My top three are: Praise and encouragement for specific positive behaviors, as this reinforces what students are doing right. Consistent routines help maintain structure and create a predictable environment. Active supervision allows me to prevent issues and provide feedback, ensuring early intervention and support for students. Generally, I believe any strategy will work if you are consistent, as the success of the strategy is directly related to the teacher's level of consistency.

I agree so much with what has already been shared! Building relationships with kids is the most important part of any system that you use because they truly have to 'buy-in' in order for it to work. I'm not sure what grade level you would be using the strategies with but one thing I always did was asked students to write down the name of a person that I could call when they had a good day. For some of them, this wasn't a parent--it was a coach or a pastor or an aunt. I would then reach out to the parent/guardian and ask if it was okay for me to reach out to that person and what would be the best way to contact them. My students were always SO excited when they saw whoever I called and got praise from them too. It takes a village. Also whatever system you do use, make sure to ask the students' feedback; for example, if they are working towards a reward, ask them what they want to reward to be. I would normally ask for a couple of options or I would tell them some ideas I had and they would choose from those.

I used sticker books and desk pets. For every assignment completed or for when I see positive behavior I gave them a sticker. Then they had to count to 50 stickers to get a pet of their choice. Pets “need” food so when they earned another 25 stickers, they chose a “food”. The pet and food were then often used in creative play at the end of the day. They met a standard of one to one correspondence in counting, which the student counted in front of me. Eventually they were quick enough to count the stickers by 5’s. The pets and food were those Japanese puzzle erasers, for those wondering what they were.