At the school where I work, there is a huge focus on “student engagement.” Unfortunately, despite my best efforts, I still have several students in each class who just don’t want to share out their ideas during a class discussion. While they can show engagement in other ways, discussion is the way we figure things out after completing some sort of investigation.
So, to act as an incentive, I created these little felt fortune cookies with little rewards inside each. If, during a discussion, we get 80% participation, they earn a point. Once they earn 5 points, they can pull a fortune cookie from the pile. One of the big issues people have with whole class rewards is that one student can often derail the achievement of the goal. Hopefully, with a 20% wiggle room, it eliminates that.
I used paper slips folded in half, but I think I might need to laminate the slips and add a Velcro dot. The paper slips don’t stay in that well, it seems. And, since I plan to reuse them in all of my classes, I might need fortunes that are a little more durable, as well.
Here’s what I came up with for rewards. I might poll the kids for more ideas, but they usually want things like “Pizza Party!”
