Musings from a Not-So-Master Teacher

Birthdays are important to me.  Unlike other American holidays, they do not require reciprocity.  There is no give-and-take, no social contract; nothing that says, "our gifts better be equal, because if they don't, I'll either feel gyped or guilty."  Unlike the stressful holidays that require months of planning and occassionally bitter family dysfunction, a birthday celebrates an individual.  It is a day that is automatically special to the person - a day which says, "You are valuable because of who you are and not what you accomplished."  Okay, I suppose living another year is an accomplishment.  After all, there are so many ways to die, but really, is it that tough to avoid death?  I mean, as long as you eat healthy and remember to breath, the rest is mostly following basic traffic rules and staying away from sharp objects.

Every time it is a student's birthday, we sing "Happy Birthday" and the student gets a card and a candy bar.  I think distributing candy might be illegal in Arizona schools, but for birthdays, it's a cause I will take up.  Call me a rebel, I guess.  (Maybe I should buy one of those Che berets) There are other things I use to keep the classroom positive.  I choose four students each week from each class and send a positive note home.  I do an excercise at the end of the year, where students write something positive about one another and I type up a list and add to it a one-page letter customized to each student. 

It is not that I have a touchy-feely, circle time kind of class.  I just remember how rough middle school was for me and I try my hardest to keep things positive and to affirm students for who they are and for the job well done.  What I refuse to do, however, is offer rewards.

I don't give PAT points or cards or stickers.  I have no special Treasure Chest where students can pick out a toy if they have done well.  That might seem harsh. However, I have found that rewards ruin motivation.  They take away something intrinsically interesting and make them a chore.  This is why I am against offering free pizzas to students who read books during the summer.  Shouldn't the reward be reading?  Isn't that good enough? Children end up trading in the fantasy of Harry Potter for a hunk of chain-restaraunt greasy dough with a little tomato sauce and cheese.

What happens with rewards is that they diminish in return.  They grow ineffective and so teachers have to increase the rewards constantly.  (Alfie Kohn has done some great research with this idea).  A child who starts out working hard for a candy bar soon finds candy bars normal (and boring), perhaps more boring than math equations.  So, the teacher is forced to up the ante repeatedly until students get a backpack of goodies for simply doing their work.

So, instead, I think the answer is to affirm students for who they are by letting them know that I care.  I can thank them for a job well done.  I can offer both positive and constructive feedback.  Yet, the key is to avoid letting those become the reward.  Once the positive notes, the comments and the candy become something a student gets for doing well, it becomes a bribe and, in turn, ruins motivation.