Any lessonclassroom management

Ages 11 to 16

Pupils enjoy receiving rewards, teachers enjoy awarding them but are sometimes too busy to keep up with a system.

This idea makes life easy on the teacher and is an incredible motivator for pupils. It’s called the “prize draw”.

Find a box and some scrap paper. Employ a willing and reliable pupil to act as monitor. They take responsibility for carefully tearing the paper into slips.

Every time a pupil makes a positive contribution, ask your monitor to jot down that pupil’s name on a slip and put it in the box.

The prize draw happens at a time to suit the teacher, perhaps at the end of the week. Rewards (points, stickers, prizes, whatever) are given to the pupils whose names are drawn out of the box. The more slips they have in the box, the greater the chance they have of being a winner

Andy Steward is an Advanced Skills Teacher at Ashton Park School in Bristol.