Dear Loved Ones,
As a parent, setting up incentives can be a real challenge. Our students' lagging sense of urgency and dormant motivation sure make it look like they are not caring, much less trying.
The key to incentives, is to use them as a strategy for igniting the primal hunting instinct in our struggling student's minds.
How do we flip that switch? Check out the "Incentivize to Energize" link below for the guide.
Our struggling students have an interest based nervous system that causes them to be "target oriented" rather than task oriented.
They will get whatever they need to get done, if it's a barrier between them and the thing they want. You have seen this in action, especially when you are the barrier between them and the thing they want. Amiright?
When a target oriented student sets their sights on something they want, the internal motivation turns nuclear. The trick is finding the target that will flip that switch within them.
Bribe vs. Reward vs. Incentive
Bribe - Giving the incentive before it is earned.
Reward - A prize given to celebrate and congratulate accomplishments.
Incentive - Desired permissions or things earned based on quality of performance .
Won't that unmotivate them?Â
Quite the opposite.
As we mature we graduate from requiring external motivation to using internal motivators. Many struggling students are delayed in that particular area of development. They require external motivation far longer than same aged peers.Â
Target Oriented Incentives That Work
The goal is to provide opportunities for success by setting achievable targets and making deals that reward effort over result.
Earnables - Struggling students are driven to get the things they are interested in. This drive is even more rewarding when it is earned. Clearly drawing the line between helpful behaviors and immediate reward is the idea here. Use the "when... then..." strategy when setting this up.
"When your room is clean, then you can play video games."
"When you've done something nice for your sibling, then you can play with friends."
"When you finish reading this paragraph, then you can check your texts."
Collectables - Items of interest are sometimes more valuable than. money, so collecting those things is highly stimulating. It's what keeps them building points on their favorite games. Collecting items over time, with the ability to cash them in for a bigger reward, supercharges this strategy. The collecting points or stars or tokens need to be physical or visual to make sense. The bigger reward needs to be determined ahead of time, so they know what they are aiming for. K-8 students need short/medium terms of collecting before the reward, because of their underdeveloped ability to future project.
When you get to school on time for 5 days, then you get a breakfast treat.
When this jar fills with marbles, then you get to pick dinner.
When you earn fifteen stars, then you get ten dollars.
Achievables - This centers on personal goals in which our struggling student overcomes something that is difficult in order to gain something desirable. This would something that is built, overcome, improved, created, or achieved.
Could you use a quick visual reminder (like I do) to stay on track?
Free Download: Incentivize To Energize
