On the Hunt for Positive Behaviors

After reminiscing on my son's 20th birthday it is time to get back to the true purpose of my blog.  I am so fortunate to have teachers, administrators and now a school psychologist sharing great ideas to increase staff morale.  The idea below is shared by Cristina Green, school psychologist at Scott County Middle School.  

Cristina describes a new twist on the Scavenger Hunt that benefits both teachers and students.  I really like the way SCMS finds a way to incorporate a competition that rewards positive student behavior.  

As part of our school-wide positive behavior initiative at Scott County Middle, we've been working hard to find strategies to help us increase our ratio of positive to negative feedback given to students AND to also make it fun for staff. One way we've tried to do this is to do it SCAVENGER HUNT style! Staff members were given their Scavenger Hunt sheets first thing Monday morning and the directions were as follows:

OBJECTIVE: We are on a mission to let the students of SCMS know we appreciate when they do the right thing! Each week, a Scavenger Hunt will be distributed to teachers with specific positive behaviors for you to seek out. And for added fun – some healthy TEAM COMPETITION!

RULES: Review the “target behaviors” to look for. Throughout the week when you see a student who demonstrates the listed behavior, recognize them, give them a CARDS ticket, tell them what they did right, and have them sign the line under that behavior on your Scavenger Hunt Sheet. You must find a different student for each behavior. At the end of the week, the team with the most “finds” will win a prize! GOOD LUCK!

This turned out to be a great activity for staff and the competition component got some more motivated to participate in the fun of recognizing positive behavior!