Hello again,
A couple of days ago, I was speaking with one my more “behavior-challenged” students. We were discussing the consequences of the choices that we make.
After talking for a while, I was surprised when he came up with the idea of having some kind of paper where he could have each teacher write down how he did in their class and then take home to show mom.
I was surprised, because as I told him, having this kind of “behavior monitoring form” is normally suggested by parents or teachers.
I commended him for his desire to do better and make some changes to his behavior.
It turned out that he wanted to go on some kind of upcoming family trip, and if he didn’t improve his behavior, he wouldn’t be able to go. With the monitoring form, he would be able to document his good behavior to his parents.
I thought, “I’ll take it.”
I didn’t have such a form on my school computer, but I did remember that I had created one years ago (like 20 years ago) when I worked in another school.
I went home and searched the archives of my computer, and found that old form. I called it the S.A.M. Sheet – The Student Academic Monitoring Sheet. (It’s sheer coincidence that Sam is my first name – really.)
Although it’s been over 20 years since I have left that school where the SAM Sheet was first used, I’m proud to say that it is still being used over there.
I went ahead and modernized the form a little and added a Spanish translation.
I thought I’d share it with my SITC visitors.
Feel free to download it and make copies.
The SAM Sheet is mainly for middle or high school, and works best with those students who have parents who will check the sheet each day.
I hope it helps to make communication with parents easier. Let me know if you have any questions or problems with the form.
Until next time,
Here’s to your Success In The Classroom!
Thanks,
Sam
Yep, we have a similar form at the school I used to work in and it was called a “DAILY”. It’s quite similar to yours but it leaves some room to enter comments by each teacher. The only time this won’t work is when the student purposefully hides or not show the concerned adults this info. So before we get students on this notice, we conference with the parents so they know to check and/or ask the student this notice. The beauty of this is that it doesn’t have to be for students who are failing at something, it can be for anyone who wants to see how they’re doing on a regular basis or for a period of time.
Hello Michael. Thank you for your comment. You’re right. Communication tools like your “DAILY” only work if the parent is on board. Otherwise, it’s just a waste of everybody’s time. I’d like to see if there is a way to have something like this online, where teachers can check a box on a webpage to notify the parents instantly if a student had a good day or not. This might eliminate the excuse, “I lost my paper.” Something to think about. Thanks again for the comment. Sam