What is your take on using rewards?

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What is your take on using rewards?
By NC5th

I've been a stay-at-home mom for the past two years. I just got a 5th grade teaching position, after teaching a year of 3rd grade in an inner city charter school. My class was rough! I had a bipolar child, several oppositional
defiant, 4 LD, 5 ADHD, and many that weren't labeled, but were still serious behavioral issues. I tried everything with this class, including rewards, and nothing seemed to work.

During the past 2 years, I've had time to actually reflect on my experience, connect with other teachers to discuss what works with them, take additional professional development (such as Love

and Logic), and read several books. One of the books I read was called Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn. This book really opened my eyes. I realize now just exactly how detrimental using rewards can be. I spent so much of my own money on rewards when I taught and none of them worked.

My strategy this year is to try to build a classroom community from day 1. I've read The First Six Weeks and The Morning Meeting Book. I've also read Teaching with Love and Logic, Discipline without Stress, Punishment or Rewards, and The First Days of School. I really feel like this is where I failed before. I didn't establish a community of trust. Many of my students were major bullies, and a lot of my day was spent putting out fires. This year I'm hoping that conducting morning meetings and really trying to get to know my students, as well as having them really get to know each other, will help.

My new school uses a rewards system, though. In fact, on the supply list, one of the requested items for my grade level is candy for rewards. They also use a punch card system, where after so many punches certain privileges are withdrawn. What are your opinions on rewards/punishments/consequences? What has worked well in your classroom?

I really just feel like kids should not be rewarded for behaviors that should be expected. I feel like if I set high expectations and go over procedures repeatedly throughout the year, that I can solve most of the management issues I had in my first year of teaching. Any thoughts would be very appreciated.