Oh. em gee! Have you read Rachel's blog post over at The Tattooed Teacher about her V.I.P.s yet?! Run. don't walk. Greatest idea EVER!
I saw her post about it on instagram in January and immediately set to work on creating my VIP table in my classroom. My students were ya know... angels kinda acting nuts. I am sure none of you know what that is like..ha! I was so excited because I knew this would be just the perfect incentive!
I moved our rug from our classroom library to the middle of the room, brought in a table, and got to work making it VIP-ish! I typed up VIP with an adorable KG font and taped it on. Then, I put together their *own* set of special supplies. Things like: pens, highlighters, markers, pencils, erasers, tissue, hand sanitizer (seriously their FAV!), sticky notes, scissors, etc!
I pick 3 V.I.P. students a week. These students also get special privileges on top of sitting in the middle of the room like the V.I.P.s they are! They get to line up first, pack up first, take their shoes off, keep their water bottle at their desk (woah! it's a big deal..) work on their own rug, monitor the bathroom breaks, and more! I also usually put a little surprise on their desk every other day or so. I have given them bubble wands, special glasses, and even donuts!! The target dollar spot is amazing for these gifts!! This week, I added the V.I.P Paparazzi. The VIPS now get to take pictures of exciting classroom things for our classroom Instagram! I have them upload their photos on Google Drive, and then I upload them to Instagram (the app doesn't work on our school wifi). To read more about my classroom Instagram and even snag a free parent permission form see my post here!
As a class, we talked about what it means in the real world to be a V.I.P. and what it would mean for our classroom. We discussed that these people are model citizens, role models, and they work super hard to earn the award or privilege. We came up with some things I would be looking for in our V.I.P.s when I am trying to choose for the next week....things like: on task behavior (duh), good citizen, respecting others, neat work, etc. I also told them that you can lose your V.I.P. status anytime during the week that you are not doing those things. #sadface
Let me tell you, my students are SERIOUS about this table. It is a BIG deal. I have seen a huge turn around of classroom behavior since introducing this to my class! I have seen those students that really don't care about incentives or feel like they can't earn anything work SO hard to earn this special privilege! I encourage you to think about if this would work for your classroom and try it out! Let me know if you have any questions!!
-Ashley
