More on how I feel...

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Home : 2007 : June : 25

More on how I feel...
By NC5th

Honestly I feel like kids are rewarded for things that they shouldn't be rewarded for. If you walk down the hall quietly, do you deserve a reward? If you turn in your homework everyday? If you work quietly? Where does
it end?

I don't feel like adults are rewarded for things they are supposed to do. For instance, following the speed limit. I'm not rewarded for that. It's expected. Wearing my seatbelt, taking care of my children, paying my bills, cleaning my house, etc. I'm not rewarded for any of it. I do it because it is the RIGHT THING TO DO.

I posed this question to my mom

who works in a school. If you found a $20 bill, would you turn it in to someone or would you take it? She said she would turn it in. I said, "Why? Do you expect to be rewarded?" And she said, "No, because it's the right thing to do and it makes me feel good inside." I think by rewarding kids for things they should do anyway, we are taking away that good feeling inside (the internal motivation) and making them reliant on the reward (external motivation).

For those who use a reward system, how does it work when you're not there? If there was an emergency, and you were called away and had no sub plans, so the sub couldn't follow your reward system, would the students still behave as they should? Would they have internalized the rules and expectations enough so that they could essentially monitor their own behavior? Or are they totally teacher-reliant to get themselves under control? This is my major problem with rewards.

Sure, I could make my third graders behave wonderfully for me by offering them an immediate reward. In the long-term, they did not internalize the behavior. When I had a substitute, there was always a horrible note about how my students were very disruptive, they didn't listen, etc.

Maybe rewards work for some people. For me, they didn't. I really want to try something else. And I honestly think it can work. Too many children now have a sense of entitlement, and giving rewards for everyday behavior is just playing right into that.