Class Rewards
People from all walks of life enjoy being acknowledged for their efforts, including our students and us.
Using a combination of both formal and informal rewards encourages our students to adopt “want to” and “can do” attitudes and assists them in becoming self managed.
The vast majority of our students meet expectations and agreements most of the time, and as such this should be our primary focus. It is very easy and natural to devote our energies to irritating negative behaviours from a minority of students and the processes to deal with them.
- they tend to consume us because they have a debilitating effect on learning and teaching dynamics
- unfortunately this creates a less desirable half empty mindset rather than a half full one for us
To support the shared expectations and agreements, it is essential to put in place a clearly understood
- system of rewards for students doing the right thing and meeting them
- processes for dealing with the non meeting of them and agreed consequences
- strive hard to “catch” our students being good and having a real go at their learning
- in every class there is a group of students that are very easy overlook in our rewards; the quiet unobtrusive ones that come to every class and meet agreements happily; let’s not forget them
Following are some suggested guidelines for rewards:
- praise students often using their first names
- learn about what students do for hobbies and leisure and initiate conversations on the topics; they will respond in an amazingly positive manner, because they genuinely believe we care
- make it an accepted culture in the class that doing well is the goal and is cool
- be specific when giving praise eg rather than, “well done Archie,” try, “that was a good point you made Archie in our class discussion” or rather than, “that was a good assignment Sharon,” try, “the angle you approached the topic from Sharon showed a lot of understanding and initiative”
- write notes home to parents highlighting positives in the students’ planners and ask that parents acknowledge the note by signing and encourage comments to build relationships
- set-up a points system for the entire class for meeting classroom expectations
- have a target to aim for that will earn the class rewards such as, an excursion, a video, and open
- discussion on a topic of their choice, an alternative activity, a “home learning” free period of time, a barbeque, fresh fruit etc.
- points for punctuality, correct uniform, completion of “home learning” could also be built in
When our classes don’t run as well as we wish:
- never deduct points for poor behaviour; this system strives to focus on positives not negatives
- if the class doesn’t meet classroom management expectations and agreements, discuss it with them and don’t award points
- be consistent and record points accurately because there is no doubt, our students will
Some useful strategies in rewarding students include:
- while circulating in the classroom praise students privately, showing a genuine interest in their well being and progress
- thank students for meeting expectations and agreements; we shouldn’t take it for granted
- we must always remember that children don’t care what we know till they know we care
- congratulate our students for things such as
- listening well to others, working cooperatively in group work and sharing their experiences
- helping classmates, appreciating their efforts and staying on task
- completing “home learning” on time, accepting challenges and achieving their personal bests
- being accepting, tolerant and caring
- being creative in their thinking and asking thoughtful questions
- actively and enthusiastically contributing to discussion
- cleaning up the classroom
“Give a worker his pay before his perspiration has dried” Egyptian Proverb