Maybe it’s just me, but I was consistently running into the problem that my students would show great behavior in the classroom, but it somehow went out the window when they walked over the threshold of our classroom door. This year, I have found a solution that has been working for me and my students.

Each time we are about to leave our classroom, whether it is to walk to library or specialist, I draw a student name from my equity stick cup. No one in my class knows who I picked, but I tell them what I am looking for in that student. As we walk through the halls I positively praise students who are doing those things. “Thank you to _____ for walking carefully.” Or, “I see _____ using a silent signal.”

When we get back to class I do one of two things. I either share all of the amazing things that I saw our secret student doing, and then reveal who it was, letting that student come and pick a Jolly Rancher. Or, if the secret student did not meet hallway expectations, I do not share who it was but I share the things that happened and were not meeting our expectations. It might sound like this, “our secret student was walking in the hallway but they were not at a voice level 0.” That way, no one is ever called out for not following expectations and it is a super easy way to reinforce and remind students of what I expect each time we leave our classroom.