The "Dewey Bell"
by
John Taylor, Catholic Schools (Blessed Sacrament and St. Anthony’s School)
of Broome County, Binghamton, New York
The "Dewey Bell"
by
John Taylor, Catholic Schools (Blessed Sacrament and St. Anthony’s School)
of Broome County, Binghamton, New York
The "Dewey Bell" was originated out of many years of trying to motivate my students to follow the rules and to cooperate with each other. When I first started to teach I tried to "force" my students to follow the rules and to cooperate with each other. After finding out that this approach did not work I tried to develop a system of rewarding the students for following the rules.
This was working, but I found that my system of having to speak several times to the students who were not following the rules was actually rewarding the students who were misbehaving. (Negative attention is as good as positive attention to some students.) That would mean that one or two students might ruin the efforts of the other 25 students who were following the rules.
This was creating an atmosphere that I did not want or like. It was at that time that I tried a different approach -- The "Dewey Bell." The "Dewey Bell" or as I should put it, the "Do We Bell," is an idea that I put forth this year and I am thrilled with the results!
At the beginning of the year I explained that the classes would be using the Dewey Bell and this is how it would work. Every time a student does something right or helps another student, the student who witnessed the act goes over and rings the Dewey Bell. The Dewey Bell is a small bell that is placed on a table in the gym.
When the bell is rung, the class stops and the student who rang it says "Do we want to know what happened?" (Get it? "Do We.") The class answers "Of course we do!" The student who rang the bell then tells the class what the classmate did to receive this recognition. Sometimes the student is not even aware that he did something that merited the bell. I ask that the bell be rung at least five times during the class, which can be a very difficult thing to accomplish.
When the bell has been rung five times, I then place a star by the class' name. When the class has received five stars, the class is given special recognition or other appropriate rewards. I am so pleased with the results. My classes still don't always follow the rules, but they are kids and they are trying; but they are looking for each other to do things that are helpful and considerate.
It Really Works! Student self esteem is soaring like I never could imagine. It is wonderful to see a student's face light up when the rest of the class hears what he did. I have shared this idea with classroom teachers who have told me that it has worked wonders for their classrooms as well. I hope that you can get the same results!
To create this program use any bell or horn. I started with a bike horn, but it wore out from constant use. I am now trying to find a cow bell to ring which is more durable than the bike horn. I also put up a chart on the wall which is known as my S.T.A.R.S. chart, which an acronym for "Students That Are Really Super." I hope that this can be as helpful to others as it has been to me.
Information provided courtesy of
Great Activities
and
www.pelinks4u.org