REWARDS

I used to be somewhat against rewarding children for positive behavior. I thought that students are expected to act in this way, why should they be rewarded? However, Meredith has taught me differently. Rewarding students for positive behavior makes the focus of a classroom on the positive, rather than the negative. It shows students that if they want to have the attention of the teacher, they better act appropriately.It also enables the teachers to set their expectations high. A teacher has the ability to reward students that go above and beyond by encouraging others, sticking up for others, etc. It gives the teacher ample opportunity to give his/her focus on this type of behavior.

My only hesitation in regards to rewards is the type of rewards given. In a middle school that I used to work at students were being rewarded with McDonald's gift cards and/or iTunes gift cards. I had issues with this because it took the focus of the behavior away from the school body and placed it in material, fleeting, insignificant rewards. I believe the rewards should be 1)Individualized and 2) School related. To individualize and make rewards school related, I think doing a menu board would be effective. A teacher could really get to know her students and create a menu board of rewards that she knows will address the interests of all her students. Also, the rewards will be academic/school focused. These will vary depending on students but a few suggestions are: extra recess time on Fridays, computer privileges, opportunities to run morning meeting, etc. The key is to really know the students in order to create items that actually are appealing to them.

To conclude: Rewards are awesome! The classroom needs to reward positive behavior. However, rewards need to appeal to students and they should be oriented towards the school.