Category: rewards

Awards, being a teacher, punishment, rewards, students

All You Have to Do is Show Up – A Tale of Perfect Attendance

Pernille Ripp
Today the debate turned to perfect attendance rewards, something that seems innocent enough on the surface, but can elicit debate in even the most timid teachers. I was lucky to engage in a great dialogue with a trusted colleague but also turned to educators around the world to get their input. The judgment was swift and to the point, most were vehemently opposing them, lambasting them for what they thought they really were; bandaid awards to those students who may not otherwise receive an award.

So why is rewarding students for perfect attendance not a great concept? The ideas were many:

  • It is one more way for schools to separate the winners from the losers in a public forum.
  • It rewards students just for shwoing up, not effort, work ethic or learning. What life skill does that teach since there are no jobs that reward you merely for showing up.
  • Perfect attendance award does nothing but encourage students to come to school even when they are sick enough to stay home or contagious.
  • It makes losers out of the kids where life situations prevent them from coming to school; funerals, court, counselor appointments etc.
  • We are rewarding kids based on their parents behavior; whether they can get them to school or not. Why disappoint the kids further that already are battling with parents that may not be able to supply reliable transportation.
  • If this is the only thing we can rewards students for then we are not spending enough time recognizing or uncovering their talents.
  • And finally, my own opinion; if we have to reward students to come to school then what value are we placing on schools? School is meant to be a place of stimulation, of excitement, of amazing discoveries. Not a place where you show up just so you get a reward. Not a place that has to have a reward tied to it as theperetual carrot. While I agree that we should celebrate those students that do show up day in and day out, I just don’t think that an award eceremony is the right venue for it.

Add your voice to the debate! Is a perfect attendance award ceremony simply a cute certificate that does no harm, is it no big deal, or is it another way to compartmentalize students?

classroom expectations, classroom management, our classroom, punishment, rewards, Student-centered

Put Your Name on the Board – a Tale of Why I Gave Up Classroom Discipline Systems

Pernille Ripp
Image from here

Put your name on the board! Those words spoken in a very stern voice accompanied by a teacher look was enough to whip the toughest student into shape. Except when it didn’t which for me was enough times to make me wonder. Could my discipline systems really be thrown out and replaced with nothing? Would chaos then reign supreme?

If you had come by my room last year you would have seen them. Those sticks in the cups or the names on the boards with checks, sometimes double checks and plenty of stern looks to go around. I was doing exactly what I had been taught in school, exerting my control as the main authority figure and if students misbehaved, well, then there was some form of punishment. Oh don’t worry; there were plenty of rewards as well. If students didn’t move their stick or get their name on the board for a week then their name got entered into drawing for pizza with me. At the end of the month if they didn’t have their name in my book for not doing their homework, they could also enter their name, and then I would finally draw names and five lucky students would have pizza with me. Confused? I was! I could hardly keep check Of all those names, checks, and punishments.

However, last year I realized something after reading Alfie Kohn; I knew I had to change. By perpetually focusing negative energy on the same students, who, lets face it, are most often the ones having their name singled out somehow already, I was indeed just adding more to their self doubt. While I believe in discipline for all students, I also believe in compassion and that philosophy simply was not fitting in with my chosen system. So I did as many teachers may do; I threw it all out. However, instead of hunting for a new system, I decided to detox myself, start this year with no system for reward and punishment and instead strive to create a classroom community where students just know what the expectation is.

I was petrified that first month. I run a tough classroom in my expectations for my students and I know that if you do not set the tone those first weeks, it can be detrimental to the rest of the year. And yet I held strong in my conviction that even the more unruly students would eventually figure this out through repeated conversations and respect. And boy, did we talk. We talked about expectations, rules, how to speak to one another, and what to do when something goes wrong. A lot of the time, I just listened to these amazing students come up with solutions to problems, listened to them explain how they envisioned our classroom, how they wanted fourth grade to be. And I was in awe; these kids knew how to behave without me telling them over and over. And they certainly would figure it out without me alternating punishment and rewards.

So after the first month I started to breathe again. I let our new system flex itself and watched the students help keep the classroom stabile. Sure, there are times when I think ooh if I just had a way to “punish” it would fix this and this and then I realize that perhaps I just need to find some time to speak to that particular student. Now instead of an exasperated tone and a system to keep them in check, we discuss, we try to fix, and we reevaluate. I don’t run the classroom with a complicated system of checks and balances, rewards and punishments, but rather with an atmosphere of community, of belonging. Is it perfect? No, but neither am I, nor my students. I am just glad I believed in my own skills enough to realize that perhaps, just perhaps, my students would know how to behave without me rewarding them for it. Once again, they blew away all of my expectations.

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award, being a teacher, rewards

I’m a Loser

Pernille Ripp

As the Edublog Award ceremony train passed right through my station tonight without an award or acknowledgement, I couldn’t help but feel like a loser. A big loser, in fact. It wasn’t that I had expected to win or even place, I am much too Danish to ever think highly of myself, but sometimes you let your imagination run away with you for a split second.

So there I was tonight, where I should be occupied with my insane 23 month old daughter, the surgery I am having tomorrow, or my husband who worked a 12 hour day. Instead, I found myself having a little pity party and it was sad to say the least. In fact, it was so pathetic that it made me think of why I have grown to despise awards in my classroom. You see, I felt like the outsider tonight. Like I was not cool enough to be recognized or even mentioned. Like the kid that sits along at lunch hoping someone will strike up a conversation. Like the kid that no matter how hard they try for the teacher to notice them, they just fall short.

So what is it with awards that can get even the most levelheaded anti-award teacher to behave like a love-stricken teenager hoping for their first kiss? Is it really that we just want someone to say we notice you? You make a difference? You work hard? We believe in what you do? I don’t know. Because really those things are said to me by the amazing members of my family, friends, and my PLN often. Do we just not believe it when it comes from people that know us? Must it be from total strangers to feel like proper recognition? Or is it the group recognition? Of being given an award in front of others so that they know how important you are? I am still trying to dissect my emotions and find myself again. The one that doesn’t have a ridiculously bruised ego, the one that feels like they belong and that others care. Either way, I am moving on, proud of my nomination, eager to add the winners to my feed, and strengthened in my resolve to not have awards or rewards in my classroom. After all, if a 30 year old teacher that knows better can get this silly over a missed reward then imagine what it does to a kid. Lesson learned again.

being a teacher, blogging, kids, no homework, rewards, students

If I Were a Teacher – Reflections from Students

Pernille Ripp

Ah from the mouths of students.  Every week I challenge my students to blog asking them various questions.  This week I thought why not ask them how they would run their classroom?  What do they love when we do and what would they change.  Well the answers are in and they are very revealing (and not so surprising after all).

  • No Homework.  The consummate complaint is that teachers give too much of it, that it is too hard, or even worse that it is boring and/or pointless.  We know this probably from our own school experience, so why is it most of us ( and I used to be one) feel the absolute requirement to prescribe homework?  Students already give you at least 6 some hours of their day, how about we give them a break and let them enjoy life a bit?
  • Rewards, candies, and parties.  Yes, students want to be rewarded and they do not know why.  No students wrote how they would “earn” said rewards but many pointed out that parties were the best thing about school.  Makes me sad to think that with all of the amazing learning going on, the parties we throw are the ones that kids remember.  So how do we change that?
  • More spelling tests.  Ok, that one was a surprise.  I have a couple of girls that love spelling and so for them a perfect classroom means more spelling tests.  Preferably on Thursdays when their minds are still fresh.  I am still thinking about that one.
  • More creativity.  Students don’t want to show us their progress through another worksheet (well, some do but many don’t).  Students want to create.  So my students are asking for more creative projects.  I cannot wait for them to see the Native American Battle simulation I am working on right now.
  • Rules.  Not the rules you set up, but rules they come up with.  This year I do not have rules posted on the walls but we discuss them a lot.  Especially trust and just how important it is in our classroom.  It shows again that students crave structure with some freewill embedded and gives me a good reminder that we need to have another class meeting to discuss norms.
And then the compliment.  Almost all of my students had to share just how amazing I am as their teacher and while I certainly appreciate the compliment I also wonder about it.  The challenge did not say anything about me or rating my performance but rather what they would do themselves if they were a teacher.   When are students taught that they must tell you that you are their favorite teacher or that you rock?  I always tell my students that they do not have give me compliments unless they mean them but whenever I mention teachers, there it is, “well, you are my favorite one.” Oh if it really were so, I will settle with being one they like and not let the rest go to my head.
If you would like to see the blogging challenge (blogging challenge 3) and their thoughts on tests (blogging challenge 2) as well go to our class blog.  While you are there, leave us a comment.  They love to hear from others and we mark you on our map as well.
being a teacher, community, grades, letting go, rewards, students

Letting Go

Pernille Ripp

As this new year is really getting under way, and for me even slightly starting over, I am thinking of all the things I am letting go off.  At first scary and new, now these things are becoming familiar and worth it.  So I urge myself to let go and continue to let go off

  • Grades. Yes, once the cornerstone of my educational philosophy but now I am seeing them for what they are; fictional numbers scribbled on a page that does not let my students know what they excelled at or even how they may improve.
  • Tests for the sake of a grade and being done with something.  Instead they now work as springboards to new learning, explorations and joint adventures.
  • My voice.  Yes I am actually staying more quiet and letting the students do the talking.
  • Rewards.  Imagine a room of 28 well-behaved students that yes may get a little fidgety or even a  little loud but that actually enjoy each other and the learning environment they are creating.  Not punished by rewards as the wonderful Alfie Kohn would say but rather motivated by a common desire to create the best learning environment for all of us.
  • Rule poster.  Oh yes, that staple of classroom walls.  I don’t even have one this year, of course, we have talked about it and, in fact, they often change based on the challenge we are doing, but nothing is etched permanently and neatly laminated for the sake of reminders.
  • My markers.  Another novel idea; let the students do the writing.  No more trying to decipher my chicken scratch.
  • Missing all of a recess.  Sure some students stay in to work with me but when we are done they are free to run because kids need to run, not stare at me for some sort of punishment they do not understand.
  • Lectures about behavior.  They get it, they know when they are being too loud, or off task, address it and move on.
  • Structure for the sake of control.  We have a basic structure such as asking to go to the restroom but if you forget, it is ok.  I forget sometimes too.
  • Me being the only teacher.  I think of my room as having 29s teachers plus whom ever walks into the room.  Those kids know something, let them show it and watch them gravitate toward each other for more.
So ask yourself; what have you let go off this year and how has it changed you?  I know that I have a long way to go but this journey is one I gladly get on every day.
Be the change, rewards

Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones and Rewards Will Always Hurt You – Confessions of a Former Rewards Addict

Pernille Ripp
This post is, was, and will be inspired by this post written by George Couros “The Impact of Awards“

I admit it.  Gold stars, super duper stickers, sticks, names on the board; I have done it all.  And when one reward system failed, another one took over.  Never one to sit and reflect that perhaps it was the system that was faulty and not just that the students grew tired of it.  After all, that carrot at the end of the stck was essential to my teaching success.  Those stickers meant I cared.  That Awesome board where A+ work was proudly displayed gave students something to strive for.  That certificate if you got an A on your math test meant that you were smart and that other students should look up to you.  Right?  Wrong again.

Oh, I thought I was clever.  I thought I knew how to motivate students and after all, what could a little reward do that would possibly hurt the child?  Well, after reading Alfie Kohn’s book “Punished by Rewards,” I realize just how wrong I have been.  Those papers on the awesome board did nothing to improve unity in my room.  Instead they acted as the great divide, highlighting the students that could from those that could not.  Those stickers I doled out for anything above 90%; not a cheerful way to celebrate achievement, but rather a glaring marker showing which students did the best in the room.  Those great “you did it” award certificates stapled to their math tests, not great posters of pride but instantaneous feedback on where a students falls within the grade hierarchy.  And yes, the students knew exactly where they fell within the classroom.

So this year I am throwing it all out.  Well, most of it anyway, I do like those stickers and will use them for good rather than evil.  And I am petrified.  After all, this is how I was taught to teach.  If a student does something good they should be rewarded and nothing says “Great job! I can tell you worked so hard” better than a smiley face sticker.  Wrong again.  A smiley face sticker says; “If you work hard, you will get a smiley face sticker.”  And when in life does that ever happen?  This year, I plan on talking to my students even more.  Telling them what was great, asking them what they thought was great and then peeling apart things that didn’t quite get there and figure out what went wrong.  We shall learn from our supposed mistakes, those will be our rewards.

So while I am excited for this new no-reward agenda, I do shudder a little bit at the implication it has.  No longer will I be the cool teacher with the Awesome board, the one you get to have pizza with if your stick doesn’t get moved, the one that doles out classroom parties as if they were clean socks.  Instead, I will be the one that shouts the praise the loudest to every kid.  The one that talks to all my students and highlights all the things they did right.  The one that creates more work for herself because talking rather than just placing a sticker takes more time, more effort, more thought.  And I can’t wait.  Will you join me?