Patty, I've been giving golden $1.00 Sacajawea coins to high school students who
read a Tayshas book and make 90 or 100 on the Reading Counts exam. I've been doing
this for 1.5 years, and I've given out over $500.00 (five hundred dollars!) worth
of those coins to a student population of only 425 students. Each time a student
succeeds he or she is given a golden dollar, and the giving of the dollar coin is
at the same time a personal recognition of achievement. Everyone of my students
KNOW that the Tayshas books are the best books in the library, and they know that
reading them is a pleasure because of the almost constant excitement generated by
whipping out another golden dollar and presenting it to another reader--sometimes
numerous times a day.
Note: The Tayshas books are a list of about 60 books that is produced by the a
committee of Texas YA librarians who are part of the Texas Library Association.
There are about 600 books on the 10 lists we have so far from that committee. The
golden dollars I get for this program come from fine money. I tell the students,
"You keep an item past the due date, and you pay your fines; then I turn your
ordinary fine money into golden $1.00 coins to give to successfull readers." It
makes fines seem almost worth it to them.
The primary reason for the success of reading awards (I prefer that term to
"rewards") is that these awards provide an opportunity to recognize readers. I'm
also in charge of an award program for our elementary students. Our 3rd-5th
graders get an award about every two weeks when they've been successful with
reading Bluebonnet books (another list from Texas Libary Association). The little
eraser, pencil, bookmark, etc. is just an excuse to give the classroom teacher a
chance to stop everything and make a big deal about successful reading. I tell
teachers and students something like this: "You'll use up that eraser or pencil;
you'll lose that bookmarker, but you'll never forget that good book you read. When
you're in college and these little awards are long gone, parts of that good book
you read will still be up there in your head helping you be the person you are."
Over the 20 years I've been setting up award programs and giving out jillions of
awards, I've heard many times the THEORY that giving awards will squash intrinsic
desires to read. People are afraid that the student will say to himself, "Gosh, if
she has to give me a $1.00 to read, then these Tayshas books must be awful." In
real life, I've NEVER seen that happen. High school students are a hard audience to
pump up, but I've never had one of my high students avoid a Tayshas book BECAUSE I
give an award. My students just want to know how to find them on the shelf. Since
the Tayshas list is such a good list, success just breeds more success. I mainly
just have to jump out of the way now and let my students tell each other what a
good deal reading Tayshas is: you get a great book AND a dollar. I hear that
constantly, student to student.
My theory on awards is that they have to be quick, small, and constant. None of
this waiting for a semester and drawing names for some BIG awards for a few
successful students in a group. I think that is part of the reason my school is
struggling with their attendance awards. Once a semester they hold a drawing, and
a few students with their names in the hopper for perfect attendance get big
awards. And they wonder why attendance rates aren't rising. I've told them, but
they can't seem to get a handle on setting up a system of quick, smaller, and more
constant awards. I think part of the problem is someone would have to stay on top
of it, and that is a big job that on one wants.
I think a librarian has the responsibility to set up a successful reading awards
program. Verbal awards, tangible awards, environmental awards can be designed to
make every student feel like and, therefore, be a successful reader. It takes a lot
of effort, but I believe the effort is required of the librarian. If your students
are clamoring for the books you've so efficiently prepared for them, and if your
students are telling each other about good books, then you'll find a good award
system is in place. Students know that reading is its own reward, but first they
have to read something they enjoy to know that. They know that the little Snicker
or the golden dollar is just gravy. They've read a good book, and the little award
just reinforces the good experience; it doesn't create the good experience.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Patty Cejda" <p.cejda@COX.NET>
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: GEN: Do rewards work?
Date: Mon, 25 Jul 2005 22:53:53 -0500
>
> I was wondering what your thoughts are on rewards for reading in a
> school library. Do you think they are worth the effort or do they
> send the wrong message to our students?
>
> Patty Cejda
> Library and Media Specialist Graduate Student
> University of Central Oklahoma
> Edmond, Oklahoma
> p.cejda@cox.net
> pcejda@ucok.edu
>
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Donna Steel Cook, Nacogdoches, Texas :
Teacher Librarian Central High;
District Library Coordinator, Central ISD;
donnacook@lycos.com
936-853-9345 (work)
"Books are the holes in the fences of life"--Peg Kehret
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