PROVIDING RECOGNITION

 By: Dr. Armãndo R. Tolliver | EDUCATOR | March 1, 2017

           In the ideal classroom, all students would be intrinsically motivated to behave appropriately and work hard on every assignment. However, this is not usually the case. I have experienced success in motivating students by providing rewards and recognition. The purpose of providing recognition is not that it is just a nice thing to do, rather a way to reward students' accomplishments related to the attainment of a goal (Varlas, 2002; Marzano, Pickering, & Pollock, 2006). All of us like to be recognized for our efforts, especially when those efforts lead to success. Could you imagine being the project lead for a major assignment that added to your company’s highlights and not being recognized for your efforts in adding to the company’s portfolio?

Given that most people want to be viewed as effective contributors, because it reinforces their positive image of themselves and their self-worth, positive recognition is meaningful, supportive, and serves as a communication tool that reinforces and rewards the most important outcomes that people create for an organization, including students in the classroom. When you provide students with recognition, you should do more than just say, "Great Job or Nice Work,” (Varlas, 2002) because recognizing students effectively reinforces the actions and behaviors you most want to see students repeat and reinforces the students’ understanding of how you would like to see him or her contribute in the classroom or throughout the school. This same rule applies to recognizing the faculty and staff in the school. Principals, aside from ensuring the professional growth of your team, if you want your faculty and staff to stay at your school, then it is equally important they feel their efforts and contributions are valued and appreciated. Recognizing them for stellar work is vital to maintaining morale and boosting productivity.

To promote success and recognize excellence for all levels of student achievement, as well as encourage each student to work up to his/her potential and put forth his/her best effort, I provide electronic points (i.e. Class Dojo or LiveSchool) that are equivalent to classroom cash and are redeemable for incentive rewards, anytime a student is caught demonstrating outstanding achievement or improvement. To conserve paper, students receive their payouts through a biweekly paycheck that they monitor via their ledger balance. This is a quick way to throw in a little financial mathematics/literacy that students are generally ill exposed to in many schools. When I first started this process, I had been using Class Dojo, which worked fine, but required set up in a separate system to generate the paychecks and ledger balance. Later, I began using LiveSchool, which allowed me to track points, demerits, and comments that spell out exactly why the student received the recognition from any device, alongside generating the weekly paychecks to show the student’s earnings for the week. Here are some other reasons to the switch made sense http://whyliveschool.com/ and a link to a teacher’s guide to a successful points system.

Before providing recognition, it is important to clearly establish and communicate the criteria for what performance or contribution constitutes recognizable behavior or actions in order to make it easy to perform accordingly. Below are a few indicators.

• Academics –Student exhibits academic excellence and/or dramatic improvement in grade.
• Attitude –Student displays an enthusiastic attitude and willingness to participate in lessons almost always and encourages others to do the same. Accepts challenges. Responds positively to reminders and/or exhibits proper behavior regardless of supervision.
• Behavior –Student is well behaved and attentive during class. Follows directions the first time they are given.
• Respect for Peers –Student treats everyone with respect and is very respectful of others’ property. Chooses kind words and actions.
• Teamwork –Student helps another student or lends classroom supplies.
• Attendance –Student is always prompt and ready to learn.
• Preparedness –Student always has learning material, voluntarily helps others. Completes and turns in class work/homework on time. Manages time during class and independent work time.
• Academic Excellence –Student always gives his/her honest effort even when work is difficult. Student takes pride in work. Works hard and asks for help when needed and appropriate.

Additionally, I try to capture student excitement with a mix of tangible and intrinsic motivators, alongside procedures for when and how students redeem incentives. Clear communication and enthusiasm yield student buy-in. “Dr. Tolliver, I really like this. My mom said I need to build up my account and maybe invest in a mutual fund so we can take a class trip or get an ice-cream truck to come to our school. She said she would chaperon if we take a trip.”

The following are a few low and no-cost ways to recognize and show that you value students’ dedication and hard work:

• Positive Phone Call –Student receives a positive phone call home to share his or her great progress.
• Lunch With Teacher –Student gets a private lunch with the teacher in the classroom café.
• Student Spotlight –Student receives a certificate and has his or her picture posted on a special wall for an established duration of time (i.e. Student of the Week receives 1-wk. and Student of the Month receives 1-mo.).
• Student Lounge Time –Student receives 20 minutes of free computer, iPad, or video game time in classroom café. Alternatively, a student can elect use a portion of his or her lunch period.
• Class DJ –Student gets to add three of his or her favorite radio edit songs to class playlist.
  
• Investment –Student allocates points (i.e. class money) to a class savings bond that builds interest, a raffle ticket (i.e. class stock) in the expectation of some benefit/return in the future, or a treat/event for everybody that occurs once in a while (i.e. mutual fund).
• Donation –Student donates a few points to help another student, within points/financial limits.

Other ideas might include certificates, pencils and pens, stickers, homework passes, candy, or privilege cards. I pointed out in Consequences and Rewards that rewards are goals students can work towards, not bribes to be good. My favorite is lunch with the teacher because it gives me an opportunity to build rapport with the students, and gives me an opportunity to bring my hometown, New Orleans, cuisine into the classroom. Did somebody say jambalaya or gumbo?

Rewards and recognition that help both the teacher and the students get what they need from behavior and work are a win-win situation. I continue to find ways to maximize recognition efforts. Make this the year you plan a recognition process that will wow your students and wow you with its positive outcomes. This can be an added tool and key part of an overall strategy to promote positive values and help students feel invested, motivated and happy to come to class each day.

Suggested Citation

Tolliver, A. R. (2017). Providing Recognition. [Education Project Online]. Retrieved online at http://www.educationprojectonline.com/2017/03/providing-recognition.html.

References

Marzano, R. J., Pickering. D. J, & Pollock, J. E. (2006). Classroom instruction that works: Research-based strategies for increasing student achievement. Alexandria,

VA: ASCD.

Tolliver, A. R. (2016). Consequences and Rewards. [Education Project Online]. Retrieved online at http://www.educationprojectonline.com/2017/04/consequences-and-rewards.html

Varlas, L. (2002). Getting acquainted with the essential nine. Alexandria, VA: ASCD

Curriculum Update.