Over
the years, both in school and growing up, rewards have been a part of
accomplishment. But, when do those
rewards lose their flavor? Some are
motivated by a willingness to do the right thing, while others are motivated by
what they might get in return for a job well done. So, what should we be teaching students in
the classroom? Does doing the right
thing on its own have rewards that last longer than a toy or material
object? Or, do we teach the material
object is the end result and working for a material object creates more
happiness and quicker results?
Answer? There may be a place for
both, but at different times in human development.
There
are plenty of adults that work for money.
There are plenty of adults that work for the joy of working, and there
are those that work for both. What
message should we be sending kids in school?
Money, or joy and happiness? I
tend to think joy and happiness. It has
been my opinion and experience that extrinsic motivation such as play money,
tokens, tickets or other prizes that are given to students after
accomplishments are most effective at younger ages, before adolescence. In males and females, adolescence begins
around the age of 10 or 11. It tends to
end around the ages of 15 and 16. This
means that the stages of childhood, ages 1 through 9 are more likely to believe
and be motivated in a different way because this age group still believes in
Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy. The older humans get, in most cases, the more
they cognitively develop. Teachers,
administrators and parents have a responsibility to play to that development
and create an environment that caters to it.
Adolescence:
Between
the ages of 10 and 16, students become more opinionated by the day, and in some
cases have no fear of expressing their thoughts regardless of the
audience. This also means they can sniff
out a childish idea a mile away.
Adolescents are more likely to make fun of toys as rewards than those in
early childhood. They want so
desperately to be adults, but lack the mental/emotional, social and physical
experience to accomplish this. However,
what teachers can provide for them are the ideas of how adults are rewarded and
how it can shape their future success:
Pats on the back, eye contact, high fives, firm handshakes, and public
recognition. These are simple rewards
for success that adults receive that can create lasting memories when a moment
of good is recognized. Diplomas,
certificates, pictures, plaques, trophies, pins and other framed awards can be
provided to this developmental group when accomplishments are made. It allows students an opportunity to look and
hold something of meaning and make a mental connection to why they received
it. Remember, in the end, it’s not the
reward we should be teaching, it’s the deed that earned the reward. If the reward happens to be more “adult” and
mature, then the deed will be remembered and the deed will be shared with
others. The plaque may or may not be on
the wall, the pin may or may not be on a shirt, the diploma may or may not be
in a frame, but the deed will stay in the brain for a lifetime.
Here Comes the Conflict:
This
is tricky. It also is dangerous to
student development. When a method of
reward overlaps with the wrong developmental stage, you will have
conflict. This will occur with the
person giving the reward and the one receiving it, end of story. Imagine yourself right now as a middle school
or high school student. Think back to
what you were interested in and what your friends were interested in. Now imagine you helping a student who drops
their books down the stairs. You see
this, follow the books tumbling down and help your fellow peer pick them
up. Typically a “thank you” is
exchanged, but not always. Now imagine a
teacher seeing you do this good deed.
The teacher approaches you, and says; “Hi. That was nice of you. Now here you go for your good work. A nice shiny quarter. Have a nice day”. Now imagine the look you would give that
teacher at the end of the exchange.
Would you take that teacher seriously?
Would you think they were crazy?
What would you do with the quarter? I’ve got a pretty good guess.
We’ve
all seen it, in movies, TV shows and in real life. A kid does something good and the old
neighbor gives the kids a meaningless gift.
The kid throws it down, throws it away, gives it to someone else or
throws it back. This is the disconnect
that exists in school that must stop.
Now you have resentment between the student and teacher. Now you have discontent. Now you have a student who might not take you
seriously as a teacher. Now you might
have a student who stops caring about your class. Now you might have a student who stops doing
their homework. Now you have a student
that doesn’t care. All stemming from a
wrong reward for the wrong developmental stage.
A child riding a tricycle might enjoy a shiny quarter, but adolescents
won’t. Remove poor rewards that are
childish, for the wrong developmental stage and you will reduce the
conflict. Make sure to do it
immediately, or the conflict will spread faster than you can imagine. If you think that students will like any
reward at any age, you’re wrong.
Increase Intrinsic
Motivation
I
mentioned earlier, there are ways of increasing rewards that are more “adult”
and mature. Now we must teach students
to live without the immediate reward.
Teaching this can create a more mature and happy human being, not only
in the short term, but also in the long term.
If intrinsic motivation is not taught and students don’t learn to enjoy
good work for the sake of good work, then a feeling of emptiness may
exist. A feeling that “something is
missing and the good work is meaningless without something I like in return”
will fester. This drives some people
mad. But teaching students about how
good deeds return to them in kind is a good discussion to have with students. How do you teach this? Just talk to them. Talk to them like adults on the first day of
school and every day after that. Let
them know how things can work out in the end.
Provide them with personal examples of when you did something nice for
someone, received nothing in return immediately, but were happy later because
of something else. Tell them that the
joy of helping was the reward, not the reward itself. Don’t make up lies or stories to get the
point across, just be honest. Have
students provide an example of when they did something nice for someone and
received nothing in return. Ask them how
it made them feel right then, and how they felt a little later. Allow them to reflect on the past and present. In doing so, you may create a more mature
young adult. Remember, this is what adolescents
want to be anyway.