When we talk about extrinsic motivation (as opposed to intrinsic), we typically mean a slightly more superficial type of investment that teachers may seek to trigger in students – especially early in the year, or with classes where culture needs to be built from scratch. The reason for limiting extrinsic rewards and working toward developing intrinsic motivation is clear, insofar as resorting to bribery with candy and recess is problematic. Still, extrinsic motivation can be a valuable tool when used sparingly to celebrate above-and-beyond efforts and as a means to boost intrinsic motivation in the long run.
Extrinsic rewards could be divided into three categories:
1) Games: Ex: Kids earn tally points, marbles in a jar, stars on a chart, etc. to earn preferential activity time, games, parties, Fun Fridays, etc.
2) Gold: Ex: Students who finish an extended math challenge activity bring their sheet up to be checked by the teacher/student-grader and can earn a Hershey's Kiss for a fully-correct assignment. Students with any incorrect work return to their seats to complete corrections before receiving a reward.
Another great "gold" system is to pass out tickets to students who are going above and beyond to do their best in class and/or meet all expectations set. Once again, students don't get tickets just for doing the basics. They must go above and beyond. Put tickets in a bag at the end of the week, have students do a drum roll and call on top-performing students to come up and help choose tickets to raffle off a few pieces of candy.
3) Glory: Ex: Students receive public recognition (fame) for their successes: Call out names of students on Mondays who have received an 80% or higher on their Friday assessment, post students of the week on a special poster, issue certificates to high achieving students on a biweekly basis, report students' admirable deeds to the school admin for praise during the whole-school assembly, etc.
Of all the types of extrinsic rewards, glory is the most aligned with creating intrinsic motivation within students – if only because kids (and adults) define their identities based on how they sense they are perceived by others. If they become "famous" for their high test scores, good deeds, or perfect homework they will internalize this recognition as part of their school identity. Check out the following few examples that I think has made a significant impact on my class' culture across the past two to three years.
- Pass out certificates on a biweekly basis for students who have gone above and beyond. This can play as big a role in your overall investment scheme as you'd like it to. For example, without holding the certificate over students heads 24/7, you can continually market the certificate to students now and again throughout the week. Last year I had a sixth grade student (who typically acted too cool for school) who brought his certificate to show his basketball coach. His coach pulled the whole team aside and gave them a lecture on the importance of hard work in school, using Caleb and his certificate as a model for the rest of the team. This was a turning point for Caleb in my class. I often reminded students of how proud the certificate would make their parents, relatives, coaches and family friends – or talked about places where they might wish to show off their certificates around the house, etc. This type of marketing makes all the difference; I found that no matter how cool a certificate looks, it doesn't sell itself. Please steal and edit my certificate, linked below:
- Take candid photos of your students reading or doing work and post them on the walls, or put them in a powerpoint to show one a day beneath a class motto when students first come into the room (“Top scholars show grit!”)
- When you return assessments to students, play “pomp and circumstance” and dramatically call out students’ names to have them come up and claim their tests if they scored 80% or higher (or 85% or 90% etc.). Kids love this kind of public recognition from their teacher, even if your middle schoolers try to play it cool. Peer pressure also comes into play in a positive way here, where students want to ensure that they aren't one of the students who is left out and not called up to receive their work back. When handing back student work, shake students’ hands and exchange a whisper – “I can tell you studied hard for this,” “great work on that tricky final section,” “thank you for your hard work” – as you pass them their test as though it were a diploma. I used the pomp and circumstance tradition nearly every Monday of my third year teaching when students received their previous Friday’s weekly vocabulary/grammar/spelling quizzes back. These things were hard. Sixth graders had to memorize the spelling, definition and part of speech of 10-14 advanced (often SAT-level) words, as well as substitute them into sample sentences correctly. This is no joke of a task for 11 year olds. Thanks in part to our tradition of a weekly ‘pomp and circumstance’ celebration, the class-wide average across twenty of these quizzes never once fell below 80% and during the second semester, frequently rose to 95% or higher.
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