Motivational+Ideas

This page is for motivational ideas.

Mrs. Stephens uses a few different techniques to motivate her students. Skittles are the main tool used in this kindergarten class. The students love skittles. They love every opportunity to earn skittles, and the teacher makes sure to give many opportunities to earn them. They can earn a skittle for paying attention. They can earn a skittle for completing an assignment, and extra skittles for going above and beyond in an assignment. She will also occasionally hand out stickers or mini chocolate bars for exceptional behavior or going above and beyond in an assignment. Another motivational idea is used school wide. It's called the CARE report, and is further referenced in Rules of Conduct and Consequences. Students are rewarded for good behavior by earning points for that day. If they earn enough points throughout the week, they get to participate in Fun Friday. Students are motivated to participate in Fun Friday.

In my second placement, my cooperating teacher has a few more challenges finding motivations. She will occasionally use M&Ms if a student does something well. Many of the kindergarten students in this SPED resource classroom are motivated with praise. For some of these students, going to the potty is an accomplishment, and as a motivation and reward if this happens, the teacher and the parapros will go into the bathroom and praise the student and make a big deal about what happened. Miss Kidd also uses computer time as a motivator for one student. He has autism, and absolutely loves getting on the computer. He is told that if he behaves well for "x" amount of time, then he gets computer time. Normally, it is an excellent motivator for the child. I have learned in this placement that motivation is different for each student as they are all so different. Some students respond to motivators, and some don't. Some students love the motivation of candy, while others have no interest. It is very interesting.