H.O.T Treasures

When I first started teaching, I did not agree with incentives to get students to do their homework.  I felt that it was bribing them for something that they should have been doing anyways.  When I vented that my students just weren’t doing their homework and class work, several colleagues suggested some kind of incentive program and I kept refusing to do it.

Yeah.  That lasted about 2 months.  After struggling so much, I decided to give it a try.  I found these great Homework On Time punch cards at Scholar’s Choice and it gave me the idea for a treasure box.

  

I couldn’t find a treasure chest anywhere, so, as every crafty teacher does, I built it  myself from an empty case of printer paper and foam core. Cute eh? I filled it with little trinkets I found at the Dollarstore, things that I knew my students would love (hockey cards, chapstick, funky eraser, craft supplies… you get the idea!).

It worked like magic!!!  The kids LOVED my idea!  They were now lining up every morning to proudly show me there finished work!  Every day, I assigned a specific number of punches for certain assignments and homework.  Whenever the card was punched out completely, they earned a trip to the treasure box.  When I saw how well this worked, I also started using it to reward exceptional work, good behaviour, major improvement etc.  

When the kids who were resistant at first saw some of the stuff that others were picking, it didn’t take long for them to get on track!  And when my contract was over in April, and when the regular teacher came back to work, the H.O.T card was one of the first things the students shared with her!

It worked for me! :)  How do you get YOUR students to do their homework on time?