The Case for a Class Reward System

Last year was rough, I had challenges in my classroom that I had never experienced before. I was tired, I was stressed, kids were stressed and in all reality I was burnt out. I was questioning whether or not education was even for me. Then this year, in my eighth year of teaching, I did something I was always against. I started implementing a classroom reward system.

Let's face the reality here, kids (and most people) are extrinsically motivated. Instead of pushing away from that little reality I decided to try something new and lean into it. Last week I was angry and frustrated about my student's inability to practice impulse control, specifically concerning cell phone use during class. My system of punishment was not working. I knew I needed to try something different.

Previously in my class once the students were told to put their phones away and it came out again they were to put it into my cell phone jail. The novelty of the phone jail soon wore off and students were once again trying to sneak a game or two on their phones during class instruction.

I realized that I was part of the problem, my system of management needed to change in order to see a difference in the students behavior. That is how Wadsworth Dollars were born.

I was very surprised at how quickly the students wanted to participate in the Wadsworth $$ program. Essentially the program is simple. I have a chart in the front of the room and students can voluntarily put their phones their in order to earn a ticket, with the tickets the students may purchase things from me or put it into the bucket for the once a month raffle. It was helpful that I already had a system in place where students were able to use a pencil from the chart for a trade of a cell phone. At the end of the class the phone was picked up and pencil was returned. So, most of the students were already used to a similar protocol.

Why does the reward system work?

• Expectation is clear

• Extrinsic motivation drives behavior

• Consistently implemented

• Voluntary participation

• Tier two intervention of support

• Rewards are clearly posted around the room with ticket values to each one

What are the logistics?

The students are only allowed to accrue one ticket per class. Therefore the students must collect the tickets overtime in order to cash them in for prizes. There is also a raffle each month for a "big prize". In hindsight I probably should have had prizes that did not involve me making purchases but, now I know better. I may change the prizes at the semester. I try and get the students to participate in the raffle so they spend their tickets on that rather than on the little stuff. Although, it did make me happy when a less fortunate student told me he was saving up for Uno. I like the idea that he is able to earn tickets to buy something that he wants independently of his family.

Unexpected Results

There were some unexpected results from the implementation of the reward system. There was a large spike in students participation in class. I went from having one or two hands raised to 7-8 per question. Students were social again. They started talking to each other and genuinely appeared to be engaged in what they were learning. I am constantly needing to make new tickets, which isn't bad, I will say that is a sign of the systems success. My students as a whole also behaved for the substitute and all earned tickets when I returned. While the program does involve effort on my part I am much more obliged to spend that time rewarding the students as opposed to punishing them.

Making the System Equitable and Accessible to All

It was important to me that the system was equitable. I recognize that not all students have a cell phone. In order to level the playing field I first took a survey of each of my classes so that I knew exactly who did not have a cell phone. I was surprised to find that about 30 of my 180 students do not have phones. The number was much higher than I expected. For these students they are assigned a class job in order to earn their tickets.

I am excited to see how the students will "spend" their tickets and how this will play out over time. For now I am happy with my results. At the semester I am going to transition the rewards away from items like food/candy to privileges in the classroom. Hopefully the tickets will eventually disappear and the students will still continue to put their phones away for a distraction free learning environment.