Are you looking for the Ultimate Reward System?
As teachers we are always on the hunt for a method that helps students monitor their own behaviour, keeps the classroom in a settled and calm environment and allows us to focus on the teaching. This reward system will allow you to do just that!
I came across this reward system about 7 years ago, and it has been a game changer in my class! Students now take responsibility both for their actions and their belongings. Some of you have probably heard of it, or know someone who is using it, the ticket system.
What type of ticket?
You can use any type of ticket you like. I have seen some teachers create their own class money. Personally I am too busy for this, and the one year I did try it I found the exchanging of the money, while valuable, took up a lot of instructional time. I have chosen to use the ‘admit 1’ tickets that come in a roll of 1,000 and can be purchased from most news agencies or most recently I have been getting them on Amazon. You may decide to use the ticket booklets, just be mindful that you will need to replace these more often as they tend to rip. One of the class jobs is the ‘ticket validator’ they stamp the back of all tickets so that they are official. Any of your teacher stamps will be suitable for this.
View coupons linked to ticket system
How do students get tickets?
The main way students receive tickets are for completing their class job each week (5 tickets), I have a job for every student, and by being a friendly and active class member (5 tickets). You may also give out extra tickets throughout the week for completing homework, bringing notes back, being the first student to stop and listen to instructions etc.
Fines/ costs
I find the fines and costs are so important and helpful in this system. They allow students to think about and correct their behaviour without the nagging or constant teacher redirection. If a student is not listening or being too loud, I simply say that’s one ticket, and they know to redirect back to their learning.
We also have fines for swinging on a chair (two tickets), leaving a chair out (1 ticket), borrowing class equipment (5 tickets per day), replacing a lost pencil/ pen (5 tickets) etc. You can either decide on the items and amounts yourself or work with the class to come up with suitable costs. All of these tickets go into the class bank.
Trade Fair
Once a term, you may decide to have it in the middle of the term (as I do) or at the end, students can use their tickets to purchase items at Trade Fair. This is similar to a fete, brick a brack or car boot sale. Students can bake cookies, cakes at home, make items they would like to sell, bring in old toys (with parent permission). They then work with their choice of friends to make a stall – making a poster with a business name, items they will sell and the cost in tickets. On the day they open up their shop and sell to each other. Any tickets they make on this day they can keep. The trade fair normally goes for one to two hours.
You may decide to also allow the students to participate in a few auctions on this day. I normally stop the class half way through and run an auction with a fun item. This might be something like a giant cookie, any cards the kids are collecting, a homework pass etc. Students bid on these items with their tickets like a normal auction.
IOUs
Some students may take some time to work out their budget and therefore will get caught out when they have no tickets but need to buy a pencil or pay a fine for swinging on their chair. You may decide to create IOUs that need to be paid back on pay day, or simply state that a ticket is worth a minute of play time. This will also stop those students that think it could be fun to go into the minus.
Rewards
What can students spend their tickets on? I have a class shop with fairly cheap items ranging from erasers, pencils, photo frames, stickers etc from any cheap stores. Students can purchase from the shop once a day, when the shop keeper opens the store.
Students also really love reward cards/ coupons that they can use as they wish, this includes 10 mins on the computer, using the teacher’s chair to a no homework pass.
You may also decide as a part of the reward system to have special days; including donut day and sell them for 20 tickets each etc. At the end of the year I have large box of chocolates for the student that has the most tickets, to reward their saving skills.
The Student Fair resource can also come in handy and ties in nicely with the ticket system. It teachers students financial literacy and helps them set up their trade fair stall.
Here's to a year with less behaviour concerns and more fun learning!