Ask Polly Bath: Rewards as Motivation?

Date: December 15th, 2024

Polly answers the question: “I’m under a lot of pressure to use rewards in my second grade class to get kids to behave, but I saw a video of you on social media saying that can be a bad idea. But what can I do instead?”

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Ask Polly Bath: Rewarded for Bad Behavior?

Date: June 16th, 2024

Polly answers the question: “One of my students was yelling, kicking chairs, and tearing down our bulletin boards so I had him escorted to the office. But when I walked by the office a while later I saw the child eating cookies! I’ll be honest, I WASN’T happy!! Why is this ok?”

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When a Reward System Breaks Down

Date: September 20th, 2023

When it comes to a reward system, don’t over-reward and don’t have a kid on one if they’re able to manipulate the system.

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Ask Polly: Motivating Students

Date: November 19th, 2022

Polly answers the question: “My 6th graders are completely apathetic in class. How can I motivate them?”

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Screen Time as a Behavior Reward?

Date: July 3rd, 2022

‘Screen time’ as a reward does not teach social skills. Which means you could be making social skills worse by using screen time as a reward.

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Do Your Behavior Rewards FAIL?

Date: August 29th, 2021

As a behavior expert who consults all over the country, I can tell you, systems that OVER-REWARD behaviors do not get the results they hoped for! Here’s why…

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Motivating the Remote Learner (confession at the end!)

Date: August 15th, 2020

During this time of virtual learning, one of the biggest behavior problems we face is HOW to MOTIVATE our students! Here are my thoughts and some research, too. [Zimmerman, B. J. (2002). Becoming a self-regulated learner: An overview. Theory Into Practice, 41(2), 64-70.]

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Sugar-Coated Control?

Date: June 3rd, 2020

Are rewards backfiring on you? (Thanks to Rheta DeVries for “sugar-coated control.”)

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When Rewards Do and Don’t Work

Date: January 29th, 2020

Do rewards always have to be something tangible?

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Too Much Praise and Reward Will Backfire

Date: December 21st, 2019

Praise is not a bad thing, but it matters how and when you use it.

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