Merit Charts

[vintageteacups]

Hi,

I don't want this to sound like I'm being precious but today, as I did last week, I went into DS' Year 1 class and had a quick glance to see how his merit chart was doing.

He was on a yellow card to get 150 merits and he had 4 boxes ticked.

All of the other charts, except one, were either near to full yellow charts or the next green colour chart with either almost full ticked boxes or ones which were 1/4 to 3/4 full.

Now, I know that children all learn/do things at different stages and I know merit charts aren't a competition, however DS came home last week saying he'll never have as many merits as anyone else. Today, he looked and told me the same thing.

As the teacher was busy, I asked the TA what she thought and that I was querying why he excessively less than every other child.

Her reply was that she thought he was rather shy at carpet time and that I should encourage him to raise his hand more to answer questions and that was how many children got lots of merits;for answering questions!

So that's fine for children who aren't shy (like ds) or who know the answers. He said he was shy to put his hand up. I told TA I thought that they should perhaps look at other areas where DS does well. I said that unless he wasn't being a good boy or not helping, then I didn't get why he wasn't getting merits.

When it comes to certificate assembly, DS will pretty much be the only child in the class to stay sitting down, whilst the rest of the class go up to collect their next merit certs.

The whole merit chart thing has, thankfully, passed me by, but at times in their school careers, teachers of both my DDs have suggested they need to speak up more in class, as if this was something I could influence.

As they rarely stop talking at home, I've never been sure how I could change this. It may be worth asking the teacher what her strategy would be for encouraging your son to contribute more.

Thanks pterosaur.

My feeling is that he shouldn't have to contribute though to get a merit.

He has them sometimes for his homework and reading and it's that kind of thing I feel he should be getting them for; not whether he puts up his hand.

There are lots of little girls in his class who love the teacher to bits and are always being her little helpers and answering questions. Boys I think aren't generally like that at 5/6 yrs so when I looked at the charts, it was clear to see who it was getting all the merits.

I don't mean to sounds bitter; I'm not. I just think that they should be looking at evening it up a bit; especially as the kids all see the charts up on the wall. It kind of alienates them a bit and teaches them to compare.

My ds in year 1 and they have a sad face and happy face system. You need to get merit points to get on happy face board. Sometimes that merit point might be for answering a question or doing good work, but mostly they seem to be for - sitting nicely, tidying up, being generally well behaved etc. I agree there is a lot of comparing going on; not just with merit points but what 'colour/ability table' kids are sitting on. Children DO notice things plus may sometimes over hear parents views etc. My ds a bit bouncy and is not a stranger to the 'other board'!

I think that there are "problems" with merit cards at our school too.
My dd noticed that the children who sit closest to the teacher seem to get more than those who sit further away.

There is also a big difference between the teachers. Some hand out loads where as others hand out very little. I have 2 at the same school and one has completed more than 3 merit cards where as the other has just completed 1. They are both very well behaved and have never missed a minute of Golden Time since starting school.

At our school the merit cards are little booklets that the teacher keeps on her desk which is a relief!

I don't understand why they are stuck to the wall at our school crazy. It's humiliating and worried them unecessarily.

I don't know what thay can't have little books, rather than have their face plastered to the wall!

Can't bear stuck to the wall rewards with individual names and ticks. Much better to reward individuals with a contribution to a class reward scheme, marbles in the jar or whatever. Encourages children to encourage each other. Could record individuals privately. It's so difficult to be fair with rewards and can set children in competition where it isn't needed.

there's a parents evening coming up next week - I might suggest that.
I know they won't consider channing it though.
They also have marbles in the jar for class trips at end of half term to play park.

The more I think about it, the more awful I think it is to have their photo and name up there for all to see.

I'm a year two teacher, and I don't use merit charts for these reasons.

I give out stickers etc but sometimes even these are a minefield and the children will (correctly) ask why X has got a sticker for finishing his lunch - for example - and they haven't. The most honest answer is that X is usually a PITA and won't eat whereas they are always "good" and finish, hence the one who is doing what they should consistently doesn't get rewarded.

I think there's definitely some children who are consistently good but not outstanding who can easily be overlooked. Obviously its difficult and I have just have to monitor who is getting them and try to make it even - with everything else going on its even harder to keep track. I'd happily ditch stickers etc altogether but I've had parents complaining that their sticker-motivated child isn't getting enough, so I can't really win.

I much prefer the marbles in the jar approach, and the class can earn them as a whole, or individuals can earn them on behalf of the rest of the class and every child has a stake in a Friday afternoon reward. It works really well for mine - I do take marbles out too sometimes if they have been naughty (usually as a class eg a noisy lesson or bad playtime, but this is a last resort).

well - the teacher waited behind for me when I picked up ds today and she apologised and said that she shuld have noticed the deficit.

I was impressed she actually said sorry and I thanked her and said that it seemed quite demoralising when they are able to compare charts.

Glad it seems to be sorted, for now at least.

that's good to hear. As I said in my post, its hard to keep track of these things but the benefit of pointing it out is you can have a nice conversation about it and sort the matter out before it becomes a problem