rewards

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Home : 2007 : June : 25

rewards
By SusanTeach

I'm probably a minority here, but I personally like the rewards system. It works for me, and I feel like it puts the attention on the positive things and not the negative.

I even did a reward system for my own
children when they were younger. I told them if they behaved all week at school then they'd get a small ice cream at DQ on Friday. With 3 kids, it only took one time of one child misbehaving and that child having to watch the other 2 eat ice cream in front of him/her to curb that misbehaving! Now we still do weekly ice cream treats - but it's just a reward for working hard all week (I

need it, too!). Thankfully we don't need it for discipline purposes anymore. Is that wrong? I don't know - but it worked. :)

For school, I don't use a lot of candy as rewards, because I don't want to encourage cavities ;) but I do use my treasure chest. If the kids did their homework and stayed on a smiley face all day then they get a ticket at the end of the day. I draw 2 tickets from the basket and they pick from the treasure chest. All the tickets (except the 2 winners that day) stay in there all week so the kids have more than one chance to win. I start fresh each Monday.

I've used this for 3rd-5th graders and it seems to work with all the kids I've had. If it ever stops working, then I might consider another route other than rewards.

Let's face it, even adults like (and get!) rewards. Haven't you known someone who got a raise (other than a teacher) for doing what they were supposed to do? Isn't that a reward for a job well done?

I do agree that you need to still set high expectations and talk about respect. I do that the first few days of schools - and the kids know I mean business when it comes to hurt feelings. I don't tolerate that.