Getting a certificate for being good. But only if your usually on the SAD SIDE.

[charliecat]

What message does that send to my dds who are never on the sad side?
Misbehave, chat, poke people for a week...then stop...and you will get a certificate. Arse

But not now Dino?

LOL Its not just my dd, whos 5 whos coming out of the classroom pondering why shes been good and working hard all da and still certificateless. My friends nephew was jumping up and down his mums leg yesterday asking his mum the same thing.
Why is it that X got a certificate and i didnt...I have been good and I worked really hard Mummy, but the teacher forgot to give me a certificate... trying to pull mum into the classroom to query this.

Yes it would, if this was happening to my children.

I can't really get too worried about the prodigal son these days, though .

So do children see it as a reward for being bad, rather than redemption for trying to be good (Dino brought in the religious aspect not me)

Message withdrawn

the school i taught in had a policy of using the 'sad side' so i also introduced a happy side where i would list all the children behaving well. any children with their name on this list at the end of the day would recieve a tick against their name on the wall. 5 ticks meant you could choose a prize (little car, pencil, hair band, general party bag kind of stuff) from the gold box. i think this worked for all (but must point out that they were gullible reception children!) and found that those who found it difficult to behave were fully aware of why the 'good' children were rewarded more often and how they could receive the same.

This has been an issue in every school I have taught at but as Peachyclaire said it is not clear cut.

I try and make sure my students have a target they are all working towards and that if they meet this they will get rewarded. For some students it may be completeing extension work, for others it may be working on their presentation and for others it may be managing to stay on task in class. Each student is challenged and although it may not look fair to the observer it is fair.

I was on the bus a few months ago and overheard a lad talking to his mum, apparantly he had got a certificate for not talking all day - ( of course it may not have been that but that was how he perceived it which is what is important) and I can remember thinking what kind of message is that to send to a young man.

It does sometimes feel as if the "good" kids go unrewarded and it is something I try to remember in my classroom practice. I teach in quite a challenging school and we are trying to address this issue as our focus can too often be on the negative behaviour. We are thinking of introducing an automiatic merit system for pupils who meet the class expectations which will be linked to a reward system for those students who do as expected every lesson but go unnoticed.

I am on both sides here. My dd is always good and has not received an award yet this year. Other kids who manage to shut up for a week get them. On other side, my ds is having a few behaviour "issues" at school and I am trying my damdest to sort him out. I know it will mean the world to me if he ever manages to get one.

Each child in ds's reception class has two targets to work towards. If they do well on those targets, they get a point. Seems like a fair system to me.

my ds (4) has had some behavioural probs in school and has never got an award.. but yesterday he got his first for sticking to the rules! i was happy for him!

My oldest (who is always well behaved at school to my amazement plus quite bright) did not get any sort of award until in Yr 4. I had tried to explain to her before about some awards mainly being for children who had to try extra hard, etc but I personally felt annoyed that the kids who always did well both in terms of behaviour and work didn't get any recognition. I know some of the problem was a lack of leadership in the school for a few years so that schemes that were in place to award good work just didn't get implemented. I brought it up with her new teacher this year and luckily there is a new head too and she has had two certificates so far! (Dh reckons it is only to keep me quiet because I had a moan though!)

my dds class has a star of the week award. dd has never received this so far, but i understand why. shes not the easiest of children & is prone to behavioural problems. i feel a bit sad when i see other children coming out with their reward & she never gets it. dd herself is oblivious & doesnt appear to give two hoots at the moment (she is only 5 though) i sometimes think that a sticker or something may encourage her to toe the line a bit better

her sister (who is very well behaved all the time) has also never received anything, but i dont think that they really have any form of rewards system going in their school except for in reception. she is such a good girl, it would be nice to have it recognised occasionally.