Posts Tagged Alternatives to Rewards

What to Do When Students Expect Rewards

On April 8, 2014 / Discipline, Responsibility

In many classrooms across the country, teachers utilize the “colored card,” “stickers,” or “treasure chest” method of classroom discipline. Those who want to implement the Discipline Without Stress methodology wonder if it’s possible when the children are used to being rewarded so much.

Sound familiar?

The good news is that you can implement Discipline Without Stress effectively even if the other staff members at your school don’t follow a similar philosophy. Here’s how.

First, there’s no need to announce to your students that you don’t give rewards for expected behavior and learning—unless they bring it up. If they are conditioned to being rewarded heavily, it’s quite likely that they will! If and when they do ask for a reward, you … >>>

How to Tell Others that You Don’t Use Rewards

On March 18, 2014 / Discipline, Effectiveness

Teachers often ask me how they can explain to their peers that they are not using rewards in the classroom any longer. Some are even fearful of the conversation. After all, it seems that so many teachers and parents rely on rewards and punishments as their preferred discipline methods.

If you’re experiencing this concern, here’s how one teacher overcame it. Her experience is very insightful and may inspire you to do the same.

A Teacher’s Experience:

Sometimes it just helps to know you’re not alone in your thinking. In my case, once I had read enough on the topic and had developed a strong sense within myself that I personally no longer wanted to rely on rewards to discipline, I … >>>

Encourage Neat Work Habits without Using Rewards

On March 11, 2014 / Effectiveness, Learning

Getting children to care about their school work and do things neatly can be a challenge. As a result, many teachers offer rewards to encourage neatness. This, of course, is counterproductive, because it doesn’t instill the self-discipline to focus on producing neat work. Here are a few options to try instead of resorting to rewards.

Talk about neatness. Whatever you put your focus upon will increase!
Talk proactively. In other words, before a lesson begins discuss with the students what a great job would look like. This helps those children who really have no idea of what a good job looks like and it helps the other students who might not care too much about neatness otherwise. It sets everyone

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