Rewarding students

I might be overly excited about getting ready for work. I was shopping in Kmart today and saw a number of parents getting their children ready for school. My aim today was to visit Kmart and grab as many gold coins as possible from the party section. The gold coins are sold as a packet of 36 for $2. I was not after the typical plastic coins with the dollar sign, I was after a particular coin set with the words 'I was caught being good!' I am planning to use them as part of my positive behaviour learning strategy. It will be my own reward system in the Art classroom. I envision that every time a student works well, I will give them a gold coin. The coin does not leave the classroom, but contributes to the class jar. There will be little prizes along the way, but when the jar is full, a bigger reward will be provided. This new reward system is something I want to do personally for my students. It is a system on top of my whole school 'Vivo' reward system.

The school's 'Vivo' reward system works by having accounts set up for both the teacher and student. Teachers can reward students based on how well they are meeting the school's value of being a respectful, engage and active learner. Students can look up their virtual points on the computer/mobile app and trade their points in for a prize of their own choice i.e. keyrings, photo frames, speakers, earphones.

I am also a big advocator for Vivos at my school. I try to get students excited and more teachers active in using Vivos. I often make announcements on assembly about updated Vivo prizes as I am one of the two teachers in charge of putting up prizes on the website. Last year, I was successful in getting teachers to jump on board to provide 'teacher services' as part of the prize options. Some of the teacher services include making hot chocolate, baking a cake, making brownies, wearing a onesie and being a note taker for students. Students can even become a teacher or a principal for one period. I am so thankful to my colleagues for constantly rewarding students and for offering different services or prizes.

Sometimes it is hard to update the tangible prizes on the Vivo store because of our available budget. Last year, I asked for donations from the school and local community. Teachers dug through their house and donated new items that they do not use (unwanted gifts, double purchases etc). You will be surprised with how many teachers, parents and businesses are willing to donate. Bunnings provided 10 vouchers,Workers Club provided 7 retail shop vouchers including cinema vouchers, Riverbank provided free tickets and one of Sydney's largest trampoline business offered 10 voucher entries for students.