You need a free way to include external motivation in your classroom. You need a reward system.
This is why many, many professional development products are built around engagement activities. Kagan is one example. As professionals in the field, teachers know the importance of engagement in their classes.
You plan lessons around the idea of attention getters or you start classes with a “hook” similar to a good book. You tie concepts to real-world ideas so students can anchor the ideas to their own experiences.
You say things multiple ways. Sometimes using multiple forms of media. I have an English teacher friend who has used as many as 10 different versions of Romeo and Juliet when he teaches Shakespeare. Teachers value engagement.
But all of that effort is sometimes ineffective. The perfect lesson wasted. The great opening hook sails right over their heads like a comedian bombing on opening night. The real-world tie-ins just aren’t strong enough to grab their attention.
So what can you do?
What do other professions do when customers or employees seem disinterested or unengaged? They put on their marketing caps and find a way to incentivize and reward the participation they are seeking.
Reward the behaviors you want to see, and you’ll see those more often.
No need to overthink this. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value in your classroom. You need to see those as much as possible to get the level of engagement you need for your students to learn.
You set expectations. Teach them very clearly in a manner so that all your students know them beyond a shadow of a doubt. You also need to tie rewards to meeting those standards in class.
These could be tangible and be in the form of goods you purchase with a budgeted amount. But most of us don’t have that in the budget. So we need great rewards at the best possible price.
We need free rewards.
As we discussed before, engagement is crucial in the learning process. There is plenty of research out there on how people learn.
Most of it says something along these lines; We enter into the process with preconceptions, and interest must then be drummed up. Once our interest has been established we can interact with the new skill or idea.
Then we start to integrate or organize the new knowledge with our pre-existing base of knowledge. From there we apply the knowledge or skills to cement as part of our new baseline.
What is the most important part of that process? No easy answer to that question. From my own personal experience, I find that none of that process is possible without the interest that leads to the interaction with the new skill or knowledge.
In other words, we need some level of motivation to learn. Just because I am presented with the information it takes to be a cross-country skier or to become a world-class violin player doesn’t mean I will engage with that information. There has to be some motivation to do so, either internally or externally.
In your classroom, you will find some students with internal motivation. You will find some subjects that are more easily tied to internal motivators. But not always, and depending on your subject or grade level you might find that internal motivation is even rare in your students.
You need an easy, cheap way to include external motivation in your classroom. You need a free classroom reward system. Keep reading for some ideas you can use in your class!
This one is a bit odd because the actual reward here is irrelevant. If I felt any subject or lesson was going to be a bit stale, I would include some way for my kids to compete.
The competition itself was the reward, it provided enough intrigue to keep students engaged regardless of what I offered the “winner”.
Sometimes status is a motivator for us. For adults, it could be the car you drive, the job title you have, or the neighborhood you live in.
For kids, it might be as simple as being the line leader or getting to eat lunch with their teacher! Many of us thrive when we get an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
This one could be individual seating assignments. It could also be whole group rewards like taking the class outside for a nature walk or finding an alternative location to hold class.
Time is probably the most valuable resource we have. Teachers who have had to cover due to a sub shortage and hold conferences after school hours or attend a.m. meetings certainly know the value of time.
Our kids know it as well. Reward them with some free time or screen time if they meet your expectations.
Build opportunities for student choice into your lessons or extensions. In my Science Lab, I kept my “Big Box of STEM” in the back of the room. In the box, I kept sandwich bags with materials and short directions/challenges on creating something or solving a problem using the materials.
It made for easy extensions and a way to reward students who reached proficiency or mastery on a standard.
Make this a part of your routine. Shoot for 4 positive interactions to every 1 negative redirection. Look for the positive! Be creative in your praise as well. Verbal is great. Written is better. Posted in a spot their peers can see the praise is best.
Reward your class with some appropriate background tunes if they meet expectations.
Your school may do a student of the month. There isn’t any reason you can’t do the same in your room every week.
Add a positive phone call to parents to this one and it may have the most impact of any on this list.
Allow students to earn some floor time to tell a joke, read a story, or share a bit of their unique culture.
Want tangible free rewards? Reach out to your local community and ask for donations. Tell them exactly who it is for and what you're hoping to achieve.
You’ll be surprised at the level of support your school culture has that may be going untapped.
You may notice some common threads in the list. Joy. Good vibes. Those are great rewards for elementary, middle, or high. You are trying to create an environment where learning can thrive.
Make it fun! Remember you want your students to have a “want to” attitude, not a “have to” attitude towards your classroom.
Not working with a big budget? We put together 10 completely free rewards for your classroom that are sure to kickstart the engagement in your lessons.
Want to improve the rewards experience for your younger students? Check out our rewards menu for elementary students. Need more help constructing your incentive program? It can be a bit overwhelming, so we created a complete guide to rewarding students so everything you need is in one convenient place.
Explore 100+ ideas from schools like yours.
Explore school-wide behavior expectations from other schools.
The best Houses reflect your school’s unique culture. Browse examples from real schools and start brainstorming your House system!
Track behavior, motivate students, and promote a positive culture — all in one easy platform.
The best classes are the most engaged classes. Student engagement is a direct indicator of student learning.
This is why many, many professional development products are built around engagement activities. Kagan is one example. As professionals in the field, teachers know the importance of engagement in their classes.
You plan lessons around the idea of attention getters or you start classes with a “hook” similar to a good book. You tie concepts to real-world ideas so students can anchor the ideas to their own experiences.
You say things multiple ways. Sometimes using multiple forms of media. I have an English teacher friend who has used as many as 10 different versions of Romeo and Juliet when he teaches Shakespeare. Teachers value engagement.
But all of that effort is sometimes ineffective. The perfect lesson wasted. The great opening hook sails right over their heads like a comedian bombing on opening night. The real-world tie-ins just aren’t strong enough to grab their attention.
So what can you do?
What do other professions do when customers or employees seem disinterested or unengaged? They put on their marketing caps and find a way to incentivize and reward the participation they are seeking.
Reward the behaviors you want to see, and you’ll see those more often.
No need to overthink this. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value in your classroom. You need to see those as much as possible to get the level of engagement you need for your students to learn.
You set expectations. Teach them very clearly in a manner so that all your students know them beyond a shadow of a doubt. You also need to tie rewards to meeting those standards in class.
These could be tangible and be in the form of goods you purchase with a budgeted amount. But most of us don’t have that in the budget. So we need great rewards at the best possible price.
We need free rewards.
As we discussed before, engagement is crucial in the learning process. There is plenty of research out there on how people learn.
Most of it says something along these lines; We enter into the process with preconceptions, and interest must then be drummed up. Once our interest has been established we can interact with the new skill or idea.
Then we start to integrate or organize the new knowledge with our pre-existing base of knowledge. From there we apply the knowledge or skills to cement as part of our new baseline.
What is the most important part of that process? No easy answer to that question. From my own personal experience, I find that none of that process is possible without the interest that leads to the interaction with the new skill or knowledge.
In other words, we need some level of motivation to learn. Just because I am presented with the information it takes to be a cross-country skier or to become a world-class violin player doesn’t mean I will engage with that information. There has to be some motivation to do so, either internally or externally.
In your classroom, you will find some students with internal motivation. You will find some subjects that are more easily tied to internal motivators. But not always, and depending on your subject or grade level you might find that internal motivation is even rare in your students.
You need an easy, cheap way to include external motivation in your classroom. You need a free classroom reward system. Keep reading for some ideas you can use in your class!
This one is a bit odd because the actual reward here is irrelevant. If I felt any subject or lesson was going to be a bit stale, I would include some way for my kids to compete.
The competition itself was the reward, it provided enough intrigue to keep students engaged regardless of what I offered the “winner”.
Sometimes status is a motivator for us. For adults, it could be the car you drive, the job title you have, or the neighborhood you live in.
For kids, it might be as simple as being the line leader or getting to eat lunch with their teacher! Many of us thrive when we get an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
This one could be individual seating assignments. It could also be whole group rewards like taking the class outside for a nature walk or finding an alternative location to hold class.
Time is probably the most valuable resource we have. Teachers who have had to cover due to a sub shortage and hold conferences after school hours or attend a.m. meetings certainly know the value of time.
Our kids know it as well. Reward them with some free time or screen time if they meet your expectations.
Build opportunities for student choice into your lessons or extensions. In my Science Lab, I kept my “Big Box of STEM” in the back of the room. In the box, I kept sandwich bags with materials and short directions/challenges on creating something or solving a problem using the materials.
It made for easy extensions and a way to reward students who reached proficiency or mastery on a standard.
Make this a part of your routine. Shoot for 4 positive interactions to every 1 negative redirection. Look for the positive! Be creative in your praise as well. Verbal is great. Written is better. Posted in a spot their peers can see the praise is best.
Reward your class with some appropriate background tunes if they meet expectations.
Your school may do a student of the month. There isn’t any reason you can’t do the same in your room every week.
Add a positive phone call to parents to this one and it may have the most impact of any on this list.
Allow students to earn some floor time to tell a joke, read a story, or share a bit of their unique culture.
Want tangible free rewards? Reach out to your local community and ask for donations. Tell them exactly who it is for and what you're hoping to achieve.
You’ll be surprised at the level of support your school culture has that may be going untapped.
You may notice some common threads in the list. Joy. Good vibes. Those are great rewards for elementary, middle, or high. You are trying to create an environment where learning can thrive.
Make it fun! Remember you want your students to have a “want to” attitude, not a “have to” attitude towards your classroom.
Not working with a big budget? We put together 10 completely free rewards for your classroom that are sure to kickstart the engagement in your lessons.
Want to improve the rewards experience for your younger students? Check out our rewards menu for elementary students. Need more help constructing your incentive program? It can be a bit overwhelming, so we created a complete guide to rewarding students so everything you need is in one convenient place.
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Explore 100+ ideas from schools like yours.
Explore school-wide behavior expectations from other schools.
The best Houses reflect your school’s unique culture. Browse examples from real schools and start brainstorming your House system!
Track behavior, motivate students, and promote a positive culture — all in one easy platform.
This is why many, many professional development products are built around engagement activities. Kagan is one example. As professionals in the field, teachers know the importance of engagement in their classes.
You plan lessons around the idea of attention getters or you start classes with a “hook” similar to a good book. You tie concepts to real-world ideas so students can anchor the ideas to their own experiences.
You say things multiple ways. Sometimes using multiple forms of media. I have an English teacher friend who has used as many as 10 different versions of Romeo and Juliet when he teaches Shakespeare. Teachers value engagement.
But all of that effort is sometimes ineffective. The perfect lesson wasted. The great opening hook sails right over their heads like a comedian bombing on opening night. The real-world tie-ins just aren’t strong enough to grab their attention.
So what can you do?
What do other professions do when customers or employees seem disinterested or unengaged? They put on their marketing caps and find a way to incentivize and reward the participation they are seeking.
Reward the behaviors you want to see, and you’ll see those more often.
No need to overthink this. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value in your classroom. You need to see those as much as possible to get the level of engagement you need for your students to learn.
You set expectations. Teach them very clearly in a manner so that all your students know them beyond a shadow of a doubt. You also need to tie rewards to meeting those standards in class.
These could be tangible and be in the form of goods you purchase with a budgeted amount. But most of us don’t have that in the budget. So we need great rewards at the best possible price.
We need free rewards.
As we discussed before, engagement is crucial in the learning process. There is plenty of research out there on how people learn.
Most of it says something along these lines; We enter into the process with preconceptions, and interest must then be drummed up. Once our interest has been established we can interact with the new skill or idea.
Then we start to integrate or organize the new knowledge with our pre-existing base of knowledge. From there we apply the knowledge or skills to cement as part of our new baseline.
What is the most important part of that process? No easy answer to that question. From my own personal experience, I find that none of that process is possible without the interest that leads to the interaction with the new skill or knowledge.
In other words, we need some level of motivation to learn. Just because I am presented with the information it takes to be a cross-country skier or to become a world-class violin player doesn’t mean I will engage with that information. There has to be some motivation to do so, either internally or externally.
In your classroom, you will find some students with internal motivation. You will find some subjects that are more easily tied to internal motivators. But not always, and depending on your subject or grade level you might find that internal motivation is even rare in your students.
You need an easy, cheap way to include external motivation in your classroom. You need a free classroom reward system. Keep reading for some ideas you can use in your class!
This one is a bit odd because the actual reward here is irrelevant. If I felt any subject or lesson was going to be a bit stale, I would include some way for my kids to compete.
The competition itself was the reward, it provided enough intrigue to keep students engaged regardless of what I offered the “winner”.
Sometimes status is a motivator for us. For adults, it could be the car you drive, the job title you have, or the neighborhood you live in.
For kids, it might be as simple as being the line leader or getting to eat lunch with their teacher! Many of us thrive when we get an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
This one could be individual seating assignments. It could also be whole group rewards like taking the class outside for a nature walk or finding an alternative location to hold class.
Time is probably the most valuable resource we have. Teachers who have had to cover due to a sub shortage and hold conferences after school hours or attend a.m. meetings certainly know the value of time.
Our kids know it as well. Reward them with some free time or screen time if they meet your expectations.
Build opportunities for student choice into your lessons or extensions. In my Science Lab, I kept my “Big Box of STEM” in the back of the room. In the box, I kept sandwich bags with materials and short directions/challenges on creating something or solving a problem using the materials.
It made for easy extensions and a way to reward students who reached proficiency or mastery on a standard.
Make this a part of your routine. Shoot for 4 positive interactions to every 1 negative redirection. Look for the positive! Be creative in your praise as well. Verbal is great. Written is better. Posted in a spot their peers can see the praise is best.
Reward your class with some appropriate background tunes if they meet expectations.
Your school may do a student of the month. There isn’t any reason you can’t do the same in your room every week.
Add a positive phone call to parents to this one and it may have the most impact of any on this list.
Allow students to earn some floor time to tell a joke, read a story, or share a bit of their unique culture.
Want tangible free rewards? Reach out to your local community and ask for donations. Tell them exactly who it is for and what you're hoping to achieve.
You’ll be surprised at the level of support your school culture has that may be going untapped.
You may notice some common threads in the list. Joy. Good vibes. Those are great rewards for elementary, middle, or high. You are trying to create an environment where learning can thrive.
Make it fun! Remember you want your students to have a “want to” attitude, not a “have to” attitude towards your classroom.
Not working with a big budget? We put together 10 completely free rewards for your classroom that are sure to kickstart the engagement in your lessons.
Want to improve the rewards experience for your younger students? Check out our rewards menu for elementary students. Need more help constructing your incentive program? It can be a bit overwhelming, so we created a complete guide to rewarding students so everything you need is in one convenient place.
Explore 100+ ideas from schools like yours.
Explore school-wide behavior expectations from other schools.
The best Houses reflect your school’s unique culture. Browse examples from real schools and start brainstorming your House system!
Track behavior, motivate students, and promote a positive culture — all in one easy platform.
This is why many, many professional development products are built around engagement activities. Kagan is one example. As professionals in the field, teachers know the importance of engagement in their classes.
You plan lessons around the idea of attention getters or you start classes with a “hook” similar to a good book. You tie concepts to real-world ideas so students can anchor the ideas to their own experiences.
You say things multiple ways. Sometimes using multiple forms of media. I have an English teacher friend who has used as many as 10 different versions of Romeo and Juliet when he teaches Shakespeare. Teachers value engagement.
But all of that effort is sometimes ineffective. The perfect lesson wasted. The great opening hook sails right over their heads like a comedian bombing on opening night. The real-world tie-ins just aren’t strong enough to grab their attention.
So what can you do?
What do other professions do when customers or employees seem disinterested or unengaged? They put on their marketing caps and find a way to incentivize and reward the participation they are seeking.
Reward the behaviors you want to see, and you’ll see those more often.
No need to overthink this. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value in your classroom. You need to see those as much as possible to get the level of engagement you need for your students to learn.
You set expectations. Teach them very clearly in a manner so that all your students know them beyond a shadow of a doubt. You also need to tie rewards to meeting those standards in class.
These could be tangible and be in the form of goods you purchase with a budgeted amount. But most of us don’t have that in the budget. So we need great rewards at the best possible price.
We need free rewards.
As we discussed before, engagement is crucial in the learning process. There is plenty of research out there on how people learn.
Most of it says something along these lines; We enter into the process with preconceptions, and interest must then be drummed up. Once our interest has been established we can interact with the new skill or idea.
Then we start to integrate or organize the new knowledge with our pre-existing base of knowledge. From there we apply the knowledge or skills to cement as part of our new baseline.
What is the most important part of that process? No easy answer to that question. From my own personal experience, I find that none of that process is possible without the interest that leads to the interaction with the new skill or knowledge.
In other words, we need some level of motivation to learn. Just because I am presented with the information it takes to be a cross-country skier or to become a world-class violin player doesn’t mean I will engage with that information. There has to be some motivation to do so, either internally or externally.
In your classroom, you will find some students with internal motivation. You will find some subjects that are more easily tied to internal motivators. But not always, and depending on your subject or grade level you might find that internal motivation is even rare in your students.
You need an easy, cheap way to include external motivation in your classroom. You need a free classroom reward system. Keep reading for some ideas you can use in your class!
This one is a bit odd because the actual reward here is irrelevant. If I felt any subject or lesson was going to be a bit stale, I would include some way for my kids to compete.
The competition itself was the reward, it provided enough intrigue to keep students engaged regardless of what I offered the “winner”.
Sometimes status is a motivator for us. For adults, it could be the car you drive, the job title you have, or the neighborhood you live in.
For kids, it might be as simple as being the line leader or getting to eat lunch with their teacher! Many of us thrive when we get an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
This one could be individual seating assignments. It could also be whole group rewards like taking the class outside for a nature walk or finding an alternative location to hold class.
Time is probably the most valuable resource we have. Teachers who have had to cover due to a sub shortage and hold conferences after school hours or attend a.m. meetings certainly know the value of time.
Our kids know it as well. Reward them with some free time or screen time if they meet your expectations.
Build opportunities for student choice into your lessons or extensions. In my Science Lab, I kept my “Big Box of STEM” in the back of the room. In the box, I kept sandwich bags with materials and short directions/challenges on creating something or solving a problem using the materials.
It made for easy extensions and a way to reward students who reached proficiency or mastery on a standard.
Make this a part of your routine. Shoot for 4 positive interactions to every 1 negative redirection. Look for the positive! Be creative in your praise as well. Verbal is great. Written is better. Posted in a spot their peers can see the praise is best.
Reward your class with some appropriate background tunes if they meet expectations.
Your school may do a student of the month. There isn’t any reason you can’t do the same in your room every week.
Add a positive phone call to parents to this one and it may have the most impact of any on this list.
Allow students to earn some floor time to tell a joke, read a story, or share a bit of their unique culture.
Want tangible free rewards? Reach out to your local community and ask for donations. Tell them exactly who it is for and what you're hoping to achieve.
You’ll be surprised at the level of support your school culture has that may be going untapped.
You may notice some common threads in the list. Joy. Good vibes. Those are great rewards for elementary, middle, or high. You are trying to create an environment where learning can thrive.
Make it fun! Remember you want your students to have a “want to” attitude, not a “have to” attitude towards your classroom.
Not working with a big budget? We put together 10 completely free rewards for your classroom that are sure to kickstart the engagement in your lessons.
Want to improve the rewards experience for your younger students? Check out our rewards menu for elementary students. Need more help constructing your incentive program? It can be a bit overwhelming, so we created a complete guide to rewarding students so everything you need is in one convenient place.
This is why many, many professional development products are built around engagement activities. Kagan is one example. As professionals in the field, teachers know the importance of engagement in their classes.
You plan lessons around the idea of attention getters or you start classes with a “hook” similar to a good book. You tie concepts to real-world ideas so students can anchor the ideas to their own experiences.
You say things multiple ways. Sometimes using multiple forms of media. I have an English teacher friend who has used as many as 10 different versions of Romeo and Juliet when he teaches Shakespeare. Teachers value engagement.
But all of that effort is sometimes ineffective. The perfect lesson wasted. The great opening hook sails right over their heads like a comedian bombing on opening night. The real-world tie-ins just aren’t strong enough to grab their attention.
So what can you do?
What do other professions do when customers or employees seem disinterested or unengaged? They put on their marketing caps and find a way to incentivize and reward the participation they are seeking.
Reward the behaviors you want to see, and you’ll see those more often.
No need to overthink this. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value in your classroom. You need to see those as much as possible to get the level of engagement you need for your students to learn.
You set expectations. Teach them very clearly in a manner so that all your students know them beyond a shadow of a doubt. You also need to tie rewards to meeting those standards in class.
These could be tangible and be in the form of goods you purchase with a budgeted amount. But most of us don’t have that in the budget. So we need great rewards at the best possible price.
We need free rewards.
As we discussed before, engagement is crucial in the learning process. There is plenty of research out there on how people learn.
Most of it says something along these lines; We enter into the process with preconceptions, and interest must then be drummed up. Once our interest has been established we can interact with the new skill or idea.
Then we start to integrate or organize the new knowledge with our pre-existing base of knowledge. From there we apply the knowledge or skills to cement as part of our new baseline.
What is the most important part of that process? No easy answer to that question. From my own personal experience, I find that none of that process is possible without the interest that leads to the interaction with the new skill or knowledge.
In other words, we need some level of motivation to learn. Just because I am presented with the information it takes to be a cross-country skier or to become a world-class violin player doesn’t mean I will engage with that information. There has to be some motivation to do so, either internally or externally.
In your classroom, you will find some students with internal motivation. You will find some subjects that are more easily tied to internal motivators. But not always, and depending on your subject or grade level you might find that internal motivation is even rare in your students.
You need an easy, cheap way to include external motivation in your classroom. You need a free classroom reward system. Keep reading for some ideas you can use in your class!
This one is a bit odd because the actual reward here is irrelevant. If I felt any subject or lesson was going to be a bit stale, I would include some way for my kids to compete.
The competition itself was the reward, it provided enough intrigue to keep students engaged regardless of what I offered the “winner”.
Sometimes status is a motivator for us. For adults, it could be the car you drive, the job title you have, or the neighborhood you live in.
For kids, it might be as simple as being the line leader or getting to eat lunch with their teacher! Many of us thrive when we get an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
This one could be individual seating assignments. It could also be whole group rewards like taking the class outside for a nature walk or finding an alternative location to hold class.
Time is probably the most valuable resource we have. Teachers who have had to cover due to a sub shortage and hold conferences after school hours or attend a.m. meetings certainly know the value of time.
Our kids know it as well. Reward them with some free time or screen time if they meet your expectations.
Build opportunities for student choice into your lessons or extensions. In my Science Lab, I kept my “Big Box of STEM” in the back of the room. In the box, I kept sandwich bags with materials and short directions/challenges on creating something or solving a problem using the materials.
It made for easy extensions and a way to reward students who reached proficiency or mastery on a standard.
Make this a part of your routine. Shoot for 4 positive interactions to every 1 negative redirection. Look for the positive! Be creative in your praise as well. Verbal is great. Written is better. Posted in a spot their peers can see the praise is best.
Reward your class with some appropriate background tunes if they meet expectations.
Your school may do a student of the month. There isn’t any reason you can’t do the same in your room every week.
Add a positive phone call to parents to this one and it may have the most impact of any on this list.
Allow students to earn some floor time to tell a joke, read a story, or share a bit of their unique culture.
Want tangible free rewards? Reach out to your local community and ask for donations. Tell them exactly who it is for and what you're hoping to achieve.
You’ll be surprised at the level of support your school culture has that may be going untapped.
You may notice some common threads in the list. Joy. Good vibes. Those are great rewards for elementary, middle, or high. You are trying to create an environment where learning can thrive.
Make it fun! Remember you want your students to have a “want to” attitude, not a “have to” attitude towards your classroom.
Not working with a big budget? We put together 10 completely free rewards for your classroom that are sure to kickstart the engagement in your lessons.
Want to improve the rewards experience for your younger students? Check out our rewards menu for elementary students. Need more help constructing your incentive program? It can be a bit overwhelming, so we created a complete guide to rewarding students so everything you need is in one convenient place.
Jordan resides in Lexington, Kentucky. He has experience in Public Education as an Administrator, Science Teacher, and as a Coach. He has extensive experience with School Discipline, PBIS, SEL, Restorative Practices, MTSS, and Trauma-Informed Care.
Explore 100+ ideas from schools like yours.
Explore school-wide behavior expectations from other schools.
The best Houses reflect your school’s unique culture. Browse examples from real schools and start brainstorming your House system!
Track behavior, motivate students, and promote a positive culture — all in one easy platform.
The best classes are the most engaged classes. Student engagement is a direct indicator of student learning.
This is why many, many professional development products are built around engagement activities. Kagan is one example. As professionals in the field, teachers know the importance of engagement in their classes.
You plan lessons around the idea of attention getters or you start classes with a “hook” similar to a good book. You tie concepts to real-world ideas so students can anchor the ideas to their own experiences.
You say things multiple ways. Sometimes using multiple forms of media. I have an English teacher friend who has used as many as 10 different versions of Romeo and Juliet when he teaches Shakespeare. Teachers value engagement.
But all of that effort is sometimes ineffective. The perfect lesson wasted. The great opening hook sails right over their heads like a comedian bombing on opening night. The real-world tie-ins just aren’t strong enough to grab their attention.
So what can you do?
What do other professions do when customers or employees seem disinterested or unengaged? They put on their marketing caps and find a way to incentivize and reward the participation they are seeking.
Reward the behaviors you want to see, and you’ll see those more often.
No need to overthink this. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value in your classroom. You need to see those as much as possible to get the level of engagement you need for your students to learn.
You set expectations. Teach them very clearly in a manner so that all your students know them beyond a shadow of a doubt. You also need to tie rewards to meeting those standards in class.
These could be tangible and be in the form of goods you purchase with a budgeted amount. But most of us don’t have that in the budget. So we need great rewards at the best possible price.
We need free rewards.
As we discussed before, engagement is crucial in the learning process. There is plenty of research out there on how people learn.
Most of it says something along these lines; We enter into the process with preconceptions, and interest must then be drummed up. Once our interest has been established we can interact with the new skill or idea.
Then we start to integrate or organize the new knowledge with our pre-existing base of knowledge. From there we apply the knowledge or skills to cement as part of our new baseline.
What is the most important part of that process? No easy answer to that question. From my own personal experience, I find that none of that process is possible without the interest that leads to the interaction with the new skill or knowledge.
In other words, we need some level of motivation to learn. Just because I am presented with the information it takes to be a cross-country skier or to become a world-class violin player doesn’t mean I will engage with that information. There has to be some motivation to do so, either internally or externally.
In your classroom, you will find some students with internal motivation. You will find some subjects that are more easily tied to internal motivators. But not always, and depending on your subject or grade level you might find that internal motivation is even rare in your students.
You need an easy, cheap way to include external motivation in your classroom. You need a free classroom reward system. Keep reading for some ideas you can use in your class!
This one is a bit odd because the actual reward here is irrelevant. If I felt any subject or lesson was going to be a bit stale, I would include some way for my kids to compete.
The competition itself was the reward, it provided enough intrigue to keep students engaged regardless of what I offered the “winner”.
Sometimes status is a motivator for us. For adults, it could be the car you drive, the job title you have, or the neighborhood you live in.
For kids, it might be as simple as being the line leader or getting to eat lunch with their teacher! Many of us thrive when we get an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
This one could be individual seating assignments. It could also be whole group rewards like taking the class outside for a nature walk or finding an alternative location to hold class.
Time is probably the most valuable resource we have. Teachers who have had to cover due to a sub shortage and hold conferences after school hours or attend a.m. meetings certainly know the value of time.
Our kids know it as well. Reward them with some free time or screen time if they meet your expectations.
Build opportunities for student choice into your lessons or extensions. In my Science Lab, I kept my “Big Box of STEM” in the back of the room. In the box, I kept sandwich bags with materials and short directions/challenges on creating something or solving a problem using the materials.
It made for easy extensions and a way to reward students who reached proficiency or mastery on a standard.
Make this a part of your routine. Shoot for 4 positive interactions to every 1 negative redirection. Look for the positive! Be creative in your praise as well. Verbal is great. Written is better. Posted in a spot their peers can see the praise is best.
Reward your class with some appropriate background tunes if they meet expectations.
Your school may do a student of the month. There isn’t any reason you can’t do the same in your room every week.
Add a positive phone call to parents to this one and it may have the most impact of any on this list.
Allow students to earn some floor time to tell a joke, read a story, or share a bit of their unique culture.
Want tangible free rewards? Reach out to your local community and ask for donations. Tell them exactly who it is for and what you're hoping to achieve.
You’ll be surprised at the level of support your school culture has that may be going untapped.
You may notice some common threads in the list. Joy. Good vibes. Those are great rewards for elementary, middle, or high. You are trying to create an environment where learning can thrive.
Make it fun! Remember you want your students to have a “want to” attitude, not a “have to” attitude towards your classroom.
Not working with a big budget? We put together 10 completely free rewards for your classroom that are sure to kickstart the engagement in your lessons.
Want to improve the rewards experience for your younger students? Check out our rewards menu for elementary students. Need more help constructing your incentive program? It can be a bit overwhelming, so we created a complete guide to rewarding students so everything you need is in one convenient place.
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The best classes are the most engaged classes. Student engagement is a direct indicator of student learning.
This is why many, many professional development products are built around engagement activities. Kagan is one example. As professionals in the field, teachers know the importance of engagement in their classes.
You plan lessons around the idea of attention getters or you start classes with a “hook” similar to a good book. You tie concepts to real-world ideas so students can anchor the ideas to their own experiences.
You say things multiple ways. Sometimes using multiple forms of media. I have an English teacher friend who has used as many as 10 different versions of Romeo and Juliet when he teaches Shakespeare. Teachers value engagement.
But all of that effort is sometimes ineffective. The perfect lesson wasted. The great opening hook sails right over their heads like a comedian bombing on opening night. The real-world tie-ins just aren’t strong enough to grab their attention.
So what can you do?
What do other professions do when customers or employees seem disinterested or unengaged? They put on their marketing caps and find a way to incentivize and reward the participation they are seeking.
Reward the behaviors you want to see, and you’ll see those more often.
No need to overthink this. You have behaviors, actions, and achievements you value in your classroom. You need to see those as much as possible to get the level of engagement you need for your students to learn.
You set expectations. Teach them very clearly in a manner so that all your students know them beyond a shadow of a doubt. You also need to tie rewards to meeting those standards in class.
These could be tangible and be in the form of goods you purchase with a budgeted amount. But most of us don’t have that in the budget. So we need great rewards at the best possible price.
We need free rewards.
As we discussed before, engagement is crucial in the learning process. There is plenty of research out there on how people learn.
Most of it says something along these lines; We enter into the process with preconceptions, and interest must then be drummed up. Once our interest has been established we can interact with the new skill or idea.
Then we start to integrate or organize the new knowledge with our pre-existing base of knowledge. From there we apply the knowledge or skills to cement as part of our new baseline.
What is the most important part of that process? No easy answer to that question. From my own personal experience, I find that none of that process is possible without the interest that leads to the interaction with the new skill or knowledge.
In other words, we need some level of motivation to learn. Just because I am presented with the information it takes to be a cross-country skier or to become a world-class violin player doesn’t mean I will engage with that information. There has to be some motivation to do so, either internally or externally.
In your classroom, you will find some students with internal motivation. You will find some subjects that are more easily tied to internal motivators. But not always, and depending on your subject or grade level you might find that internal motivation is even rare in your students.
You need an easy, cheap way to include external motivation in your classroom. You need a free classroom reward system. Keep reading for some ideas you can use in your class!
This one is a bit odd because the actual reward here is irrelevant. If I felt any subject or lesson was going to be a bit stale, I would include some way for my kids to compete.
The competition itself was the reward, it provided enough intrigue to keep students engaged regardless of what I offered the “winner”.
Sometimes status is a motivator for us. For adults, it could be the car you drive, the job title you have, or the neighborhood you live in.
For kids, it might be as simple as being the line leader or getting to eat lunch with their teacher! Many of us thrive when we get an opportunity to stand out from the crowd.
This one could be individual seating assignments. It could also be whole group rewards like taking the class outside for a nature walk or finding an alternative location to hold class.
Time is probably the most valuable resource we have. Teachers who have had to cover due to a sub shortage and hold conferences after school hours or attend a.m. meetings certainly know the value of time.
Our kids know it as well. Reward them with some free time or screen time if they meet your expectations.
Build opportunities for student choice into your lessons or extensions. In my Science Lab, I kept my “Big Box of STEM” in the back of the room. In the box, I kept sandwich bags with materials and short directions/challenges on creating something or solving a problem using the materials.
It made for easy extensions and a way to reward students who reached proficiency or mastery on a standard.
Make this a part of your routine. Shoot for 4 positive interactions to every 1 negative redirection. Look for the positive! Be creative in your praise as well. Verbal is great. Written is better. Posted in a spot their peers can see the praise is best.
Reward your class with some appropriate background tunes if they meet expectations.
Your school may do a student of the month. There isn’t any reason you can’t do the same in your room every week.
Add a positive phone call to parents to this one and it may have the most impact of any on this list.
Allow students to earn some floor time to tell a joke, read a story, or share a bit of their unique culture.
Want tangible free rewards? Reach out to your local community and ask for donations. Tell them exactly who it is for and what you're hoping to achieve.
You’ll be surprised at the level of support your school culture has that may be going untapped.
You may notice some common threads in the list. Joy. Good vibes. Those are great rewards for elementary, middle, or high. You are trying to create an environment where learning can thrive.
Make it fun! Remember you want your students to have a “want to” attitude, not a “have to” attitude towards your classroom.
Not working with a big budget? We put together 10 completely free rewards for your classroom that are sure to kickstart the engagement in your lessons.
Want to improve the rewards experience for your younger students? Check out our rewards menu for elementary students. Need more help constructing your incentive program? It can be a bit overwhelming, so we created a complete guide to rewarding students so everything you need is in one convenient place.
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