Classroom Motivation Systems

Paula Long

EDU 515

July 2011

The following activities are suggestions to help motivate students. They can be used for various purposes: attendance, homework, behavior, excellent work, etc. Although they will be applied to a specific area, they can be adapted for any area a teacher would want to motivate her students in.

  1. To encourage attendance, you can place an envelope under each student’s desk, with just one envelope containing an index card, with a sticker applied, while the other envelopes remain empty. The student receiving the envelope with the card in it, will receive a prize at the end of class. When the students are all seated, they are instructed to check their “mailboxes” to see if they have the winning mail notification. Students must be present to collect their prize.

A variation would be to place the envelopes on the desk and use as a name tag. Students would be allowed to decorate the envelopes. Tickets can then be rewarded throughout the day and the students instructed to keep their tickets in their envelope. On a random day, the students will be allowed to go on a spending trip to the school store, using their tickets. Making the day random, will encourage attendance.

  1. To help achieve a positive classroom culture, a Student of the Week can be selected by the teacher. Incorporating Wiki into the curriculum, the students will be instructed to provide positive feedback to the Student of the Week by making a positive statement concerning the student on the Wiki site. Constructive support from their peers will help to provide unity in the classroom.
  2. “Pay it Forward.” Using the theme taken from the movie, “Pay it Forward,” students will create a concept map, in which they will “pay it forward.” Each student’s photo will be placed on a chart. The teacher will select a student to begin. At some point during the day, the student is responsible for doing one good “deed “ for another classmate. For example, loaning a pencil, sharing a book, helping with school work, etc. Once he completes this act of kindness, he shares the name of the student. That student then shares what the “kindness” consisted of. The teacher takes a piece of yarn from the first student’s photo and links it to the second student’s photo. The second student then is required to keep the “acts of kindness” going by performing a good “deed” to another student. This continues until the concept map is completed. This activity will encourage the students to be involved in taking care of their classmates, thus creating a community based classroom.

Race Track Behavior Chart

Purpose: I created my Classroom Motivation System to encourage proper behavior. A chart has been created to help the children become invested in providing the behavior that is expected in the classroom, whether in regards to rules & procedures, a positive attitude, a good work ethic, or any type of behavior the teacher wants to encourage.

Connections: This can be related to one of our classroom discussions that involved building student motivation and working to invest the students. This also incorporates the Lemov #45 technique, WARM/STRICT. Doug Lemov, Teach Like a Champion, pg. 213.

The chart can be exciting and fun, should appropriate behavior take place, however, improper behavior will result in a negative consequence taking place on the chart. The rules of the chart game will be explained to the students, including the consequence that will be enforced, should it be needed. The negative consequence is a temporary set-back in the game that can be turned around with positive behavior.

Modifications: The chart that has been created is intended for a self-contained classroom that will have a limited number of students. It can be modified to work with a larger number of students by simply making the chart larger. It can also be modified to be used by a SPED teacher, when working with an individual student, in a pull-out situation. In this case, an individual strip can be used instead of a chart. If the student completes each step of his work and progresses forward to the Finish line, he can play a short game, receive a certificate, a prize, or anything the teacher chooses to use as her reward.

Grade Level: Elementary Grades K-6.

Materials: Black poster board - laminated, wood die cut cars, Velcro, Dry Erase pen.

Directions: Create the chart by dividing it into sections across the chart, giving one section to each student. On the left side of the chart, the student’s name is listed. To the right of this, a “race track lane” is created for each student’s car to travel on. Black poster board is suggested to give the “look” of a race track. The poster board should be laminated, as this will allow the teacher to add or delete names as needed. Each student will be given their wooden die-cut car, to color in with markers (the cars can be found at various craft stores such as Hobby Lobby). Once their race car is completed, you will place a sticky Velcro circle (fuzzy side) on the back of the car. On each race track lane, you will place 4-6 Velcro circles (scratchy-looped side) at intervals. Each student’s race car is then placed at the beginning of his race track lane by placing the Velcro tab on the back of the car to the Velcro tab on the race track.

When introducing the game to the students, you will need to provide the rules of the game. Each student will be allowed to move down the race track by providing positive classroom behavior. Whenever the teacher notes behavior that she is impressed with, she will move the race car to the next Velcro tab on the race track lane. The first student to reach the finish line, wins the game. A spin-out can result when a student uses inappropriate behavior. The spin-out will result in the car being moved back one space. Should an accident (a serious infraction of rules or behavior) occur, the student can be moved back more than one space, determined at the teacher’s discretion. The student can always get back “on track” by performing desired behavior, that is noted by the teacher. Once the game is completed, everyone returns to the starting position to begin a new game.