Primary Incentives

Teacher-Led Motivation Ideas

Think Through Math offers a lot of great built-in motivation; however, sometimes a teacher-led plan is the extra boost students need to be successful.

Make sure your incentives focus on lessons passed, since the system already rewards them with points for effort. Below are some motivation ideas to help get your students excited about using TTM. Rewarding students for monthly, weekly, or daily effort keeps students motivated to continue working. You can reward them with simple things, such as:

Primary Incentives

· 10 Minutes Free Time

· Homework Pass

· Positive phone call home

· Lunch with teacher

· Candy Jar Treat

o For every 5 lessons passed students can pull one peice of candy from the candy jar

· Sticker Chart

o Add a sticker to a chart every time student passes a lesson.

Secondary Incentives

· Homework Pass

· Listen to headphones during independent work time for one class

· Help a classmate with their TTM activities

· Positive phone call home

Class Centered Ideas

· Class Party

o Challenge students to work together as a team to reach a goal. In return they get to enjoy a party. Once the whole class reaches a 10 lessons passed for each student, they can have party. It doesn’t have to be expensive. Think popcorn, donuts or ice cream.

· Boys Vs. Girls

o A boys vs. girls competition is a great way to motivate students to work together as a team. Each week/month, announce the winning group and have a small prize in mind to reward them.

Whole School Ideas

· Traveling Trophy

o If there are several other classes using TTM, set a weekly criteria of student achievement and award the winning class with a trophy. Do it again the next week and have the trophy “travel” from room to room.

· Class Awards

o At the end of each 9 weeks, consider holding a TTM class awards assembly to honor hard working students. TTM offers certificates to assist you in recognizing student achievement.

· Grade Vs. Grade

o A grade vs. grade competition is a great way to motivate students to work together as a team. Each week/month, announce the winning grade and have a small prize in mind to reward them.