Japanese Erasers & Reading Motivation
I am an avid reader (honestly I would stay up all night with a good book if given the opportunity) and I work very hard to create this passion in my students. With that being said, I have no problem rewarding my students for their reading. Despite the nay-sayers who believe that external rewards diminish internal motivation, I have ABSOLUTELY NOT found this to be true with my reading program. I wish you could visit my classroom to see how honest I am being about this! My students all read without much pushing from me once the culture of the class takes over. Here's part of what I do:
To begin with, I give my students 30 minutes every day to read during which time I conference with the students. Every time that my students pass a Reading Counts test, their name goes into a drawing. Friday is the big day for the drawing. Prizes range from a can of Pringles, miscellaneous candy, bookmarks, or other intermittent odds and ends. One type of item my students are in love with are Japanese erasers. Originally I purchased them at a local book store but a month ago I discovered I could get them a lot cheaper from Amazon. They are the hot RAGE in my classroom! Here's a link for one of the packs I have purchased: http://www.amazon.com/Iwako-Erasers-Animal-Overstock-Pack/dp/B00MH9RLAE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1420685800&sr=8-3&keywords=japanese+erasers
Another motivator that is important in my classroom involves group goal setting. Each month my class confers and agrees upon a goal for the amount of points they want to earn. Then I offer a reward if they achieve the goal. Typically it involves food - like my secret family recipe for homemade hot fudge sundaes. (This is always a hit!!!) The students work very hard to achieve the group reward.
My belief is that as I battle the lure of video games, tv, and movies with this generation of children, extrinsic motivation can be the means to capture an unwilling reader and turn them into an intrinsically motivated READER!
So, with that being said, I will leave you with an example from one of my former students who fits this bill.....
