I have a that doesn't turn in much of anything. All the students are regular education and do not have iep or esl accommodation. I have tried having them work in class, collecting at the end of class and then giving it back the next day for those that need to finish. This seems to increase the amount of assignments I am actually able to get back and get a grade for. Some students will still sit there and look like they are working and then not turn in the work. I walk around to make sure they are actually working and they are. But I never get the papers. Then there are things like projects that all my other classes complete and this one particular class does not. My most recent project was about creating a timeline. It required no actual research, just using information from a text and drawing it out. Of that class of thirty students, only five returned the project even after reminding them daily about the project. Do you have any strategies to help get this class to complete assignments?
When they complete an assignment in class, take a few minutes to hold up a student's paper, tell them to make sure their name is on it, and pass it forward. Count it. Tell the class if any is missing. No, you shouldn't have to go out of your way like this, but it just takes a minute. If it's an at-home assignment, tell them the deadline, remind them, place the deadline somewhere on the wall, if you deduct points for late work, also post that. I would actually make a poster about projects like this: deadline, points deducted for each day, etc. Remind them again. Then, when their progress reports come out, they'll be in shock. If you want to be more proactive, you can make phone calls home, especially if it's one class, you'll be calling a few parents. I'm not saying you have to go to this length, but these are things you can do, it shows the students you care, (document phone class and the steps you take) and then when admin is asking you why half of your class is failing, you can show them you did everything you could. By the way, what grade is this?
Whoever turns in their assignment on time gets a shot at a basketball hoop. If they make a basket they get some small something as a prize. The hoop could be the hoop on the playground, a basket in the classroom, or a nerf basketball hoop. I use a basket that I place in different places around the room. Sometimes I make it super easy, and other times I make it challenging. The kids absolutely love it. After a few times I do it less and less for awhile. As soon as I see a change in the number of papers turned in I start up again. For a while we kept track of who got the most baskets in a month. That person got a cool prize. Change it up often, and make it fun.
I have mixed feelings about strategies like this. It's thinking outside of the box but I would use caution. Why? You're creating a short-term incentive for something that should be routine and expected. Students need to be molded into responsible learners. We can't baby them every step of the way. I know you said you slowly pull the incentive away, but the students will eventually learn the correlation between turning in work and a reward. This teaches them to stop turning in work, knowing you will give them a reward eventually, feeding the cycle of expectations for something normal.
I have 11th-12th graders that do the same thing. I know they worked on what I give them in class, but it doesn't appear on my desk when I go to grade it. It boggles my mind because they put in the work, but they don't want to be rewarded for it. My solution? I'll remind them once or twice and then they fail the assignment. At the age of 17-18, I choose not to baby these type of behavior. I know you stated you teach 6th grade so you will need to baby them a little. Are your assignments a little too difficult or long? Students can be "afraid" to ask for help or turn in work if they don't get it.
I also don't like rewarding students for something they should be doing. Some incentives are great to get them started, but I think in cases like this there is a natural consequence, which should be the reward: you turn your work in, you keep a higher grade.
I work with second graders, and they don't figure it out. I change it up all the time. For example, sometimes we roll a dice. If it is an even number then we play basketball. If it is an odd number then we skip it for the day. There are days we roll a dice, and if it is an even number we play, but there is no prize. They love it either way. Sometimes we will go weeks without playing. I understand it is a short term incentive, however for some kids without parental support that is what it takes to get them to do homework. Plus, for a select few it is an incentive to come to school. Sad, but true. I only do this with homework. Classwork and homework must be turned in or there is no recess. If I can offer a consequence for no work I don't think it is such a big deal to offer a fun reward once in a while.
I have 8th graders, and same schtick. One strategy I've done this year is to keep in all students who are missing assignments and are receiving a failing grade in at lunch until they reach a passing grade by completing an assignment. In order to go for lunch they need to turn in the assignment to me fully completed. If they don't complete it the entire lunch period, I hold them in the next day's lunch until it is completed. If they don't show up twice. I hold them for 2 lunch periods regardless of if they complete their work or not and call their parents. I now have about 2/3rds of my students who were previously failing now having a passing grade if not a high grade. Is it a lot of work for me? Yes, but I'm tired of them failing and giving up because their grade is no longer recoverable for the rest of the quarter. I'm staying on top of them this quarter, and now that only a few are failing, it's a lot more manageable.
I definitely agree for older students who have that maturity, but for some grades are not an incentive to them for whatever reason, so a more immediate consequence is needed.
Students who don't turn in work? They fail. Period. They get what they earn, and if they earn nothing, that's what they deserve.
I honestly have mixed feelings about things like this as well, but I wanted to throw this in there. I had a job where they used strategies almost exacly like this. The employees are all about 27-70 years old and it worked. They would put your name in a hat for whoever met the goal for the day. At the end of a period they drew a name and that person got to leave work early for a whole week. On training sessions they would cold call asking questions on things taught in training and if you got the answer right, you got a $1 bill. My point is that employees should do their job well just because it is the right thing to do. The fact remains that humans no matter what age may only comply if it is to their advantage. I would like to say that I did my very best every day and was not affected by the rewards, but even though I am very intrinsically motivated, I still worked harder when I knew there was a special reward.
The book DRIVE has some very interesting perspectives on incentives and what motivates workers in today's age.
