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Teaching Opinion

How Can We Keep Students Engaged Without Carrots & Sticks?

By Larry Ferlazzo — April 04, 2012 1 min read
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Becky Searls asks:

Given that a vast body of research shows that extrinsic rewards can be damaging to students’ intrinsic drive to learn for learning’s sake, what are some practical strategies you use to replace the use of rewards, including praise, in your classroom? How do you keep students engaged without the carrots & sticks?

Becky asks a question that many of us wrestle with everyday in the classroom.

Please share your ideas in the comments, or, if you prefer, feel free to email them to me.

Anyone whose question is selected for this weekly column can choose one free book from a selection of twelve -- including my own (coincidentally for this question titled “Helping Students Motivate Themselves”) -- published by Eye On Education.

You can send questions to me at lferlazzo@epe.org.When you send in your question, let me know if I can use your real name if it’s selected or if you’d prefer remaining anonymous and have a pseudonym in mind.

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The opinions expressed in Classroom Q&A With Larry Ferlazzo are strictly those of the author(s) and do not reflect the opinions or endorsement of Editorial Projects in Education, or any of its publications.