S3EP8 Should teachers reward students for doing what they're "supposed" to do?

Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers

Angela Watson

Education, Courses

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 21 February 2016

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

I wanted to do an episode about how to reward students responsibly--in a way that considers the long term results and the type of character and work ethic we’re building in kids, not just how to get compliance here in the moment. And I realized that before I could do something like that, I needed to first address the question of whether teachers should be rewarding kids at all. “Reward” has become a bad word in many education circles. In this episode, I'll tell the story of when I was called out by a district administrator for giving what she felt was an inappropriate reward, and explain why I’m advocating for the return of the reward, anyway.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Season 3, episode 8 of Angela Watson's Truth for Teachers.
0:05.0	I'm your host Angela Watson and I'm here to speak life, encouragement, and truth
0:10.0	into the minds and hearts of educators and get you energized for the week ahead.
0:15.0	Today I'm going to share some thoughts on whether teachers should reward students for doing things that they're supposed to do.
0:22.0	Visit truth for teachers.com to get the transcript. they're supposed to do.
0:22.6	Visit truth for teachers.com to get the transcript, links to recommended resources,
0:27.0	and to share your thoughts on the show.
0:30.4	So I wanted to do an episode about how to reward students responsibly, how to reward them in a way that considers the long-term results and the type of character and work ethic that we're building in kids, not just how to get compliance here in the moment.
0:47.0	And I realized that before I could even do something like that, I needed to first address the question of whether teachers should be rewarding kids at all because
0:56.0	reward has become a bad word in many education circles.
1:00.0	Let me start with a story. I once had a district science administrator conduct a
1:07.3	surprise walk through in my classroom during my lunch period. She was
1:12.4	looking for evidence of science inquiry teaching.
1:15.4	How she was going to do that during lunchtime?
1:16.8	I don't know, don't ask.
1:18.7	The kids happened to be eating in the classroom with me that day and they were watching a district-approved movie.
1:24.8	She was surprised that they weren't in the cafeteria.
1:28.0	And so I exclaimed really loudly so the whole class could hear, these students completed every one of their homework assignments
1:34.1	for the entire week so they get to spend their Friday lunch block eating with me in the
1:38.7	room. I beamed, I was so excited, kids beamed, they were super excited, they're looking up at her for approval.
1:46.0	And the administrator just put like this fake grin on her face and this over-enthusiastic tone that was just dripping with
1:55.2	sarcasm and she says, wow, you guys are so lucky, you get rewarded for doing what you're supposed to do.
	...

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