Talk:Foundations and Assessment of Education/Edition 1/Foundations Table of Contents/Chapter 11/11.4.2

Reader Responses
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I like the ideas of praise that include the whole class. This gave a good neutral view of positive rewards. It balanced the pros and cons well.Jnemo001 (talk) 05:11, 10 August 2009 (UTC)

I liked this article because it gave the positive and the negative sides of rewarding students. I am all for rewarding/praising students when they have done something positive. I think rewarding/praising students give other students that put little effort in their work to work a little harder. When it comes to punishing a student I would take into account the circumstances and come up with the appropriate punishment and not punish out of spite.Msmhobbs04 (talk) 22:34, 9 August 2009 (UTC)

This article was very interesting to me. I am a huge fan of positive reinforment. I know children do not always expect to be told when they are doing something right or well, but I feel I will let them know regardless. That does not mean I am going to reward them with prizes or grades but I will always let a child know when they are doing something well, ior even if they need to work on something more. I think it is all about how you deal with each child as to how they will take your reinforcements. Lwill031 (talk) 23:38, 2 August 2009 (UTC)

This article was very well written. It was comprehensive and unbiased. I am glad we have come a long way since corporal punishment in schools, and now lean more towards a positive reinforcement environment. As a new teacher, I know I will encounter many situations that make me question the effectiveness of my classroom management skills. This is my biggest fear. I know the theories. I know that consistency and expectations are so important. I know that children need to be able to self-regulate and understand appropriate emotional control and responses. I know they need individual goal setting, as well as group and teamwork skills. A teacher has the important job of shaping all of these characteristics for her young students. I hope I am able to manage successfully. Abitt002 (talk) 20:36, 30 July 2009 (UTC)

I enjoyed this article because it is one of those topics that we will have to face in some way each day. I think that praising the class as a whole more than on the individual level is a better idea because it doesn't exclude one student. I believe that learning when to differentiate between reward and punishment is something that teachers should learn how to do effectively. Rcoll029 (talk) 02:57, 11 August 2009 (UTC)

Rewards are certainly preferred method of motivation over punishments. Punishments sometimes are necessary. There need to be preset consequences for breaking the rules, and these consequences need to be clearly delineated at the beginning of a school year. The are a number of ways that rewards can be implemented. As the reading suggests, a teacher can use stickers on work or verbal praise. What I often do is write verbal praise on the students' work and post it on my bulletin board. Sometimes a teacher can reward a student by giving positive feedback to a parent or a principal. A teacher can always look for ways to be more encouraging to students and to affirm them in what it is that they are doing. Mbrowder (talk) 00:18, 17 August 2009 (UTC)