Well, today I got to experience a perk of teaching. As a reward for students (middle school) who have not received a disciplinary referral all school year we took them to this amusement/water park. It is a pretty cool place that has 4 parks in one. The roller coasters weren't half bad, and there were 5 or 6 go kart rides that were pretty awesome. All in all it was a fun day.
Here's the debate. In the past we have told students about a "reward" that they would receive for behaving. Basically, trying to provide an incentive for students to act accordingly and make good decisions. This year we did not give any warning. We decided to reward the students who were well behaved without being "bribed." I tend to like the way that we did it this year. I'm all for incentives if used properly, but you want to teach children to be motivated from within, not from external forces. Thoughts?
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It's an interesting debate: incentives vs. bribes. Are we coddling the kids too much and not teaching personal responsibility when we tell them ahead of time that they'll be given a reward for behaving the way they should? On the other hand we are in a different time than when we were in middle/high school. Kids today seriously do not view punishments such as trips to the office/detention in the same way we did. I would rather keep my mouth shut for an hour straight in class than be sent to the principal's office (I got sent to Walker McGinnis' office once in middle school and never, I repeat never, had to go to the office again in six more years of schooling) or worse, get detention. This leads to another point, which opens a much larger Pandora's box...parental responsibility. If I brought home a note from a teacher or administrator, my parents would punish me a whole lot worse than what I got at school. And I could count on that. I know my time in schools has been limited and was nothing close to what a full time teacher experiences (parent contact specifically) but I got the distinct impression from talking to teachers that parents (as a whole) just don't care these days about disciplining their kids. If a teacher punishes a student it usually ends there. In fact, I heard more from teachers that parents usually take the kids' side and call the school or teacher to complain about the punishment. It all goes back to a sense of entitlement which is not just a public school or K-12 problem but a societal issue. Okay, I realize I've jumped around a bit here and probably gone a bit further than what you were initially asking about James, but those were some thoughts I had on the subject.
I don't like writing long responses to posts because I hate the little comment box. I like to be able to look over my entire composition in a quick glance without having to scroll back and forth. So maybe I should just add my reply in another new post. I'll see if I have time later. I have to go meet Cece in a little while to visit another day care facility (gotta get on those waiting lists early) and then I have to go work at Turner today. Peace out homies.
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