Evaluation of article on Classroom Management

http://socyberty.com/education/effective-pre-k-and-kindergarten-classroom-management/

This article specifically addresses pre-K to K aged children. The author of this article lists several different examples of ways to promote effective classroom management.
1. Classroom Helper- Each student is given a daily duty in the classroom. This is a wonderful example of the SLT where students are engaged with the teacher and with one another at different points in the day. By not having the students bored, helps with them paying attention more.
2. Line-up Manner- When going from place to place, the students form two lines and are required to hold hands with one another. The author talks about helping to keep the line in order and so as not to lose anyone. I do not see any connections to motivation or NOL in this technique. I do see a connection with the BLT as the teacher is establishing this as a routine knowing they line up and hold hands with a partner.
3. A reward system-star chart- Throughout the day a teacher can give a student a star which they get to put in their star bag. Once the student reaches 20 stars, they get to earn something out of the treasure chest. I think this is a great way to motivate students to behaving well, paying attention and being respectful of one another knowing that with these good behaviors they could earn something. This falls under the BLT learning theory by students being rewarded for their positive behaviors thus encouraging them to continue to have the positive behaviors.
4. Good day/bad day chart- Any time throughout the day a student can be asked to move their clip down, depending on their behavior. If their clip is moved in a day, they are ineligible to turn in their stars that day. Each day the student starts over at the top with good day. While this technique motivates students to have good days, it does not give students the opportunity to change their day around. If the student has a really bad morning, they stay at that level all day, not giving the student incentive to behave. Also, the article doesn't mention any other motivating factors to stay at the good day level other than if they move down, they are ineligible to redeem their stars.  I could see students not being motivated to have a good day unless they have all of their stars to redeem. If a student doesn't have all of their stars, nothing is motivating them to have a good day. This technique seems redundant of the reward system and a little overkill. It could be tweaked to include the option to move back up to a good day status or a reward if you stayed in the good day status throughout the day.
5. Using sign language to signal needs- The students are taught sign language to signal needs such as water or using the restroom. This takes place of speaking aloud and disrupting the class when a student needs something. I am not a huge fan of this technique. While I like the idea of teaching students sign language, I feel that it breaks down positive and effective communication between a student and teacher. I do not see where this technique ties in to any learning theories, NOL or motivation.
6. Every activity associated with a song- This technique uses music to help transition students to one activity or another. Students learn the "clean-up" song or the "reading" song. This uses the SLT in that students are engaged with one another as well as the CLT in which they are actively mentally engaged to help motivate them to clean up and switch to another activity.
7. Using music to help students relax and refresh- This technique allows students to have a mini-break with singing a song or listening to music while dancing. The thought is that if students are able to clear their mind, they can easily get back on track. I have to disagree with this technique. I would be worried that students would lose motivation to whatever activity they were working on and be hard to bring back together after they are signing and dancing around. I'm not sure where the connection is to any of the learning theories, NOL or motivation.

When reading through this article, a lot of the techniques use positive motivators to get students reach a certain goal. The star chart and the behavior chart (if used correctly) are great ways to teach the children about self-efficacy and that they are in control of things they earn through their behaviors. This could also focus too much on extrinsic factors and motivators for students. By giving rewards, the students are  not learning for themselves, but rather for their teacher.

When thinking of these techniques and how they apply to the nature of learning, I am struggling. If you were to use the reward chart and reward students on their effort on learning something or effort on an assignment, you would be teaching the students that leraning takes time and effort and doesn't come easy. The teacher could explicitly tell their student that is why they are earning that award.