"Many teachers consider using rewards to encourage students to do more reading and writing, but Alfie Kohn (2001) and others believe that extrinsic incentives are harmful because they undermine students' intrinsic motivation. Incentives such as pizza, free time, or 'money' to spend in a classroom 'store' are most effective when students' interest is very low and they are reluctant to participate in literacy activities. once students become more interested, teachers withdraw these incentives and use less tangible ones, including positive feedback and praise (Stipek, 2002)." (Tompkins p. 278)
I think rewards can be a valuable asset if used correctly. I remember in the fourth grade we had class money. It was a really fun thing for all of us and we enjoyed doing all we could to earn class money. We would help clean up, do all our assignments, or win a variety of class competitions. On the flip side of the coin, I have also been in classes without rewards and have done just fine. I think it depends entirely on the students you have in your class and what it will take to teach them.
Will rewards be a part of your classroom? If so what will they be and how will they be used?
I have thought a lot about this. I think that if used properly, rewards can be a very good thing. I think that I will use some kind of reward system with my students to help motivate them. I realize that they may be motivated by the wrong thing at first, but the hope is that the reward will help them realize the value of the learning and become motivated for educational purposes. In one of my elementary classrooms we used scholar dollars. It sounds like it was the same as your class money, Janelle. Scholar dollars were a great motivation and I think it helped us do tasks more willingly than we would otherwise.
ReplyDeleteI remember a lot of the "rewards" my teachers used in my classroom. I felt like they motivated me in many positive ways. I think one area that can be a good reward in the classroom is when they are on their best behavior for a sub or an assembly. But I do understand that we want our motivation to help them ultimately become better people in general. I think that if we really think it through as a teacher for our specific class we can find motivations that go hand in hand with making our students better people :)
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