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Motivating Students with Performance Awards
Getting students to be willing to learn grows more difficult with age. You might have first grade students that love coming to school and learning new things, but by the time that they're in junior high, that desire to learn has decreased greatly. In order to keep their motivation going and help your students desire to excel, consider giving performance awards throughout the school year. This will give them a reason to excel, and will also create a more positive environment in your classroom than you might have had. There is no right or wrong reason to give these awards; you simply need to decide which goals your students need to meet, and then offer them a reward for completing the tasks you set out for them. However, there are a few rules that you need to keep in mind when it comes to rewarding students.
First, NEVER make up performance awards that aren't achievable by everyone. If you limit the amount of students that can receive the award, you will create a negative environment because the students who can't compete will feel left out and jealous. Instead, choose a goal or achievement that all of your students can reach, allowing them all to have a fair chance at getting that award. Also, it's important that you show visual proof of their progress; this will help them to better understand how much closer they are getting to actually being rewarded. By showing them a concrete line from start to finish, they'll feel more like the goal is within reach. Along the way, reward the little successes with a daily or weekly status report and congratulations for everyone who is doing well and participating. Finally, when it comes time to present the performance awards, you should do it in a public format. Even if it's just in front of the class, that positive recognition can boost the students' motivation and self-confidence more than you might realize.
By using free printable awards and certificates, you can create a great motivational tool with these performance awards with little cost involved. Ultimately, you'll only be spending money on the printing supplies and any frames, should you decide to frame the awards before giving them away. It's a great way to reach out to students and motivate them, and with thousands of different designs, you've got endless options. It doesn't matter what the occasion is, or even if there is no occasion at all other than a congratulations or thank you. There are thousands of different styles, layouts, and designs to choose from, and each one is fully customizable so that you can put whatever you want on it, from text to poems to quotes, and more.
Taking the time to hand out performance awards to your students can increase their motivation exponentially. Learning isn't always easy, but is best done in a positive environment; therefore, you can use awards and certificates to create a good environment and inspire your students to excel in their educational progress.
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