When I started back to school each year, one of my bulletin
boards (not my forte) was a blank brick wall.
(Google: brick wallpaper). I explained to my students (and parents at Back to School Night) that it was the Wall of Fame. I had straight-forward-hard-to-attain-academic
criteria which only a few students would reach in a marking period. Once you had earned Wall of Fame status, you
were allowed to design your own name to post on it (any font, size or colors.) The kids loved earning
that status (and designing their own names)!
My Wall of Fame was based on academic criteria, but that does
not have to be the case, you could recognize all sorts of accomplishments. You could even have students develop their
own criteria. Imagine if your students
had to put together a portfolio to apply for the award? Just like using the Schools
to Watch Rating Rubric as a great way to get your middle school to reflect on
and evaluate their work, a student created Wall of Fame Rubric could be great
way to get kids to reflect on their accomplishments in your class. You could even accept peer- nominations for
extraordinary leadership or citizenship.
Our school, like many, has a list of awards that we give out at
graduation. Why not share those awards and criteria at the beginning of the
school year and give them something to shoot for?
But wait, should all
students get an award? (I remember
having to come up with a category for every child’s costume at a Halloween
party so they could all get an award – my own child’s award should have been
Best Working Mom’s Poor Attempt at Creativity, but I digress.) What a great critical thinking/writing opportunity to get
kids thinking and writing. Why not have students look at some of the issues from
different points of view and determine what should be done?
Here are some points of view and articles that go with them:
Parent 1: She wants
her child to get a trophy for participating, the trophy is a reward for
fulfilling a commitment on the team, it is both motivational and a memento for
her participation. My
Loser Kid should Get a Trophy
Coach: Not all
players should receive trophies- trophies should earned. You may earn a trophy for highest scorer,
most improved, best sportsmanship, but it should be earned and not given to
everyone. Besides, the trophies cost a lot
of money. Participation
Trophies: Should Kids get Rewarded for
just showing up?
Player: If everyone
has participated and worked hard, than everyone should be rewarded. However, it is not fair to give an award to
people who did not even show up for practice.
This award may be the only one some children will get. Working hard regardless of results should be
rewarded. Should
everyone get a trophy?
Parent 2: “If children know
they will automatically get an award, what is the impetus for improvement? Why
bother learning problem-solving skills, when there are never obstacles to begin
with?” Giving everyone an award gives children a sense of entitlement. Losing
is Good for You
Other Resources:
Should
Kids get Participation Trophies? Debate.org presents different opinions.
57%
of Americans say that Only Kids Who Win should get Trophies Recent Poll with graphs and charts.
What's your take on this issue? What would YOU do?
Want to have your students discuss this situation online
using TregoED’s free SCAN tool? Just
register at www.tregoed.org and set up the
“Should we all get Trophies?” lesson
complete with different points of view and links to readings.
