My first year teaching, I struggled with finding a good behavior management tool that the students would like. I wanted to make sure that I praised the students for their positive behavior, but I didn't want to go broke doing it.
I decided to try out Brag Tags by A is for Apple off of Teachers Pay Teachers. From the very first day that I began to use them, I fell in love. I decided that I wanted to use the Brag Tags to praise my students, and I also wanted the students to be able to take the Brag Tag home and show their parents. I printed out the brag tags, and laminated them. If a student received a Brag Tag, it would be turned into a necklace with string. I would make sure that the class congratulated the student that received a Brag Tag. The students were also able to wear the Brag Tags throughout the day, and they could even keep them at home to show off to their parents. I wanted to make sure that I created them to be able to go home as another great way to brag on the students to their parents.
At the beginning of the year, I would give out Brag Tags randomly to students who were caught showing great behavior. If I saw a student sitting quietly, they would received a Brag Tag for that. As the year progressed, I started to focus on all of the students working towards a Special Brag Tag, or the Awesome Day Brag Tag.
Everyday, we would end our day by giving a student an "I Had an Awesome Day" Brag Tag. I felt like this was a great way to end our day. It really taught the students to be supportive, even when they didn't get the reward; this took a while for some students to grasp, but by the end of the year, they were very supportive. We would also have days where we would have a Special Brag Tag that the students were working towards. At the end of the day, the Special Brag Tag would be given out.
I highly recommend trying Brag Tags this year. I plan to continue using Brag Tags in my classroom this year. It is a great way to praise students for their positive behavior, and teaches students to support others even when they did not receive a Brag Tag.
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