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#21
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Rewarding good or "not bad"
In article ,
"Welches" wrote: I'm coming from the view of #1, who sits still, listens and obeys (at school anyway!!) and is at the top end of her form. Her teacher commented that she "coasts" the academic side, and still is at the top. Certainly she produces much better work at home than she does at school. At various times she has commented that you get more rewards at school by being "not bad" than being always good. It's been comment before but I'm beginning to sense a frustration, as often these other children are getting rewards frequently that she would like to have occasionally. rest snipped My school distinguishes academic and sporting excellence at annual prize-givings and at report times, but good behaviour is rewarded much more frequently. Each day, every teacher issues a couple of yellow Happy Cards to children in their class who have worked hard/worn their hats all week/been obedient and respectful of others -- that is, they are caught *being good* . When you get five Happy Cards, you hand them in and are awarded a Tickled Pink (guess what colour!) in class, and applauded. After three Tickled Pinks, you receive a blue school merit certificate -- this is awarded at school assembly, as are all the higher level awards. Three Blues, and you get a Principal's Medallion. Three Medallions, and you get a VIP badge to wear on your uniform. I think the frequency of awards has had something to do with its success. It's within the reach of any child to get a Happy Card relatively easily, so both the quiet compliant children *and* those who struggle with self-control are rewarded reasonably often. Statistically, you'd expect every child to receive at least one merit certificate "for exemplary behaviour" a year. Note that these rewards are intangibles: as in adult life, the reward for good behaviour is respect, not chocolates or toys. I think you owe it to the school to point out the problem with their system, and to mention the conversation you overheard. It's disturbing for children to be so cynical, and it must be very obvious for so many kids to have picked up on it! -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/ |
#22
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Rewarding good or "not bad"
"Beliavsky" wrote in message ... On Dec 6, 5:10 pm, "Stephanie" wrote: snip I wonder what difference it makes what the other kids are doing. (PollyAnna!!) But really, the notion of goals and acheivement *should* be personal. Right now I am working on X. I want to achieve Y. How is my progress... I think there is a sex difference such that males are more motivated by competition than females are, on average. Many educators, such as those in the OP's school, frown on competition nowadays, and this may be partly explain why boys have fallen behind girls in academic achievement. Christina Hoff Sommers discussed this in a book "The War Against Boys: How Misguided Feminism Is Harming Our Young Men". That does not really speak to the necessity for *personal* goals and the importance of basing acheivement on THAT vs on what your neighbor is doing. I don't have any particular problem with competitiveness. But I think children should be able to choose how they compete in the form of academic clubs, sports and the like. For those who are not competitive, competition in acedamia can be very harmful. I would not, personally, look to a book with such an incindiary title for meaningful, unbiased judgements. I believe that boys are failed in many ways by our schools. I also think girls are failed in many ways by our schools. I've seen otherwise intelligent men on trading floors engage in eating/ drinking contests. I doubt a group of women would do that. I know I was a fairly competitive student by high school -- I didn't just want A's but to be the top student in every individual class. I did not succeed in the latter, but the goal may have motivated me to work harder than I otherwise would have. |
#23
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Rewarding good or "not bad"
In article
, Beliavsky wrote: Doesn't the school have letter grades based on academic achievement, and aren't good grades rewarding for your girl? Regarding "rewarding for effort", if exactly the same material is taught to all children, more intelligent children will master the material with less effort. They should not be punished for that but instead be given more challenging material. THe question is how to reward good *behaviour* -- including, but not limited to, effort in class, but also encompassing following school rules, respectful behaviour, promptness, obedience, whatever. Any child should be capable of obtaining an award for good behaviour, even those who will never gain academic or sporting awards. -- Chookie -- Sydney, Australia (Replace "foulspambegone" with "optushome" to reply) http://chookiesbackyard.blogspot.com/ |
#24
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Rewarding good or "not bad"
"Welches" wrote in message ... I'm wondering how other schools deal with this problem, as I can't think of a realisitc way round this where all are going to be motivated and feel rewarded. The ones who really seem to miss out from my observation are those who are quiet, obedient, and middle of the class in achievements, they seem to get very, very few rewards at all. Debbie I have one son (DS1) that does not excel, although he isn't in 'trouble' a lot either, and one son (DS2) that finds the whole day easy peasy. DS1 might get more frequent verbal praise. They praise him a lot for staying on task and things that most kids just do ordinarily. DS2 gets less frequent verbal praise but he gets his stickers for good behavior/remembering things and signs off more 'reading' logs etc. so he gets a lot more rewards in that sense. In this current school the kids get 'student of the day' or some such thing where they are teachers helper for a day etc. and they just rotate through the class. It isn't earned. Last year DS2 was in a different school where they did Star Student of the week and he did get that once. \ I'm happy with the balance my school has. They have charts etc. that all kids participate in and of course some kids move more rapidly through them then others and yet my first son isn't getting totally left out of positive reinforcements. They are young yet (2nd grade and kindy) so I don't know how it will change as they get older. -- Nikki, mama to Hunter 4/99 Luke 4/01 Brock 4/06 Ben 4/06 |
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