Alyssa Nava

Professor Juarez
EDU 450
4 October 2015
Rules, Consequences & Reward Systems
Rule: All students will complete their own, original assignments and tests.
1st Consequence: Whether intentional or not, any plagiarized assignment or test will not be
graded. Instead, parents will be informed and the student will be expected to redo the assignment
and receive a 25% grade deduction.
Rule: Unless they are being used for a class activity, all electronic devices must be silenced and
put away during class time.
1st Consequence: Any electronic devices that distract from classroom participation will be taken
away until the end of the period.
Rule: If you are late to class, you must sign in to the tardy book.
1st Consequence: Three tardies will result in detention.
Reward System
PAWS Cards: Every

member of school staff

has a laminated business
card with their name on
it. When staff members
see a student or a class
demonstrating

exceptional behavior,
they can hand out their
card, which counts as
one point. Cards are
turned into the
homeroom teacher,

tallied, and can be

redeemed for prizes.
Cards are returned to the
staff members mailbox.
Ticket Reward System:
Students earn tickets for
good behavior and are
placed in a drawing to
win prizes, or can
redeem tickets to
purchase their own
rewards.

Pros
Very inexpensive and
environmentally friendly
every faculty member probably
already has business cards, and
the cards are laminated so they
can be reused again and again.
The prizes are relatively
expensive as well. The school
estimates that if all classes
earned all rewards, the school
would spend $1,000
(Educationworld.com).
All members of the school
community are involved. I love
the idea that even janitors can
hand out cards to kids who pick
up trash, etc.
Students know the specific
expectations to earn tickets.
The individual student is
recognized for good behavior.
This system is easily adaptable
to almost every situation
(individual students, entire
classes, etc.)

Cons
There is no set way to
define what exceptional
behavior is.
Faculty will have
different guidelines for
passing out their cards
(ex: one teacher may
hand out cards for
waiting quietly in line,
but another might not.)
Students might catch on
and only behave a certain
way if that particular
teacher is around.
There is no daily limit on
how many cards a staff
member can hand out.
Too many rules
consistency is key and
there might be too much
to keep track of.
The prize box always has
to be full, cost falls on the
teacher.
Students expect tickets.

Pin in the Board: the

teacher designs a
bulletin board with 50
spaces for pins. At the
center of the board is a
reward that the class
decides on. When the
class does well, they get
a pin, and when all spots
are full the class
receives their reward.
No Homework Passes:
Students are rewarded
for good behavior or
doing a good job by
receiving a no
homework pass.

Class gets to decide on their

reward, encourages classroom
community.
Bulletin board is placed in a
central location so its a visual
reminder for students to stay on
task.
Inexpensive to make, only
requires a bulletin board, paper
and pins.

Very inexpensive, multiple

passes can be printed out on a
single piece of paper.
This is definitely a reward that
students would respond well to;
their behavior would certainly
reflect it.

Teachers have to be
consistent in adding a pin
to the board.
The reward can be
expensive for the teacher;
they should work with
the students to determine
a fair reward.
Students will expect
rewards.
Homework doesnt go
away and learning has to
happen outside of the
classroom students
begin to view actually
having homework as a
bad thing.

One of the most poignant things for me during this topics readings and discussion was that
rewarding good students is not as innocent as it seems. As David Ginsburg states in his article
My Biggest Regret as a Teacher: Extrinsic Rewards, many teachers have an ulterior motive for
rewarding good students: motivating really manipulating bad students (2013). Ginsburg
goes on to state that often times when students are praised for good behavior in front of the entire
class or school, students can get embarrassed or even ridiculed. As a shy student myself, I have
personal experience feeling singled out, as if my good behavior was almost a bad thing.
Generally, I do not think rewards systems should be used in secondary classrooms; the
disadvantages far outweigh the advantages in my opinion. Reward systems require extremely
specific guidelines and a consistent teacher approach to be effective and they often cost more
money than is always feasible. Most importantly, reward systems create extrinsically motivated
students who would rather chase after lollipops than become a more knowledgeable student.
In my own classroom, I will certainly use rewards, although there wont necessarily be a
system behind it. For example, if every student in my class scores above an 85% on a test or
paper, I would bring in donuts, candy, etc. to reward truly exceptional scores on the assignment. I
feel this would begin to break the cycle of students expecting rewards for trivial things (i.e.
turning in homework on time), and instead reward them for working hard to study and
understand the material, which are traits that aid in creating intrinsically motivated, lifelong
learners.
I think the simplest (yet probably the most difficult and time consuming) way to intrinsically
motivate students is to get to know them on a personal level. Asking questions, making the
learning meaningful to their lives, demonstrating empathy as well as a passion for learning will
help my future students motivate themselves to learn throughout their lives.