be a teacher since I was a little
girl and it might be silly, butI was five, with the stuffed
animals lined up teaching them,and I've always known that that
was my purpose.
I've always known that this iswhat I was meant to do, this is
where I was supposed to be.
This is where I was needed most.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
And we have yet to guess.
Both go both ways, because thatwas kind of my beginning.
I wanted to be a teacher fromthe get go, diane Nassimut.
She started out with anothermajor in mind, and then paths
lead us in different directions.
Speaker 1 (03:22):
But I would say we have had quite a few guests say
that they knew from very earlyon that they wanted to be a
teacher.
So, that's great.
So what's your aha moment?
Speaker 3 (03:31):
So my aha moment.
It was my first year ofteaching and it's fractions, and
no fifth grader loves fractionsand I was trying to get them to
understand how to add fractionstogether and I always ask them
to show me if they're a one, atwo or a three.
If they're a one, they'reunderstanding what they're
learning.
If they're a two, maybe theyhave some questions.
(03:52):
And a three, they are confused.
And I had this one kiddo thatwas confused, so I explained it
a different way.
I draw a picture this time andshe's still looking at me like I
don't know.
So then I pull out a third wayand the third way I teach her.
She says I get it, I understand, it makes sense.
And I was like I really wentthrough all of the different
(04:13):
ways to try and get her tounderstand because it was
important for the next steps andI didn't think anything of it
at that time.
I was just like, okay,checkmark, I did that at a
parent teacher conference is acouple of months later.
The mom thanked me for takingthat time and getting her to
understand and not just saying,okay, we'll do it at another
(04:34):
time.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (04:35):
But she really appreciated that and so you need
to know.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
That little girl went home and told her mom about
that.
So that was so impactful to herthat day that she remembered
all the way home that night andreiterated that for her mom, so
much that her mom remembered atconferences to let you know.
So that's truly impactful.
Impact Because how many fifthgraders at night they go.
(04:59):
How was school today?
Okay, you know, like nobodysays anything, Right?
Speaker 1 (05:02):
What'd you do today?
Speaker 2 (05:03):
Nothing, so look how we know that, because we had
kids, but she didn't.
So that is, that's an amazingexperience.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
I try a big aha, and that was 11 years ago and that
has stuck still stuck with me.
Yes, awesome, awesome.
Speaker 2 (05:19):
Um, okay, so we have talked about the acknowledgement
system here in our school.
That's a big PBIS buzzword andAutumn does that in her 10 day
rewards and we're going to talk.
So we have had first grade talkabout it, we've had fourth
grade talk about it and eachgrade addresses it a little bit
different.
So we want to know how thefifth grade does it in your
(05:40):
class.
What are the rewards?
How does it happen?
How often do you meet with thekids?
You know what do you do.
Speaker 3 (05:47):
Okay.
So students love 10 day rewards.
That is their favorite rewardsystem that we have come across
thus far in the classroom.
And every day, if they're safe,responsible, respectful, if
they are making good choices,then they earn a sticker and
they put the sticker on theirstar chart, which goes in their
leadership binder, which we'lltalk about later.
(06:08):
Okay, okay.
And so they get those daily,you know, because they earned it
that day.
I think it's most beneficial toget that reward that day the
star.
And then after 10 days, howeverlong oh, after 10 stars, excuse
me they earn a reward.
And so we have a list ofrewards and over the years kids
have added to those what theylike best or we've taken away
(06:31):
that nobody wanted to do.
And so some really popular onesin fifth grade are sit by a
friend, because they get to sitby a friend in my classroom and
in the co-teachers classroom.
Speaker 2 (06:42):
And that's so important.
They love that, they lovesitting at our desk.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
That's another fun one they love because it's like
the throne of power.
They think they sit at the desk.
Speaker 2 (06:54):
They love that.
Speaker 3 (06:55):
In the cafeteria they love eating with a friend from
a different classroom.
That's a big hit.
Fifth graders love to help ateacher a previous teacher so I
have them write a letter and Ihave a letter template, because
a lot of them cannot write aletter, so I have a template and
then they just they have towrite it, set it up correctly,
and then they plug in theinformation and send it to
another teacher.
(07:17):
And they love going back.
And then those teachers areintentional with okay, I have a
fifth grader coming and I'mgoing to have them work with
these friends, or we're going toplay bingo and they can help me
do this, so they really enjoythat a lot.
That's a very popular reward.
Another one for fifth gradethat I think is super sweet is
they love bringing a stuffedanimal.
(07:37):
I love that.
Speaker 1 (07:38):
They still like that, they still love it and they're
very proud to show it off.
Speaker 3 (07:43):
So those are.
Another one that the boysreally like is playing a game
with a friend, and we have everyD maths, we have McGraw Hill
math games and they pick to playa math game with a friend.
Wow which I think is wonderful.
Yeah so they, the boys, love topick that and it doesn't cost
any money.
They can sit with their friend.
Speaker 2 (08:03):
I just wanted to say not one thing, because we've
talked about that sometimes thatwas in one of our other
podcasts that they go.
Well, we just can't afford PBIS.
It's too expensive.
There's not one reward that ison the highlight, fifth grade
real that costs any money.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Correct?
Yeah, and did you have thestudents?
Or every year, do you have thestudents help pick the rewards?
Yes, so you don't say these arethe rewards we're gonna have,
right, they help to come up withabsolutely because sit at my
desk is not my most favoritething, but they like that.
Speaker 3 (08:35):
So, yes, they get to come up with a list.
Yeah, themselves.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, and then?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
I offer ideas of hey, what about this?
You know, do you like?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
right, because you know ones that have worked in
the past right, so you can likeinterject.
Speaker 3 (08:46):
They're like oh, yeah , that would be great, Right, or
sometimes it could be not wearshoes in the classroom and they
bring slippers to wear in theclassroom, so they like to do
that.
So, yeah, awesome.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Awesome, that's great .
Yeah, so another part of theacknowledgement system is the
leadership binders that wereally I think you started,
maybe last year a Little bit, ordid you dive in Um this year
with it?
Speaker 3 (09:09):
my previous co-teacher, who retired.
We were doing them as a folder.
Okay and then we expanded lastyear to a binder.
Okay, we added more things andthey're after doing the leader
and me.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
Training right, and so the leadership binder Is
really all about trying to buildthat intrinsic motivation.
So do you want to talk abouthow, how you do your leadership
binders and how the, what thekids, how they all start?
Speaker 3 (09:34):
right.
So I love the leadershipbinders because it helps
students be accountable fortheir learning academic,
personal and behavior.
So how that works is at thebeginning of the year they have
the binder and it's divided upinto five sections.
So you have about yourself,they have wigs, they're wildly
important goals, they'relearning their leadership and
(09:56):
their celebrations.
So in those five main sections,like about themselves, there's
gonna be like at the beginningof the year, every teacher does
an all about me page where theywrite their favorite color you
know they have brothers andsisters what favorite things
they like to do and though sothat simply can be saved and put
in your leadership binder Someother things, like their star
(10:17):
behavior charts where they earntheir 10 star reward.
That star chart goes in there.
They have we do freckle andlift off and the students record
their levels.
Those go in there and they lovekeeping track of that.
If fifth grade we do leadershipjobs, so if they're a recycler,
they filled out like anapplication for these different
(10:39):
jobs and whatever they getchosen for.
Then we have certificates thatsays you've been hired and then
whatever their job.
Speaker 1 (10:44):
How cute.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
So that goes and I'm binder with map.
They have map growth charts.
They have one for math,language arts, science and it's
a graph so they write where theyare, how they would like to get
there.
So the steps they're gonna take, we meet one-on-one and talk
about this.
That's those are in theirleadership binders.
(11:06):
If they've got honor rollprincipal list certificates,
those can go in there undercelebrations the new one, the
NBA, the basketballs those arein their leadership binders.
Anything that's of interest tothe kids, that the kids want to
showcase, they can put in theirleadership I love that, so the
(11:26):
NBA is something new, say again,again, again.
Speaker 2 (11:31):
If you're out there listening for the first time,
I've retired this year, so it isvery important for Mrs Ruff to
keep me up to date as soon asyou said that I've go.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
Okay, I know about everything else, but I don't
know about that let us know andlet our, let our listeners know
whose schools are reallystruggling with getting kids
back in school attendance, andthat's a big deal since COVID.
So one of the things that theassistant principal here in our
building came up with Was neverbeen absent.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I like it for the nine weeks.
Speaker 1 (11:58):
So we broke it down by nine weeks.
So NBA for the first nine weeks, nba for the second nine weeks.
So we actually have basketballs, little basketballs that are
paper, like cardboardbasketballs that we write on it
and say you know, you're in theNBA for the second nine weeks,
never been absent and take theirpicture, give them a lot of
woohoo's, and now they can putthat in their leadership binder.
Speaker 3 (12:21):
Yes, because a lot of times students get papers.
You know they're like what do Ido with this?
I said, well, let's put it inyour leadership binder under
celebrations.
And they love that, I love thattoo.
Speaker 2 (12:31):
So, and at the end of the year, this is a huge thing
to take home.
Yes, and be a part like this iswhat I did.
This was everything, becauseyou forget as the years going
through.
It was like a big scrapbook formom.
Speaker 3 (12:44):
Absolutely, and that's what you, what students,
like about it is.
That's what one of I asked thestudents what they liked best,
and one little girl it was sosweet she said well, when I get
sad, I like to look at myleadership binder to see
everything that I accomplished.
So I know that I can stilllearn and I thought that was so
(13:06):
impactful from a 10-year-old torecognize that's an aha moment
right there, Autumn that's alittle genius, oh my gosh, it's
genius.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
That is genius because one the fact that she
can verbalize that Right.
You know that.
You asked her on the spot whatdo you like the most about your
leadership binder?
And she could say you know,when I'm sad, I can look at what
I do well, instead of thethings right now that are in my
mind about what I don't do well.
We all need a leadership binder, don't we?
Speaker 3 (13:34):
I think we do.
Yes, and other students havesaid they like that it shows
their personal achievements,what they've accomplished so far
, like one gentleman I asked Isaid what do you like about your
leadership binder?
And he said I like that I cansee my levels.
He said I like to track mylevels in freckle and I like to
see that they're going up or fora lift off.
I like to see that they'regoing up and now do they set
(13:57):
goals for you in those.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Do they say, okay, in freckle, I wanna get to here
and then do that.
Or in map, I wanna get to here.
Do they set those ahead of timeor For freckle.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Their goal is to.
They wanna be in the purple.
Now they don't know what thepurple means.
They just know purple is fifthgrade, but they just know that
their goal is to try to get tothe purple.
And I don't tell them what thecolors mean, because everybody
is working at their own level,so their goal is just to get to
purple.
And when they get to purple theyget a certificate.
(14:30):
Freckle came out withcertificates this year, so I
just print out a bunch of blankones and then I write on there
they passed all these levels.
And once they've passed allfive freckle domains, then it
goes into our shout outs, whichI love that we're doing this
year.
I just email Mrs Miller and sheshouts out that they've passed
all their freckle levels.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yes, so Mrs Miller is doing the Lexia shout outs the
freckle.
Shout outs the 40 bookchallenge shout outs.
So we're tracking that.
In the month of December we didlike 550 shout outs Holy moly
Acknowledgement shout outs andalso in January it was 500 and
(15:09):
some and that's not all of theacknowledgments that happen in
the building.
These are just the ones we'retracking because we don't know
in the classroom really what allyou're doing too.
So we feel like we're doing alot of acknowledging of behavior
, but also academics.
Speaker 3 (15:24):
Right and the positive academics I believe,
drives, then you have thepositive behavior too.
That's our next, thing, okay sowhat's new, but one leading to
another.
Speaker 2 (15:36):
Look at you already going forward, Because you say
that the kids are excited abouttheir binders.
They love to share youthemselves, their parents, you
know all that kind of stuff.
Do you see that changing theirbehavior?
Speaker 3 (15:51):
Well, I see that they love tracking their goals and
so we have a 230 study wholetime.
They're intentional with thattime.
If they don't have somethinglike missing work they need to
work on, then can I work infreckle?
Absolutely, they want to passthose levels and improve.
(16:15):
They also do.
We meet with another gradelevel and we meet with second
grade and we share binders.
So the kids are paired up withanother buddy and they share.
Look what I've done so far,because we do it a couple times
a year.
Speaker 2 (16:29):
Look how cute that is , and they really like that
sharing.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
You know, the second graders look up to the fifth
graders and the fifth gradersare excited.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Sure, they're sharing their accomplishments with the
fifth graders.
That's awesome.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
The fifth graders get to be mentors to the second
graders.
So that's the best.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
I really liked the talk.
You know the students can saythis is where I am right now and
this is where I want to be.
We had made a video in Januaryand several of the students
talked about I'm not there yet.
Like you know, I haven'tmastered this yet, but I am
(17:05):
working towards this and I havenot heard students talk like
that and I was just so impressedby that that they understand.
They're not there yet, you know, but I'm working towards it and
I plan on meeting that goal bythe end of the school year.
Speaker 3 (17:19):
Absolutely, and that's when I love.
When you come on theannouncements every day and you
say you know, why are you here?
And the children respond withto learn.
That applies in the classroom.
I use that all the time becauseif somebody gets frustrated
with not being where they wantto be, you know.
I say what does Mrs Ruff sayevery day why are you here to
learn?
So that's what you're here.
(17:39):
You're not here because youalready know everything.
You're here to learn things, sothat's okay.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Yes, yes, yeah, I just I love it.
Speaker 2 (17:48):
I do too.
And even that positive attitudeabout yourself, like when that
little girl said if I'm sad, itmakes me feel better about
myself.
If a student doesn't feel goodabout themselves, number one,
they don't want to come toschool.
Because that is just.
If I don't feel good aboutmyself, I don't want to get out
of bed, I don't want to come toschool, I don't want to do
anything because I don't feelgood.
But if I start to feel goodabout myself and I get SEMA
(18:11):
highlights, which is like ahighlight reel, then I'm a
little bit more motivated to getup and come to school, be in
the MBA, you know, do thingslike that.
So all of that is that positiveintrinsic, you know, motivation
.
I think it's amazing.
Well, okay, so now let's look atteachers who are sitting here
(18:32):
in all of you Autumn.
They're like oh my gosh, wewant to start that.
When you think back to when youstarted the leadership binders,
now you had always donebehavior conferences, you had
met with kids about behaviorgoals.
You know you kind of had thatalready in place and we've
talked about that in our thing.
But how did you transition tothe leadership?
How did you start it that veryfirst year?
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Well, my previous co-teacher and I, because this
is advice to other teachers- whoare starting?
We had all of these pieces ofinformation about the students
separately.
So we had star charts on thewall, we had behavior charts,
you know, and this we had, youknow, the all about me paper,
all of these separate thingsthat we already do.
We thought, well, why can't weput them together in one place
(19:19):
and then we save it?
And then they have it in afolder and then, when it comes
time for conferences conferenceswith the student or conferences
with the parent we have all ofthat information in one place.
So we started small.
We put their day, their 10 starreward charts in there and
their behavior goals in there,and we just started with that.
And then every year we thought,well, let's add this to it,
(19:43):
let's add this to it.
And then when we went to theleader and me and they talked
about leadership binders and wedid a little more research to
see how could we make itmanageable for us, we divided up
the binder and then we justfound, hey, at the beginning of
the school year we always do apaper for the kids to fill out
about themselves, because it'sthe first day of school, so that
can go in the binder.
(20:03):
We always talk about settinggoals, you know, and how they're
gonna reach those goals.
Let's put those papers in thebinder.
So it was already things thatwe did.
We decided to put them in oneplace.
Speaker 1 (20:16):
And then leader and me recommends the five sections
again.
Do you wanna say those fivesections again, because I really
like those.
Speaker 3 (20:24):
It's myself, my wigs, so my wild, the important goals
, my learning, my leadership andmy celebrations.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
Yeah, that's really good and that's how you have it
divided up now.
But I like how you said youstarted small, because if I'm
listening to this and I'm not aleader in me school, so I don't
know anything about leadershipbinders and I don't know about
those five things, although nowyou do, because she just said
them.
We all, as teachers, havethings about our students, like
(20:52):
you said.
We've got this on the wall.
We've got this, this and this,but to begin that with maybe
three things, you know fourthings, five things, and then to
add on to it, but yourcategories from leader and me,
that's awesome, and anybody,even if you're not a leader, in
me school can do that.
Speaker 1 (21:07):
No, you can still do that for sure.
Speaker 3 (21:08):
What Autumn said?
Absolutely because aboutyourself.
That's just information aboutyou as a student, and then any
of your goals, any goal settingyou do, could go next and then
you're learning.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So if you do freckle or if you do Lift off the map
because, or map those can go inthere under their learning
writing right to do a sample ofwriting in the fall one and at
mid year and one at the end, andjust so you can see how your
writing is changed.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
Absolutely.
I'm gonna interject a minuteabout using them in conferences
because you brought that up justa minute ago.
So Just say a couple minutesabout that, because I think
that's real powerful.
Look, as a teacher, I rememberwhen I used to prepare for
conferences I was getting outpieces of work, I was trying to
average great you know thatwhole thing to get ready for
that parent.
Where you have, you can justbring this out right, it's
(21:59):
already done, that's, and Ididn't do it and you didn't have
to prepare for it so if a car,it's apparent, just calls and
says I want to have a conferenceon my child, you go fine, we
can do it today Because I have aleadership binder already to go
over it with you absolutelyamazing and we started this fall
.
Speaker 3 (22:17):
We were testing it out this fall to see how it
would go and it went really well.
So we asked for the students tocome to conferences.
Speaker 1 (22:26):
I was just gonna say did you I?
Speaker 2 (22:27):
wanted to say did you have student?
Speaker 3 (22:28):
conferences I want to say so we had the students come
in and we practiced beforehandwith the students, like before
parent teacher conference.
You know we would have themcome up.
Okay, show me your binder.
What's your most importantthings you're excited about?
You know we made sure theyunderstood what all those papers
were because parents, if theylook at the binder, they're not
gonna know what map goals aren'tsure.
Maybe kids have to explain,right.
(22:50):
So we practiced ahead of time.
I love the front loading Beforethe conferences yes, and so we
just said okay, and they satdown and they said you know my,
you know to their grown up, thisis my conference, this is my
binder, and they explained everysection and any question they
had, like they would look at usand then we would look at the
student and then the studentwould answer the question.
Speaker 1 (23:14):
Of so empowering, so much empowering, and again, you
know that gives the child achance to show off their genius,
because we talk about everybody.
We talk about everybody.
Can everybody be a leader?
Speaker 2 (23:28):
I don't know about that, but everyone can be a
genius in the thing that they'regood at, you know absolutely
and so that's an opportunity toshine absolutely, and I just and
be a part of the conference andbe an integral, not just
sitting there, you know, worriedabout what they're gonna say
about you, like you know, andwhat you can't do.
(23:49):
And right, it's what I can do.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
This is where I want to go next.
And that's what I liked when wemade the video, because the
kids we didn't and we did notfront load the kids, right, you
did.
We just went around and askkids to share and they just
shared automatically, whichtells us that a lot of teachers
here in the building areteaching that way you know, that
celebrate where you're at.
(24:12):
And then here's where I want togo next growth mindset yes, the
growth, my yes, the growth isthat is so awesome.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Well, thank you, autumn, for coming we that.
I have learned so much today,absolutely, and this is just an
awesome, an awesome piece in thePBIS puzzle.
So if you have any questionsout there about leadership
binders or putting this togetherin your school, this kind of
acknowledgement system, be sureand email us, because we would
(24:41):
love to answer any emails.
We are getting emails coming innow and then, so that's awesome
and we can always hook you upwith.
She can now you back, if youhave anything specific, please
email us at PBIS journey togenius at gmailcom.
We're also on Facebook andInstagram.
If you just type in PBISjourney to genius, you'll find
(25:02):
it.
So thanks for listening to ourshow.
Speaker 1 (25:06):
I'm Diane Farrell and I'm Diane rough and you've been
listening to PBIS journey togenius.
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