In recent years, I was part of a classroom team in a school which utilized a PBS system, and students worked to earn “Dino Dollars”, which could then be spent on all kinds of cool prizes in “The Dinosaur’s Den”.  The only problem was that our students were Kindergarteners, many of them with special needs, and “The Dinosaur’s Den” was only open for business once every marking period.  That’s a loooong time to wait for a reward, which can cause a drop in motivation for some students.  When the reinforcement is too delayed, it can quickly lose its effectiveness.  So for this particular group of children, we decided to teach them the value of the Dino Dollars by having our own classroom reward system.  Each Friday, they would have the opportunity to cash in their dollars on prizes in our own Treasure Chest.  This was a highlight of the week for many students, and it also gave us a chance to help each student reflect on their week and connect their dollars/prizes to the behavior that helped them earn “the goods”.  By mid-year, we switched to a cash-out every other Friday, and by the last marking period we even stretched a little further.   We found a way to tie the school-wide PBS system to more immediate, and therefore, more meaningful and reinforcing “rewards”.  (Who doesn’t love a Treasure Chest?)

Years ago, in another school, I recall a teacher placing a marble in a jar when she “caught” a student doing something particularly noteworthy.  The “deal” was that when the jar was full, she would treat the whole class to an ice cream party.  (Yes, she tried to make sure that everyone in the class had contributed to that full jar, and it wasn’t just the star students earning for the masses.)

One of my all-time favorites was the science teacher who challenged students to “Rock (Her) World”.  Each student had a small jar on the windowsill, which was to be a receptacle for earned rocks.  She literally circulated the room periodically, holding a small handful of little rocks.  She’d quietly place the rock on the corner of the desk of some hard-working students.  These students would then place the rocks in their jars.  She also used the rocks during whole group instructional periods, chirping out “You Rock My World” to a student who gave an especially strong answer to a question, or sometimes just to the struggling kid who was paying attention and making an attempt to engage in the lesson.  As each student filled their jar, they could cash-in their rocks for a reward.  I thought this was the neatest thing, and it was apparent that her students really bought into the system.

So now I challenge you to Rock My World, or somebody else’s…….please feel free to comment and share some classroom-wide reward ideas that you’ve tried in your classroom, or have seen other teachers utilize.  Your idea could ignite something for someone else!

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First, I can offer expertise. Teaching adults, I can’t force my knowledge on them, I have to allow them to explore the subject for themselves. I can, however, be available with that expertise in hand for practical workplace examples of a concept. I tried this out last week. My class discussed employment law — a bunch of dry federal statutes on what to do and not do when hiring and firing. Then we took some job applications from the internet and compared them to these laws looking for legal issues in the applications. Suddenly the material had a practical relevant application, and the details of these laws became important to the students.

A second motivation I can provide is displaying empathy. Adult learners come with a full-blown life operating in the background of their education. Children get sick at inconvenient times; work causes problems that can’t be avoided. I have the choice to give empathy. It may mean I have to modify my teaching preferences to include instructional strategies which are more acceptable to the particular students in my class. Empathy includes both the human factor and flexibility to communicate expectations and bend those expectations to meet the individual or class need.

Showing enthusiasm is key to becoming a great motivational instructor. Have you ever noticed that when we talk about something for which we have a great deal of interest, we get more excited, more vocal, more demonstrative? Of course you have. This strong excitement or interest on behalf of a topic or cause is natural for most of us. Enthusiasm is contagious. Have you ever talked to someone who spent the weekend sky-diving or white water rafting? If you listen to their stories long enough, you may begin to think, “I should try that, it sound like lots of fun.” (Lie down until that feeling passes…) We want that same enthusiasm in our subject matter. When we are excited, students catch it. They become in engaged in the learning process.

A few weeks ago in class, I set out a series of scenarios to negotiate some sports and media representation contracts. I asked several students to represent the sports star, his agent and the media. These students dove into their parts, role-playing in great detail, and grins and laughter broke out. In fact, one group became so involved in the scenario that I had a hard time pulling them back to the class. They found the significance of contracts and negotiation in an enthusiastic environment.

Finally, demonstrating clarity. Demonstrating clarity is really the power of organized language. It can also be defined as “thinking on your feet” or articulating well. This seems especially important in the areas of class expectations and assignments. Adult learners need to know exactly what is expected and which assignments are part of the experience. I’ve also found that details such as explaining the why of assignments go a long way in motivating students.

If you would like to learn more about becoming a motivational instructor, check out this article:

Thoms, K. (2012) They’re Not Just Big Kids: Motivating Adult Learners. Retrieved from: http://frank.mtsu.edu/~itconf/proceed01/22.html

If you would like to discuss becoming a more motivational speaker with Elizabeth, please feel free to leave a comment below and she will respond accordingly!  Have a great day!

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A special shout out goes to our very own Rob Sibert, Afidence Sr. Lead Help Desk Consultant, who fortunately got the lucky “Cupcake” provided by SugarPlums Cupcakery in Mason/Milford, Ohio and won a Kindle Fire!

That was one incredible cupcake!  Way to go Rob!

Afidence IT Consulting - Trust through Excellence and Integrity

Afidence IT Consulting - Trust through Excellence and Integrity

Taste of Afidence is a monthly publication that showcases a few resources for IT projects and/or support that will help you achieve your ROI within your IT budget.  Don’t see what you are looking for, give Crystal a call at 513-234-5822 x441 and let her help you find the right consultant!

Taste of Afidence at http://www.afidence.com/the-taste-of-afidence/.

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Afidence IT Consulting - Trust through Excellence and Integrity

Contributed by Sr. Lead Help Desk, Consultant at Afidence

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Process tip . . . check your “Junk Mail” folder once a day just to ensure nothing was detoured there by accident . . . it happens!

Contributed by Sr. Lead Help Desk Consultant, Rob Sibert at Afidence

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Congrats EPMLive!  Another reason Afidence finds the SharePoint-based EPMLive Project Management solutions to be a viable option for our clients.

http://epmlive.com/news/epm-live-selected-as-best-of-project-management-software-for-2012/

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This brings me to early literacy. Not only am I interested in this topic out of curiosity, but I have come face-to-face with it, now that I have a young son of my own. I am trying to figure out best practices to train a child to become a lover of books and an avid reader.

I believe the reason I love books so much is that I come from a household of two book lovers. My mother loves romance and studied English in college; my father loves history and studied Journalism. During my childhood, they were always reading. Best of all, they were always reading to me! I remember from a very early age enjoying Dr. Seuss, The Tales of Peter Rabbit, and nursery rhyme books. My parents would read to me during the day, before bed, and in the car. We would often visit bookstores on weekends as family, made frequent trips to the library, and would spend some nights reading rather than watching movies or television. My childhood was a culture of books.

Growing up, this love for reading continued. I read all the time and read anything I could get my hands on. As I grew, Junie B. Jones turned into R.L. Stine. Anne of Green Gables turned into the Sweet Valley Twins. I would read as I walked (sometimes into walls). If I got into trouble, which was rarely, my parents would ground me from reading. I read as I laid in the sun. I read in backyard trees. My childhood was reading; my upbringing was literacy.

Obviously, I am now an English teacher and the greatest lover of books. So when I see research on early literacy, and how to turn a child into a reader, I agree with the fact that books and enjoyment of reading must be a part of everyday life. I think not only reading books, but talking about them, playing with them, and making them valued early is what increases comprehension and births book-lovers. There is definitely a difference between enjoying reading with your child and forcing your child to read with you. I think they breed very different results. So while I would encourage reading to your six month old before bed, allowing your two year old to stack books, and taking your three year old to the library, I would in no way encourage reading book after book and “forcing” your child to sit and read with you.

Now, I thought I had this whole early literacy thing figured out. I had spent time researching it, and felt confident the way I approached reading with my child would rear positive results. However, when talking with parents of teenagers at parent-teacher conferences, I feel like this isn’t always the case. Many parents talk to me about how they read to their child frequently and built the culture of literacy aforementioned, yet their child never really found joy in reading, or have still become a struggling reader. There are clearly factors between early literacy and the teen years that can alter how people read and feel about reading, but that is for another blog. Today, I am inquiring as to what parents are doing (or aren’t doing) to encourage reading at the youngest age, and how that translates to a later age.

Thus, when I came upon this article done by researchers at my alma mater, The Ohio State University, I felt like some unanswered questions fell into place. This article basically lays out that there is a difference between just reading to a child and reading and making references to text. Apparently, the latter leads to the higher comprehension skills later in life. So, for all the parents reading to preschoolers, there could be something to give them a leg-up. The research says that by making a small change, referencing the text, teachers and parents can “provide a big boost” to their child’s later literacy skills. Making specific references include “pointing out letters and words on a page, showing capital letters, and showing how you read from left to right and top to bottom on a page.” The article can be found at:

http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/printrefer.htm

                I highly recommend that any parent or teacher interested in increasing literacy beginning at an early age read this article and further investigate this current research. As for me, I will continue in my inquiry into best practices for teaching my son to read, and more importantly, to love reading.

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