Using Awards

by Carolyn Rutter

The following article by Carolyn Rutter follows a discussion on the Oz-Gifted discussion lists about impact of certificates, awards and other classroom incentive systems on gifted children. Carolyn provides several aspects for teachers to consider.

If you have primary school age children you may have noticed a trend towards rewarding them with certificates such as the "participation certificate", or certificates for "5m survival swim" or for "excellent contributions to class discussion". You can purchase pre-formatted diaries in which to record your child's school days with special pages to list their awards and little plastic pockets which anticipate a steady flow of these trinkets, which in my day were rarer than a black cicada (although less valuable in the playground).

Frank L. Baum's story, The Wizard of Oz, and the Judy Garland movie version are firm favourites at our house. The way the wizard rewards Dorothy's companions after they have triumphed over the wicked witch reminds me very much of those school certificates. To the lion he gives a medal of honour for bravery, the tin man gets a red satin heart to put in his chest and the scarecrow gets the honorary doctorate instead of brains. These otherwise useless things dredged up from the bottom of his carpetbag make them very happy and proud because, although he is a humbug, the wizard has a kind heart and is a true friend to Dorothy and the others. And of course they had these virtues all along, only they didn't recognise them.

In secondary school, teachers are not so given to handing out these certificates "with such great gusto and for such odd reasons" as one parent/teacher has put it, tending to stick to traditional academic achievement or outstanding citizenship - who gets what on Speech Night is usually easier picking than the Melbourne cup winner if any student is foolish enough to run a sweep.

So just how useful as a motivator for student behaviour are certificates? A quick scan of the pedagogy available at various educational sites on the web would suggest that in themselves, not much.

I am used to hearing that plenty of positive reinforcement is vital to building self esteem and encouraging good behaviours. How do certificates best fit in with this? How devastating can it be if the child is overlooked?

There seem to be two poles - one at the "certificate of participation" end to the "there could only be one winner" award. But they, and everything else in between, can work as part of a consistently positive system (see Catriona's methods below for some ideas).

Some of the best advice for parents in helping their children to handle the awarding or lack of awarding certificates I found was in "Praise versus encouragement" an extract from Delisle, James & Berger, Sandra L. ED321483 90 Underachieving Gifted Students ERIC Digest #E478, which says:

Overemphasis on achievement or outcomes rather than a child's efforts, involvement, and desire to learn about topics of interest is a common parental pitfall. The line between pressure and encouragement is subtle but important. Pressure to perform emphasises outcomes such as winning awards and getting As, for which the student is highly praised. Encouragement emphasises effort, the process used to achieve, steps taken towards accomplishing a goal, and improvement. It leaves appraisal and valuation to the youngster. Underachieving gifted students may be thought of as discouraged individuals who need encouragement but tent to reject praise as artificial or inauthentic (Kaufman, 1987). Listen carefully to yourself. Tell your children when you are proud of their efforts.

Key Characteristics of Reward Systems

Whatever reward system we choose to use as a teacher (or parent), it relies on

1. a clear set of aims - it's no use if the criterion is just being a member of the class unless this is really what you want to reward: a "we value you as a member of our class" award can be a real token of affection but, if this is what you want, don't call it a certificate for "excellent handwriting"
2. a thorough knowledge of each child's personality and the reasons for their behaviour
3. consultation/contract making with the child
4. feedback and review

To ensure such a reward system useful in encouraging the best performance, certificates should:

1. Be just one part of an overall strategy of encouragement.
2. Be something that can be aspired to. There should be clear, achievable steps of which the child is aware to the award. There is no point to Academy Award suspense if every one is going to get a certificate. Let them know the roster but choose the actual award closer to the day. You'll still be rewarding their best efforts without bewildering particularly the good and clever children.
3. Be public markers for achievement. Student motivation is best when it's intrinsic. But it's still nice to hear it said out loud, preferably by a Wizard in full regalia - "Congratulations! You tried hard and did well."
4. Become redundant. If we achieve our task of nurturing a healthy ego, extrinsic values and awards will be superfluous.

Work done for the sake of the task and good behaviour should bring satisfaction as its own reward.

Certificates will not:

1. Make up for a boring curriculum.
2. Have a currency above the value the child himself places on it.
3. Make a child behave all the time. Perfect behaviour, particularly for small tired children is a difficult task, and although one can have high expectations, it's better for everyone's sanity if we are realistic.
4. Substitute for good role models.

Gifted Students and Certificates

If awarding certificates is not to backfire and accidently foster underachievement then a few aspects particular to the gifted child need addressing:

1. Perfectionist students

Certificates can contribute to developing the dreaded "underachievement" by increasing the expectations of performance and shifting the focus from satisfying personal goals to winning by beating classmates.

Some characteristics of the negative potential of perfectionism include -

• the child doesn't recognise improvement
• the child often giving up without a fair try (because they don't want to be reminded of failure)
• motivation more from fear of failure than from pursuit of success
• difficulty in taking credit or pleasure, even when success is achieved, because such achievement is merely what is expected.

2. Inappropriate curriculum

A child that masters subjects easily and is under-challenged will either tire of receiving meaningless certificates or, worse, rightfully feel snubbed when passed over for awards because he or she obviously found the work easy!

In getting the best performance from students of high ability Susan Winebrenner, author of Teaching gifted kids in the regular classroom suggests motivation strategies that involve compacting and contracts. These maintain the child' s focus on personal goal setting, rather than comparison to classmates, and certificates achieved within this framework will be meaningful to both child and teacher.

3. Asynchrony of abilities

This is particularly evident in early primary grades. If it is understood that the child mastering maths and reading easily can have enormous trouble with handwriting and produce 'messy' work, then it should be possible to award certificates (and tailor other praise) appropriately. Better to give certificates that praise the content here, and add a certificate or two for "improved handwriting " later.

4. Advanced moral capacity

A gifted child may be ready, due to advanced moral and reasoning abilities, to share responsibility for evaluation with the teacher before his age peers.

I can't sum up the range of feelings produced by school awards any better than the child of Alison in her posting to the list

"Number three, 9yrs, states that they only use awards at his school to make kids behave. Consequently to receive an award is like being told you're 'being good at the moment'. I have found numerous small awards in the wash or in his dirty bag. I was told he received them for blowing up various teachers and principals in a number of ways - grenades etc. He does enjoy awards but for more realistic pursuits than 'sitting nicely' etc. At the end of the year he presented his teacher with a 'Best Teacher' award! [She did deserve it.] "

A teacher's example of what works

Some real life examples of what works for Catriona extracted from her postings to the OG internet mailing list:

When I was teaching full-time, I used to keep a folder with a class-list in it. At various set times during the day, and also spontaneously if someone did something especially impressive (academic or citizenship) children were given ticks for various behaviours.

These included:

• morning/middle/afternoon session organisation - books ready, bags in agreed place, having equipment/books out when required etc.
• homework done
• manners
• kindness
• on-task behaviour
• effort
• performance (class work)
• discussion contributions
• cooperation

and so on.

The class and I discussed various behaviours we targeted each week and some remained standard throughout the year. It meant that if I was targeting a particular child's behaviour (any kind) then the whole class could work on it, making it easier for the child being targeted to focus on that behaviour.

At the end of each week the child who had the most ticks was given a small bear to keep on their desk for a week, the "Beary Best Student" award. I found that, because the targeted behaviours varied a little each week, that various children shone at various times. The children themselves were comfortable with this because it "allowed" them to be good at different things. The wonderful thing with the Bear was that, from time to time, the holder of the Bear that week would announce that it was being given to so-and-so for the day/week because of an excellent question/answer/piece of work. This used to happen by about second term, when it became clear that more and more of the children were beginning to value ability and achievement in their peers, which was fine as far as I was concerned!!

The "tick list" of agreed upon targeted behaviours also works because the children know that at certain times of the day their behaviour is being observed and that I am looking for a reason to reward them. Okay, with some kids this meant that they were obedient at 9am, 10:30am, 11am, 12:30am etc and not the rest of the time. But I did find that after a couple of terms even the most disruptive and disinterested (academically) students were making a greater effort.

I also used special specific certificates for achievement/significant performance in subjects. I'm afraid that the general school policy of "each child having a turn" at the end-of-week assembly certificates was pointed out to me (and it was strongly suggested that I conform) when I tended to give them to the same five to eight children for excellence in academic (including oral) performance and others for consistent work.

I had an "in-class" reward system that the children took much more seriously, based on tokens building up to certificates then special rewards which included an entire afternoon of free time, a "special event" day for the whole class (if five or more students agreed to use their special rewards for this purpose) and so on. I found this system in a Classroom magazine and my mother and I have both used it to great success in the full-time classroom and I have been able to adapt it for casual teaching.

References

1. Delisle, James & Berger, Sandra L. ED321483 1990 Underchieving Gifted Students ERIC Digest #E478
2. Brophy, Jere ED400124 Oct 96 Working with Perfectionist Students. ERIC Digest.
3. Winebrenner, Susan & Berger, Sandra L. ED372553 Jun 94 Providing Curriculum Alternatives to Motivate Gifted Students. ERIC Digest 524

   [References identified with an ED (ERIC document) or EJ (ERIC journal) number are cited in the ERIC database. Most documents are available in ERIC microfiche collections at more than 900 locations worldwide, and can be ordered through EDRS: (800) 443-ERIC. Journal articles are available from the original journal, interlibrary loan services, or article reproduction clearinghouses, such as: UMI (800) 732-0616; or ISI (800) 523-1850. THIS DIGEST WAS CREATED BY ERIC, THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER. FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT ERIC, CONTACT ACCESS ERIC 1-800-LET-ERIC]

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