Rewards and sanctions in a secondary English classroom

Rewards In order to maintain a positive and encouraging climate in the classroom it is important that we focus on positive behaviour. Willingham (2005) argues that when praising students we should: be sincere and honest   focus on the work or process, not on the ability or intelligence of the student   be immediate and unexpected. By routinely and consistently recognising the positives in our classroom, we encourage students to model our expected behaviour, and encourage others to do the same.] Sanctions Using sanctions as a method to demonstrate that actions have consequences is often misunderstood (Bennett 2017). As you develop experience in the classroom, you will find that some sanctions are far more effective in influencing behaviour than others. Bill Rogers (2015) outlines that for sanctions to be appropriate and useful they must: Relate to the behaviour and its consequence (e.g. a ‘smoker’s detention’ occasions an educational video that addresses the habi