Motivating Students

As an administrator, I'm constantly searching for unique ways to motivate our students.  Some motivating ideas we have implemented at our school can be found below:

1.  Our district wanted our schools to focus on extra remediation for students who achieved a high 1, high 2, or low 3 on FSA and students who were in the bottom 30th percentile in reading and/or math on FSA or iReady to help increase student achievement.  Our school created a data board and assigned mentors to each of these students.  It was one of my very favorite parts of the day.  I met with my high 2's once a week.  They were required to bring their data notebook and we looked at their iReady scores for the year to date, as well as focused on data from the week prior.  Students were so excited to share with me the lessons they passed and worked so hard to keep that percentage high.  I would sign off on their data chat log and offer stickers, coupons, and words of encouragement as they met their goals.  This held them accountable and made them feel special, as they knew that I cared about their progress.  We celebrated with pizza and Popsicle parties for meeting big goals along the way. 

2.  Each year all of our students receive and identification card on a lanyard that we provide for book check out and cafeteria purchases.  We have incorporated something called "brag tags" for students to show off their accomplishments.  Students can earn brag tags for good citizenship, great manners in the cafeteria, honor roll, learning their math fact, etc.  The students are always very excited to receive their brag tags and wear them proudly on their lanyard.  We order our brag tags from https://www.schoollife.com/.

3.  Gold Coin challenge - All of our students and teachers were put into a family that they created a name for together as a team.  Each family has a clear box that displays the family name and a slot for putting their gold coins into that is kept along the stage in our school cafeteria.  Classes earn gold coins for iReady goals, academic goals, behavior, etc.  The family with the most coins at the end of the year were honored with a celebration.

Share other ideas you have for motivating students at your school in the comments section.