Today one of my most difficult students had a great day. He was answering questions. He didn't complain about the rigorous work load. He even spent a normal amount of time in the bathroom!
I was so tempted to use positive reinforcement to encourage his newly good behavior. At first I gave him a ticket (part of my individual reward system) for almost every good thing that I saw him doing. Then I stopped myself. I remembered an article that my mom sent me a while back. It's called "Why You Shouldn't Respond When a Difficult Student Has a Good Day" and was written by Michael Linsin.
In the article, he discusses the risk of external motivation with this type of celebration and speaks of students who begin to "view anything and everything positive as work they deserve to be paid for."
The link to the article is below. It's definitely a thought provoking read.
"Why You Shouldn't Respond When a Difficult Student Has A Good Day."
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