Increasing Student Motivation & Accountability

Presented by… Sarah Berkey- Kindergarten sberkey@chestercommunitycharter.org Denae Thomas- Grade 6 dthomas@chestercommunitycharter.org Nicole Lemons- Building Director nlemons@chestercommunitycharter.org

Key Idea: Engaging Instruction decreases the need for Classroom Management. Classroom Management allows Engaging Instruction to take place.

Rules, Routines, & Review Establish Rules & Consequences. Teach Routines & Procedures for various tasks (classroom, hallway, cafeteria, bathroom). Explain why these rules & routines are important. Review the Rules & Routines Daily, and after every long weekend or holiday break! Have visual cues around room to help reinforce. Use students as models for what is expected. Be firm in reinforcing rules & routines. Practice, practice, practice. Keep expectations high.

Strategies for Motivating Students to do their Best: Build relationships. Build confidence. Keep expectations for student work high. Expect 100 % participation. Every student has something to offer. Set goals for improvement- personal, group & class. Assign responsibilities. Everyone contributes something. Praise often and be specific.

Rewards A second, more tangible, level of motivation can also be helpful. School Wide Token Economy = Spend $ earned on School Store, Water Ice, Pizza, Soft Pretzels, Ice Cream, Dress Down, Movies, Homework Pass Classroom Token Economy = Spend tickets or stickers on priveleges, visiting a teacher/ buddy, small prizes, eat lunch with a friend, special job, extra computer or recess time, etc.

Be consistent! Once you offer a reward, you need to be consistent. If the reward it is not attainable, it has no power.

Strategies for Keeping Students Engaged: SLANT-Sit up, Listen, Ask & answer questions, Nod your head, Track the speaker. Cue for choral response. Create competition. Set a timer. “Cold Call”-Pull names out of a cup. Maintain pacing and enthusiasm. Constant movement & proximity. Monitor ratio of teacher talk to student talk.

Continued… Call a student’s name before giving instructions. Prompting while giving instructions to hold attention. Using students as models= what expected behavior looks like or sounds like. Constant attention to student behavior to provide intervention. Address disruption early. Correcting calmly with a positive tone to de-escalate. Pick your battles- Is the behavior distracting to the class, or distracting to you? Offering acceptable choices for compliance.

Sarah Berkey – Student Engagement Identify strategies used to: Reinforce Rules and Expectations Maintain Student Engagement Engage Students in Centers

Strategies for Holding Students Accountable: There must be a “No Opt Out” policy. Grade every assignment in some way. If it doesn’t count, why do it? Collect independent work to check for completeness and correctness. Keep standards high. Teach students to review their own work or grade peers appropriately, to enforce expectations. Have time set aside for students to make-up missed work. They are never off the hook. If students do not follow a procedure 100%, do it again. To lower your standards, tells them you don’t really care about them doing it correctly.

Continued… Establish Rules, Expectations, and a Common Goal. Create groups or teams to earn points. Have a system for tracking points. Identify a tempting reward. Assign jobs- Everyone contributes. Bring attention to students for strong effort, even if they haven’t met the goal yet.

Anything worth doing, is worth checking!!!!! Collect student work to check for completeness and correctness. (Flip and Find) Quickly check work as a class, by reviewing a few items. Teach students how to exchange and correct peer work. Put unfinished or incorrect work in student folders for correcting “While You Wait” . Random checks on certain days motivate students to be prepared for anything.

Denae Thomas- Accountability Identify strategies used to: Engage Students Motivate Students Check Student Work (in just a few minutes!)

Strategies for the Hard to Reach Student: Build a Relationship-What is their story? Goal Charts Behavior Charts Buddy System Team Approach Verbal or Visual Cue Communication with Parent

In Summary… Make it clear that everything you do is to keep everyone safe, organized, and to help them reach their full potential as a person and as a student. Your expectations are high, you believe they can meet them, and you will do everything you can to help them succeed. When students believe their teacher truly cares about them, they will work harder to make them proud and to be proud of themselves.

How do you motivate students to do their best work?