Extrinsic Rewards Work Their Magic (on one person at least...)

While I patiently and consistently attempt to instill intrinsic motivation in my students, I carefully employ a few extrinsically based reward systems. Last week, four of my students did not meet their behavior and academic goals and thus, did not get the reward. Two of them didn't care at all, not a huge surprise there and exactly why my students eventually need to be intrinsically motivated. The other two were so upset they pouted with their heads down. Dare I say they almost cried like babies when they saw everyone else in the class being rewarded and they were left out. Mind you, I am really fair about the rewards. The students know at the beginning of the week exactly what they need to do to get it and students are never surprised when they haven't earned it. They already know. I told all four students that if they earned our weekly class reward by Thursday that they would be able to choose what the class would get for a reward. Dare I say too soon, IT WAS A BIG FAT MANIPULATIVE SUCCESS! Well at least with two of them. It is only Wednesday, and one girl has almost reached the goals two days early. It is a huge change from her performance last week. I hope she doesn't break my bank with the class reward she chooses.