Student Contributor: M. Gil Mendoza
A student gets zapped by the teacher when they are misbehaving by having the teacher place a yellow Z in a form of a lightning bolt which indicates to the student their misbehavior after they receive the Z they go to the reflection corner grab a zap sheet write a small reflection on their behavior, what they can do to improve their behavior, and discuss it briefly with the teacher afterwards they keep the zap sheet as a form of a reminder and responsibility.
(1)This tool is a yellow Z, shaped like a lightning bolt that is laminated. The teacher will place that Z on the student desk who is misbehaving and that student should know it is time to go to the reflection corner, fill out a Zap sheet writing a small reflection on why they were zapped, how they will improve their behavior, and keep it in their desks as a reminder for the remainder of the week with their signature as a sense of responsibility. The important elements is to not distract the class when handing out the Zap and making sure you have established what students are to do if they get zapped.(2) My personal experience with this is volunteering at my little sisters elementary classroom and the teacher implemented this tool and from what it looked like it went well.
(1)This tool could possibly be used as a part of the Preventative phase by informing them what it means to get Zapped and how to avoid it by going over the expectations of the students and rules you all created together, I don’t think this tool fits well in the Supportive phase. I put this tool under the Corrective phase because allowing the student to reflect on their misbehavior and review that sheet they are able to truly think about how it was negatively affecting their learning as well as their tablemates which in turn will hopefully internally motivate them to work on their behavior. I put this tool under the theories of Student Directed and Collaborative. I think this tool aligns well with the student directed theory because it allows the students to take responsibility and reflect on their behavior. I also chose the Collaborative theory because it is initiated by the teacher and involves the student and teacher to talk about why they were zapped and how they could improve for the future, focus on accountability.
More Information –
Tool Source: Mrs. Chavez, Pioneer Elementary School, Sunnyside WA
