When I began teaching seventh grade science as a Teach for
America Corps Member, one thing that set my class apart from others was my use
of a reward system in a middle school setting. Prior to joining Teach for
America, I had earned two degrees in education plus I already had two years of
teaching behind me. By the time I joined TFA, I had my own ideas about
classroom management and had begun to implement those ideas. However, one of
the main reasons I joined TFA was to learn about different styles of teaching
so I could become a better educator for my students. I kept my mind open to new ideas. One thing
TFA exposed me to during our five-week summer institute was the use of a reward
system at a secondary level. At first I thought it seemed silly and
impractical. Middle and high school students excited about earning little toys?
Spending tons of my own limited income providing those goodies for hundreds of
students? Huh? After dismissing the idea, I found myself thinking about it and
considering how I could make it more practical for my own classroom. When I began teaching seventh grade science
students a month and a half later, I had a reward system in place as a way to
decrease misbehavior, increase student engagement and achievement, and create a
fun and positive classroom environment. And what do you know? It worked.What did I want in a reward system?
I wanted my system related to academic achievement. I wanted
students to be individually rewarded to increase their investment. More
importantly from a behavior standpoint, I wanted them to work together for
class rewards because peers can often influence behavior in ways a teacher cannot.
I did NOT want to spend oodles of money making it work. My reward system
developed when all of these ideas rolled together.
What does the reward system look like as a whole?
Here is a quick synopsis of my reward system. First of all,
it has two parts—an individual reward and a group reward—and both parts involve
earning class points. Students earn tickets individually that they enter in daily
prize drawings. The number of drawings a class gets depends on how many points
a class earns for good behavior. In addition to daily drawings that reward individual
students, class points add up for whole group rewards.
Earning Class Points for the Individual and Group Rewards
How do students earn class points?
Students work together as a class to earn points. They do
this by following directions, doing things quickly, participating, being on
task, doing exceptionally well on lab days or during lively activities, having
a class average of over 80% on a test or quiz (five points each time), and
getting good reports from substitutes (fifteen points per day). When the class
earns a point, I let them know right away. Letting them know when and why they
earn a point is important because it rewards them instantly for their good
behavior and encourages them to keep it up.
Do you ever take away points?
No. The students earned the points they received. Many
times, most of the misbehavior comes from only a few students. Taking away
points punishes the whole class making well-behaved students less invested in
earning points because they feel those points can just be taken away by the
poor choices of others. The only time I’ve ever taken away points was when a
sub wrote a very poor report about a class and the majority of the students
didn’t get the assigned sub work done. (The
students who did get their work done were rewarded for their actions.)
How do you keep track of class points?
I have a mason jar with a lid labeled for every class. Each
point is represented by a fuzzy thing (actually called pom-poms, but “little fuzzy
things” was the name we adopted for them). During class, I put the little fuzzy
thing the students earn into the lid. (I want to keep them separate for the
individual reward that day.) At the end of class, I count how many points we
got for the day to determine how many prize drawings we need to do for the
individual reward. Then I add the little fuzzy things collected in the lid that
day to the jar to accumulate over time (for the group reward).
Individual Reward Information
How do students get tickets for the individual reward?
Students earn tickets for getting 80% or above on
assessments. An assessment includes tests, quizzes, and exit tickets. I always
have at least one assessment each week so students have plenty of chances to
earn tickets. Whenever a student performs well on an assessment, I attach one
ticket onto their paper. When students get their papers back they detach the
ticket, write their name on it, and enter it into the drawing where they have a
chance win a prize of their choice. Check out a set of reward tickets here.
How many class points does it take to get one drawing?
Every five class points triggers one drawing. For example,
if a class earns a total of ten points they will get two drawings. If a class
gets nine points, they will only get one drawing.
How many drawings are typically in one day?
That depends on a few different factors, the biggest one
being overall class behavior. In a 90-minute block schedule, I usually do
between two to four drawings. In a shorter 45-minute class, the students earn
one or two drawings. I’ve had some disastrous classes (haven’t we all?) where
students didn’t earn even one drawing. I’ve also had spectacular days (yea!) where
a class earned six.
How and when do students submit tickets for the drawing?
If I have any worksheets or assessments to return to
students, I pass them out while students complete their Do Now at the beginning
of class. Any student who receives a ticket at that time can add it to the
class’s bag. I usually send around a student who finished his or her Do Now
early to collect the tickets in the bag.
Where do you keep the submitted tickets for the drawing?
I have a gallon-size Ziploc bag labeled for each of my seven
classes. When it comes time to do a drawing I empty the class tickets into a
bucket so students can select a winning ticket without seeing the name written
on it.
When do you do the drawing? Who does the drawing?
I like to do the drawing at the end of every class period.
It only takes about two minutes, so I don’t feel like I’m sacrificing class time
(especially since we accomplish so much in class when the students are
motivated to be well behaved by the reward system). If time is running short,
we carry over the drawings and do them at the beginning of the next class. In
the past, I’ve tried doing the drawings only once a week on the last day before
the weekend, but I’ve found the students aren’t quite as motivated if they have
to wait that long.
Students love being involved in this system, so unless we
are running really short on time a student will do the drawing. I choose a
student at random and invite that student to the front of the room where I am
holding the bucket of tickets. Without looking, the student chooses a ticket
and reads the name of the winner to the class.
What prizes do students earn in the drawing?
I try to have something to appeal to every student. I have
bathroom passes and homework passes. Before school starts, I stock up on the
amazing deals that can be found at Office Depot and Staples. There I find
folders, pencils, pens, notebooks, and erasers for as little as a penny each. During
the summer I go to garage sales for inexpensive books or fun little items I
think my students will like. My mom loves to make jewelry, so she provides
earrings and bracelets. Many parents love to donate for the reward system, so I
always request the most popular items of all: food, drinks, and gum. They go to
Sam’s Club to get good deals in bulk. I ask them to keep each item’s cost less
than 50 cents.
Where do you keep the prizes for the individual reward?
I keep the prizes in a glass display case with a lock. One
of the walls in my science classroom is made entirely of these lockable glass
cases and it makes for the perfect way to both show the prizes and keep them secure.
What do you do with the huge number of tickets that are collected but not drawn?
I dump the tickets into the recycle bin each quarter. I do
this because some students earn a lot of tickets during that time and others
only receive a few. I want every student to have a chance to win and when
certain students have a stockpile of tickets it makes that difficult. I also dump
the tickets each quarter because some students made poor choices and deserve to
start over with a clean slate. The rationale I give to my students is the bag
can’t hold that many tickets and students should have a chance to start over
and make good decisions.
Whole Group Reward Information
How many class points does it take to get a whole class reward?
One hundred and fifty points seems to work best. On average
it gives a whole class reward about once a month. One hundred comes around too
often and two hundred drags on causing the students to become apathetic.
What whole class rewards do you use?
I provide a list and let the students vote. No matter how many choices I give the
students, only two have ever been chosen. Classes always vote for either free time
with electronics (I give between ten and fifteen minutes) or permission to
bring and eat snacks during class.
When do you count the class points for the whole group
reward?
I don’t keep a running tally of the number of points.
Instead I have a student in study hall count each class’s points at the end of
the week. I announce the total on Monday when we go through the weekly
schedule. If at that time a class has reached the 150 points needed to trigger
a whole class reward, we vote for what the reward will be and when it will
happen.
In summary, this reward system has two parts. The first part
is an individual reward. The class earns points to trigger drawings at the end
of each class period. The drawing prizes go to individual students who earned a
ticket from getting 80% or above on an assessment. The second part of the
reward system also involves getting class points, but the whole group works
together to earn 150 points and trigger a whole class reward.
This system has helped me build and maintain a positive
classroom environment in my seventh grade science classes. Students are excited
to come to class and learn. They are motivated to do well on their assessments
and be good students in class. Plus, it’s a lot of fun for me.
