The Paper Clip Chain...

 

   

     Many teachers use a simple paper clip chain as an incentive for good behavior in their classrooms, and I'm one of those teachers.  I started by hanging one paper clip from the ceiling in our classroom.  Whenever a student or the entire class did something positive, I added a clip or two to the chain.  When the chain hit the floor, the class would get to choose a reward.  It's a very simple concept, but the kids really like it.

     This year, on the first day of the paper clip chain, I had each child guess how many clips he/she thought it would take to reach the floor.  This winner would get a free homework pass (something I rarely give out!) After chatting with their friends, measuring the paper clips, and doing all sorts of math calculations, they put their secret predictions in a box, and we set the box aside until the day that the chain hit the floor.  These predictions just added another element of surprise and excitement!  They would count those clips every single day!!  Whose guess was the closest?  Who would win the free homework pass?  It really was a lot of fun!
   

   
     The excitement grew as the chain got longer and longer!   It was right about the time that we were fairly close to getting the class reward,  when I noticed that my students were rushing through their reading homework and handing in less than stellar work.  Many of them weren't applying the strategies that we'd been learning in school, and they were making very careless mistakes.  I decided to use the paperclip chain to encourage them to "up their game".  I gave my students very specific expectations when I explained their next homework assignment.    I modeled my expectations in class and told them that I would be rewarding good work with a paper clip.  The next day, the homework assignments were absolutely gorgeous.  I couldn't have been more proud of them!  I rewarded them with paper clips that they happily added to the chain, anxiously awaiting the one clip that would hit the floor- they were getting so close!
     Finally, we were ONE clip away from the highly anticipated reward (that had yet to be decided.)

1 centimeter away from the floor!!!

     Everyone had handed in their homework, and paper clips were given out, so the class knew they'd have to wait until later that day or tomorrow to earn that final clip.

     Just then, I glanced across the room and noticed one of my students, Taylor, scrambling at her desk to complete her homework.  Taylor lived in a one room apartment with her entire family and had no quiet place or parental support to help her with her homework. Most days I would have Taylor do her homework at school with me, but she was absent the day before, so she obviously didn't have her homework completed.

     It's moments like these that make a teacher's heart skip a beat...

     Taylor, who in the beginning of the year would NEVER do her homework, and wouldn't care that she didn't complete it, was sitting at her desk doing last night's homework.
     I watched her hand it in without saying a word.  I walked over to my desk, checked her work, graded it (she got it all correct!) and made the announcement to the class, "Wait a minute, here's another homework assignment!!  It's Taylor's, and she got it all correct!!  Here's your paper clip, Taylor!"   The entire class cheered and hugged Taylor!  In that moment, Taylor was their hero!   Her paper clip was the one that made our chain hit the floor!  Taylor's face was priceless!  She was the hero, and it was because she did her homework...
     Guess who has been doing her homework every day since that moment?  Taylor!  If it takes a paper clip chain to encourage students to do their very best and to feel good about themselves, then I'll hang a paper clip chain every year.

     Next, it was time to choose the class reward, so we brainstormed some ideas and the kids wrote them down on chart paper.

         After taking some time to think about it,  each student voted for his/her top 2 choices.

    

    And the winner was...HAVING LUNCH WITH MRS. MONKS!  And since having some extra outdoor recess was a close second (and they have been cooped up inside for awhile now) I promised them some extra recess once the weather gets nicer.  I couldn't help it, they really are so well behaved!

     So, my class and I now have a few more memories to add to our 2016-2017 fourth grade adventure.  Our paper clip chain experience and the fabulous picnic lunch we shared together in our classroom!    Life is good in fourth grade!  :)