Getting students to work with you and for youBy Maria Celeste MahaffeyMaria Mahaffey is an ITA for SIATech, San Diego.
Working with at-promise/at-risk students continuously presents challenges in classroom management. Many of these students have reached young adulthood without having had the opportunity to mature like their counterparts. Our students are often extremely street smart and have seen things in their short lives that most of us only see in the movies. But at the same time they have not had the same opportunities to learn to participate constructively in the classroom and the workplace.
As the person on the other side of the lectern, walking the rows of students’ desks, or correcting student work, it is our responsibility, as educators, to impart not only the content of our subject area but also to teach students how to grow up. Our role as educator has evolved into one that spans the spectrum as teacher, mediator, mentor, and almost parent in some cases. The result is a need to realize that frequently our at-promise students’ locus of control is still external. There is a gap in that maturation process and while we might wish that our students learn for the sake of learning, the reality is that many are there because they have to be, for one reason or another. Many feel that life is happening to them; they do not fully know how to take responsibility for their role in the classroom and school community.
To help students find this sense of reasonability and to try to help them create a sense of intrinsic motivation for learning or at least success in the classroom, extrinsic motivation often must be used. My classroom utilizes individual and class rewards as incentives for students. The class, as a whole, can earn points towards a free period (or block, depending on scheduling systems) by simply doing what is expected of them. Students earn points by: - working quietly during independent work time;
- the class having no unexcused absences or tardies;
- all students listen to instructions and participate in whole class instruction;
- all students participate in group work;
- students’ music, when allowed to listen, is only audible to themselves;
- students maintain a clean classroom;
- no students sleeping.
When students work quietly when assigned independent work or participate appropriately during group instruction, they earn points, which are recorded in the front of the class on the whiteboard. When each class reaches twenty-five points, they earn a free block. Variations on this include having blocks or periods race each other to twenty-five points so that only one block or period wins. I allow each block to work independently towards their twenty-five points or undoubtedly the same one or two blocks would always win leaving the other blocks discouraged and defeated. For individual incentives, my students can earn raffle tickets for good citizenship. Wiping down desks and computers, organizing the classroom binders, waking sleeping students, vacuuming, making copies or handing out papers can earn students raffle tickets for a drawing held each Friday. Prizes vary but are frequently in the form of gift certificates to local food joints as students are usually complaining about the cafeteria food. For the individual rewards, it is easy for the same students to always volunteer so as the teacher, I try to find ways for my more reluctant students to “volunteer.” When I initially considered introducing incentives into my classroom, my intuitive reaction was, “why should I reward people for doing what they’re supposed to be doing anyway? This isn’t how it works in the real world. They’re not going to get a cookie every time they do their job the way it’s supposed to be done.” But I realized that my reaction is based upon my experience of having received praise while growing up and having had a lot of intrinsic motivation because I was raised in a family that heavily valued academic success. It is no longer about me though. For at-promise students, many have not had much support to succeed academically or received a lot of praise. I also realized that the reason that I considered instituting these programs was to offer students an environment where they would feel appreciated, know that I recognize their efforts and successes, and for them to see they are making a difference in their own lives. Since implementing these motivational techniques, attendance has improved, students are more engaged in instruction, students are taking responsibility for the cleanliness and maintenance of their workspaces, and most importantly students feel appreciated and willing to continue their education. Hopefully, through a little extrinsic motivation, my late bloomers will develop intrinsic motivation by the time they reach the workplace. Maria Celeste Mahaffey holds a BA in International Affairs from the George Washington University and a Masters of Arts in Teaching Secondary Social Science from Western Governors University. Maria currently has her single subject CA credential and works as an ITA at the San Diego SIATech campus. |
