Stoplight System: Managing Whole Class Behavior

Too often, teachers are scratching their heads when thinking of ways to manage classroom behavior. I myself have been in that same spot, scrolling through miles and miles of Pinterest ideas, asking colleagues for their strategies, or spending hours trying to scrap something together the few weeks before school starts. I came across the idea of a stoplight system more than once, and I decided to try it this year, putting my own spin on the popular strategy. The stoplight system I created is solely for whole class behavior. Many other stoplight systems have students' names on clips or clothespins and I find that strategy is best suited for elementary school where you only have one set of students throughout the day. At the middle and high school level with over a hundred students, it felt impractical to have 120 clothespins. In addition, the idea of publicly announcing and showing the level of individual student behavior has never sat well with me. I firmly believe that individual behavior should be addressed in a more private manner.

Now, onto the good stuff! Below is a picture of the Stoplight of Silence I created this year. I decided to call it the Stoplight of Silence as a throwback to my old high school where we had the Sword of Silence. Mine is a bit more friendly than a sword made of rulers!

I am a very visual person and I find that my current batch of students are too. My way of appealing to this sense was to physically create a stoplight, not just three colored cards on the board or a banner.

I bought a used three bulb standing light at a garage sale, tall enough that it could be seen over all the students' heads and stand out in the room. I replaced the original light bulbs with colored ones from Home Depot. The only ones they had available were very bright, so I made sure the shades around the bulbs were frosted. It made the lights more muted and easier to look at.

Next to the lamp, each color of the stoplight has a corresponding laminated card. These are the ones I came up with, but you can always adjust the words to reflect what type of system you want for your classroom.

Green: Doing Great! This color indicates that students are focused, engaged, and working the best to their ability during the entire course of the class.

I always put the green light on at the start of each class. I find that students like knowing they begin class on a positive note, especially students that had acted out the day before. It feels like a fresh start and new chance everyday. However, some teachers might find it constructive to have students earn a green light after observing their behavior in class.

Yellow: Caution! We need to check our behavior and refocus. This color indicates that students are starting to lose focus and engage in negative behavior. Some examples could be students talking over the teacher multiple times, not completing work, etc.

When I change the light to yellow, I always make sure I explain to the students why the stoplight is changing. I try to make it at least two reasons and make certain that the majority of the class was engaging in negative behavior.

Red: Stop! We are facing consequences. This color indicates that students have not corrected the behavior and persisted in disrupting class.

It is rare that I have to change the light to red. When students get to this light, it is best to have a list of consequences created ahead of time, even if it is only in your head. The consequences could range from turning group projects into individual projects, moving seats, etc. The consequence depends on what will work best for your students. The consequence does not have to be a punishment - in fact, I find punishments don't always help in addressing student behavior - but it could be an opportunity to implement a new strategy or rule in class.

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