We had a debate today with our teachers: Competition & Extrinsic rewards VS. Collaboration & Intrinsic Rewards.
I have had this debate within myself for many, many years. Anytime, we would discuss ideas about competitions, medals, trophies, etc, there would be an unrest feeling within me. I didn’t have the conviction to eliminate or get rid or competition together, as everyone around me felt that it was needed and necessary. So, I would question it, work at minimizing it, and in the end work towards authenticating and making the competitive process as genuine and fair as possible.
Today’s debate was enlightening! I loved how many of our teachers were slowly moving away from this competitive mindset to a more collaborative mindset. The whole notion of preparing our kids for the competitive world, the system that is competitive, etc is a joke, when we realize that we are the world. We are the system. So, let’s work on redefining us.
Sharing below a Prezi I did as part of my Master’s back in July 2016.
A treasure hunt for answers: The Use of Rewards in the Classroom
https://prezi.com/cmszzdzmw6pd/should-our-classroom-treasure-boxes-be-empty/