The Best Classroom Rewards System You're Not Using...YET!

As with a child, to commune with Athena demands a level of openness and intuition greater than that used in the usual discourse between adult humans of a common culture. -Sy Montgomery, The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness

Kia ora, industrious snackers!

I have amazing news! This reward system will not have you digging into your pocket, nor will you need to ask anyone to buy something off your wish list. This reward can be duplicated multiple times or with slight variations and be equally effective as the first time. Okay, who's in?

This is all you have to do.

STEP 1: Observe your students. Discover which amazing academic or social skill they demonstrate in class.

STEP 2: Call it out routinely during class in front of the other students.

That's it! Here's what that can look like:

"Kai, you read with such expression (may need different language depending on the age level, of course). That was fantastic! Will you read it one more time for us?"

First, we begin by praising a child for something they do that exceeds the expectation and is not about their behavior. We haven't called out Kai for getting an answer right or anything like that (Carol Dweck reminds us that it's not productive to address a child with words about how smart they are).

Second, we're teaching the whole class and reminding ourselves that intelligence is not a binary. Doing this will go a long way towards solving a lot of the interpersonal conflicts and/or teasing that arise because they believe that correct answers mean "good" and incorrect answers don't. The end result will be that our words are altering the class' tone and they will begin to learn to look for these traits more often in themselves and one another and will have learned to speak up it when they see it...!

So, this will cost you careful observation. But it will yield positive self-thought. They will try so hard to get that compliment!

It will also cost you an adjustment in focus. But, if you ask students to find those things in one another, you've doubled the rewards with no extra effort!

However, this is a skill that you will notice expanding over time. I've found that this is especially effective with children who aren't always told what they're doing right in class.

Rewards that center around behavior cause some kids to mask sensory and movement needs in order to be eligible for the reward. Some receive more negative attention as a result, because they can only deny their needs for so long. Focusing on skills, on the other hand, allows them and in fact acknowledges and awards them for being themselves as learners.

You're telling them something that's unique and wonderful about themselves. This has enormous power.

Sadly, so many of the students we teach rarely if ever hear positive words spoken about what they do. So, if you thought you were saving the world before...!

Oh, and did I mention it was FREE?!

"Chef Charles, I'm having enough trouble wrapping my head around the myriad behaviors that seem to be taking all of my energy. I don't have headspace for this." I hear ya. It's an ongoing challenge in my classroom, as well. I wrote a book that may help!

Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed or got something out of it, please consider giving it 5 stars below and forwarding it to a friend.

Until next week,

Happy snacking!

Chef Charles

Head chef

teacherssnacks.com