When I came into my student teaching classroom, there were already many systems in place to maintain appropriate standards of behavior, respect, and safety (Indicator 3), including clear routines for classroom transitions, a demerit system for negative behaviors, points given to the class for compliments from other teachers or school personnel, and occasional group punishments such as withholding of recess.  However, we still experienced problems with students holding side-conversations during lessons or making noise in the hallway "silent zones."  I determined that students could use some additional positive motivators to behave appropriately, so I instituted a raffle system.  Students "caught being good" (remaining quiet in the hallways, listening attentively during lessons, etc) get raffle tickets.  At the end of each week, I drew three winning tickets and those three students each got to pick a prize from the prize jar.  Prizes included mechanical pencils (a huge favorite among the students), colorful erasers and sparkly pencil grips.  After instituting this raffle system, I noticed a positive change in student behavior.

Although ideally student motivation should come from within, it is inevitable that sometimes students need a little extra external motivation in order to remember how to behave appropriately.  I recognize that consequences for negative behavior are a necessity in a strong behavioral plan.  But I also believe strongly that students who do their best deserve to have that behavior reinforced.  Ultimately, it leads to a happier and better behaved classroom that is much more conducive to learning.