Why I Use Incentives

There are many varying opinions on rewarding students within the classroom. My go-to reward for students are extrinsic through incentives. When I first start describing my reliance on incentive rewards to parents and some teachers they immediately ask 'So you're bribing your students?' This could not be further from the truth! Using incentives is not bribing, but allowing students to be rewarded for their good work.
In my classroom this usually looks like stickers and time on the iPad. My students with behavior plans all make use of incentive rewards for their good behavior. One of my students has a chart that shows every activity for the day. If he receives a sticker in each of the daily activities for following directions and keeping his hands to himself then he receives iPad time at the end of the day for a given amount of time. Using this incentive has completely changed his behavior in just a few months. Other times, I give all students who complete an activity a sticker or if students are listening I will give them a stamp. It is all about rewarding good behavior to get more good behavior. If my students don't initially receive the reward then they will start trying to get the sticker or stamp and change their own behavior to become successful. Again, I'm not bribing them to be good. I'm giving them incentive to perform appropriate behavior. I'm showing them through their peers how they should act and what they should accomplish. This is why I use incentives nearly every day. My students deserve incentive rewards to remind them of how amazing they are as students and how good begets good.