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Rewards
Rewards
When students are following the rules that we have in the gymnasium for physical education, the students are in the ideal place and time for optimal learning to take place. That in and of itself is a reward of sorts but rewards can take on many other forms. Verbal feedback (nice job), verbal specific feedback (I like how you ...), non-verbal feedback (high five, thumbs up, wink), and reward (squad) points are some examples of rewards that students receive in class.
The use of reward points (what we call them in Kindergarten) and squad points (what we call them in first through fifth grade) are tangible ways for students to learn about social norms and what is expected of them during class. This takes a bit of explaining so if you're interested, follow along below:
At the beginning of the school year, each class in grades one through five are randomly split into four heterogeneous squads (red squad, blue squad, green squad, orange squad). Each month, one member of each squad is assigned to be the squad leader, the role of squad leader rotates amongst the squad at the end of every month.
During class, students who are following the rules in the gym have a chance to earn squad points. Squad points are plastic chips which can be earned individually or as a group. When students or an entire squad earns a squad point, it is deposited into that particular squads bank. At the end of each class, the squad leaders job is to collect all of the squad points from their back and record the total with the teacher.
A record of each squad's squad point totals are kept on spreadsheet and at the end of each month, the squad who finishes with the most squad points receives two privileges. Each member of the super squad gets to pick out a prize from the prize bucket as a small token of appreciation for a job well done. The super squad also gets line privileges for the rest of the month and is allowed to line up at the front of the line when leaving the gymnasium to go back to class.
The title of super squad is a title that is earned and is not guaranteed. The only way that squads can earn the title of 'Super Squad' are to earn the most squad points which are rewarded to students who follow the rules. Students are highly motivated and can often be found encouraging each other during class in order to acheive their goal of becoming the 'Super Squad' at the end of each month.
Kindergarten follows the same kind of system except "squad points" are called "reward points" and reward points are earned as a class, not by squads. When the entire class has accumulated 100 reward points (which usually takes a couple of months or so), the entire class earn individualized prizes from Mr. Tatro.
The use of squad points in class is one way students begin to learn about what is expected of them in class. The use of squad points also brings up many questions which we explore and answer to help guide students to answers in what are expected behaviors in class. These questions include:
Are you guaranteed to receive squad points when you are following the rules?
When you receive (or don't receive) a squad point, how do you react to that?
What can you do to help classmates who may not be following the rules?
When you find out that your squad is or is not the super squad, what do expected behaviors look like?
What do unexpected behaviors look like?
These are just a handful of questions that students sometimes have in class. Being able to guide students toward the answers of these very real, very important questions are wonderful opportunities which help students begin to find their social place in class.
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