Related Posts
How do you ask for points?
How do companies now view candidates from Meta?
Additional Posts in Teachers
Happy Friday! 🤣
New to Fishbowl?
Download the Fishbowl app to
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
unlock all discussions on Fishbowl.
On the major unit exams that we always do, I post a king of the hill poster in the room with the highest scoring students name on it, and that student gets to sit in a special comfortable chair for five school days.
You could have them graphing their assignments and looking for improvements. I know I don’t work with high school but I like to emphasize improvements and equate it with hard work. Then the rewards could be based on most growth or continued excellence in achievement for those that already score high. It could also include not having missing assignments or late assignments. To help those with needed organizational skills that may not make high scores all the time.
Could you lead a brainstorming session with the class to list “attainable” rewards? Maybe they do not understand self-efficacy. Then, have students create their own goals. Once they succeed, celebrate with them!
Can your students do individual projects, like passion projects?
They do have projects that they can choose the specifics of what they learn
Ah. I’m sorry. I went a totally different direction with that. Haha.
Well the string is kinda cool. I’ve also seen teachers devote a wall in which student achievement moves kids up a ladder, a mountain, around a game board, etc. some teachers have had one ultimate goal. Read 10,000 pages and you earn a t-shirt. Others have had small rewards along the way. What will promote the most pride and intrinsic motivation? I’m not sure. One thing to be careful of is what to do for the students who are not progressing. The more they visually fall behind, the less they will want to try
This is something a guy at a conference said & I'm trying it next year - He learns 1 new thing, like juggling, every year. He starts in September & is really awful & the kids see him slowly improve the whole year.
This is more modeling perseverance in the face of challenges, tho, but maybe the joy of learning.
(Thanks, Don Pata!)
Help me understand what you mean by unattainable. Do you have an example? I’d love to help
An average class grade of 80%. All students turn in their assignments. Their ideas have always been as a class, but I really want to celebrate individuals, but I'm not sure what to celebrate and how often. I have considered using the standards as a guide, but I'm not sure that's the best place to start.
I see.
One thing I’ve learned is to provide specific feedback. Remember that everyone learns at different paces and views ideas and concepts in different ways. One student may not enjoy math but shows mastery just the same. They don’t value the good score. They’re just jumping through hoops. This student needs specific feedback that speaks to them. You might tell them in person, or make a note on their paper, that they think like a mathematician when multiplying fractions and that you think they will be successful when things get more complex. This will help this student view their skill set differently, positively. You aren’t just saying nice job. To students, that means very little and tells them you glossed over their work the same as their neighbor.
Another student might have worked hard with you, a parent, a tutor, or any combination. To them, demonstrating mastery was a real feat. The feedback you give this student needs to speak to them. You might show them work that they struggled with next to the work they mastered. Talking about their personal growth and showing it to them could be huge. Don’t just say “you did it!” Make sure they see exactly what part of the learning they showed improvement. Maybe they were unable to simply the product. Maybe they couldn’t separate addition rules from multiplication rules. Let them know you saw the change.
Feedback that is targeted is a strategy that has been researched and found to be one of the most effective tools we as teachers can use
I try to give feedback several times a week, but wanted to incorporate a celebration on front of the class tied to some type of specific learning goals. I heard about a teacher that tied a string around the student's pencil and bowed to them, similar to moving to a new colored belt in karate.