Rewards

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Home : 2002 : February : 14

Rewards
By Amanda K.

When I was subbing, I used this technique a lot with the 3rd through 6th graders, and it worked pretty well. I assigned each row or group of desks a number and wrote that number on the board. Then, when a row wasn't cooperating,
I would put a tally mark next to their number. Frequently, I wouldn't say I was doing it, but would keep adding marks until someone noticed and got the rest of the kids to fall in line. At the end of the day, the row with the fewest tallies got a treat, usually a Dum-Dum lollipop or something. You can buy large bags of candy at places like Wal-Mart. (Incidentally, the only

time I use candy in my classroom now is as an incentive to be good when we have a sub.)

This worked really well for me; I was popular with the kids as well as the teachers. I had kids stay after school to help me clean the classroom for extra treats, sometimes. Also, you can allow rows opportunities to have tallies erased, too, because sometimes a row will realize that they are not going to get the treat, and then they have no incentive to be good.

My favorite sub now uses the following technique. She writes GOOD DAY BAD DAY on the board, with dashes under the letters. Whenever the kids are acting up, she fills in a letter under BAD DAY. Conversely, she fills in a letter under GOOD DAY if they are following the rules. I'm not exactly sure what incentive she uses in other teacher's classes. In my class, students know that they either get a treat for GOOD DAY or they lose recess all day for BAD DAY, if either is filled, because she and I work together on that. She leaves this on the board so I know what happened when I come into class the next day.

I hope this helps!