1. It takes an attitude of gratitude to motivate a yearbook staff.
One of the things I like best about working at Harvard-Westlake is that my students invariably thank me as they leave class each day. (It’s something that one of the feeder schools teaches in elementary school and it trickles up to us. I think of it as something like the old fashioned “Good morning, Ms. Bladen!” practices that we had as students.)
When I first started working at Harvard-Westlake, it was the most beautiful sound I’d ever heard. It set the tone for easily thanking my yearbook students for their hard work as well. So now, we sound like Chip and Dale, the chipmunks that used to open Looney Tunes cartoons:
Thank you, Ms. Bladen.
Thank you, Ari, for working so hard on those captions today!
Thank you for helping me learn how to do it!
Thank you for sticking with it until you figured it out…
If it weren’t so sincere, it might be ridiculous.
We have more formal ways of saying thank you, as well. After each deadline, my Managing Editor uses blank awards (we get them at the teacher supply store) to create fun recognition for accomplishments.
2. We always recognize “first spread done” and then throw in others like “most creative headline” or “best help to another team.”
The Managing Editor hands them out during class and kids clamor for them – even though they are clearly meant for elementary school students! I use other teacher supply store goodies – stickers and decorative pencils mostly – to motivate my students. The school has a new mission statement and each of my students who memorized it got a Dr. Seuss pencil as a prize. They also get stickers for participating in class or in school activities. It’s amazing how motivating a banana-scented monkey sticker can be.
3. There is a great app that my students love called Class Dojo.
As the teacher, I created my class list online at www.classdojo.com. Then the app gave me printables with instructions for each student including their personalized code to create their own profile. I introduced my class to the app and they were each able to log on and create a little monster avatar. They choose a color for their monster’s fur, happy face or scary face, and even how many eyes their Class Dojo monster has. Then the points get awarded. There are positive points (teamwork, class participation, helping others) and negative points (disruptive behavior, tardiness). You can give positive and negative points privately (for example to quietly correct a behavior you have already discussed with a student) or publicly (to celebrate something with the class). Points are displayed both on the student’s Class Dojo portal (online or on their mobile device, if they have one) and on the whole-class list I can display on the projector in class.
I found this amazing app on a 2nd grade teacher’s blog – and it works with students in both middle school and high school. They love the competition of earning points and hate losing points for any reason. The hardest part as a yearbook adviser is to use it consistently because it’s easy to get caught up in the hustle and bustle of deadlines, proofs, etc. and forget about Class Dojo. But you’ll know it’s working because your students will ask you about it!
Excerpt from Elements magazine “How’d You Do That?: 3 Staff Motivation Tips.”