Incentive Ideas to Help High School Kids Want to Read
Offering kids incentives to do well in school often is controversial. Some say that kids should learn to do the work just on principle, while others argue that just as you get paid to work a job, incentives are appropriate to help high school students want to read. Incentives do not have to be elaborate. Anything that lets students know you recognize their efforts will help motivate most of them.
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Game Day
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Offer your students a game day if everyone in the class scores a certain percentage on their weekly quiz for the novel or short story they have been assigned to read. This works especially well if you can make up your own questions and games that have to do with the book or story. If not, a general game day with classic board games such as Scrabble is fine, too. If you have members of the class whom you know will not even try to make the grade, then you will have to change the rules a little. Instead of game day being an event for the whole class, only the individuals who make the grade will be allowed to participate.
Sit with Friends
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High school students are usually very social. Most classrooms have assigned seating for behavior reasons, so offering high school students a time to sit with friends for a job well done can be a great incentive. Allow the students to sit in a group and read together or to take notes on what they are reading and discuss those notes.
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Outside Time
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There is something about being outside that makes learning more enjoyable. Offer your students class outside if they can show you how well they can behave themselves for a week. They will look forward to this day and you can use the time during the week to reinforce the type of behavior you expect from them. You could do this with grades or homework, too. For example, if you get this week's reading journals from the class on time, students can do journal time or silent reading time outside the next week.
No Homework
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Offer the student who finishes the reading review questions first no homework for a night. This works, because the person who achieves this probably does not need that much homework help, plus it provides competition for the rest of the class. You could give out second- and third-place prizes, also.
Movie Day
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Give you students a movie day in which they watch the movie of the novel you are reading in class. Let them know, though, they will not get to watch the movie until they have all read the book and the novel has been completed in class.
Food and Drink
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Most teachers do not usually allow food and drink in their classrooms. However, the idea of eating a snack while reading a book may appeal to some high school students. Let them know that if they bring their book to class to read during silent reading time, they can have a snack while reading.
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References
- Photo Credit read image by Ewe Degiampietro from Fotolia.com
