DCPS food as a reward policy? (Wellness Policy?)

[Anonymous]

In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

When you have 25 children in your house, all of whom have different needs, and your paycheck depends on keeping their attention while teaching them things they don't want to learn, I'll listen.

[Anonymous]

I dislike both candy-as-reward and screen-time-as-reward but have found they are both really common at our DCPS. I do try to give the teachers some slack -- I know they are doing their best and often have limited resources, and these can be easy ways to motivate a broad range of kids.

I agree I'd rather see more outdoor or free play time given as a reward, but I know why it doesn't happen -- DCPS schedules these kids to within an inch of their lives, sets ridiculous curriculum requirements, and pushes hard on raising test scores. That really limits the ability of teachers to flex their schedule for these things. I will say that teachers we've had have found ways to do it, but I know it's a lot harder for them than just passing out some candy or letting the kids watch a movie during lunch (this one drives me nuts because the kids are not allowed to talk at lunch in order to encourage them to eat, and then they will put on a screen as a treat, and they are just training children to eat mindlessly while staring at a screen, this should not be allowed!).

I don't know what the answer is. For us it might be a charter? I don't know, I'm pretty jaded about public education at this point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

When you have 25 children in your house, all of whom have different needs, and your paycheck depends on keeping their attention while teaching them things they don't want to learn, I'll listen.

Also all 25 kids are not your own children. And you have no real punishment you can give any kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

When you have 25 children in your house, all of whom have different needs, and your paycheck depends on keeping their attention while teaching them things they don't want to learn, I'll listen.

Sadly, a lot of those kids actually do want to learn whatever you are teaching them, but the 20-40% of the class who doesn't makes that really hard. If only there was a way to address that without having to bribe the entire class with candy just to do a reading lesson.

[Anonymous]

Pizza party days in school were the best. At the end of the day you would only end up with two pieces of cold Pizza Hut cheese or pepperoni served on those brown bathroom napkins/towels, but that pizza was the best. And it accounted for a couple of days of joy just anticipating it.

[Anonymous]

Food should never be a reward.

It was the same few kids who always missed out on the rewards in DS' class. To earn the reward kids had to keep their "colors" in the green zone with no more than 3 times being in the warning yellow zone. If they got to red, they automatically missed out. They had to turn in 75% of their homework. They had to score above an F on all tests during that period, too.

I noticed the same two kids who were always excluded were the kids with behavior issues and/or IEPs.

I was volunteering in his class once when the teacher had one student turn his card to yellow. He was then warned that if he was dangerously close to going red and "remember, what you lose when you go red" and the little boy said "So? You know I'm going to go red. Who cares? I ain't never getting that pizza and I don't want your bleeping pizza." Exactly. He knew he'd never do it so why even try? It wasn't an incentive for him at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

If you think a classroom pizza party is going to give your kid an eating disorder, consider that the unhealthy relationship to food may be coming from you …

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Food should never be a reward.

It was the same few kids who always missed out on the rewards in DS' class. To earn the reward kids had to keep their "colors" in the green zone with no more than 3 times being in the warning yellow zone. If they got to red, they automatically missed out. They had to turn in 75% of their homework. They had to score above an F on all tests during that period, too.

I noticed the same two kids who were always excluded were the kids with behavior issues and/or IEPs.

I was volunteering in his class once when the teacher had one student turn his card to yellow. He was then warned that if he was dangerously close to going red and "remember, what you lose when you go red" and the little boy said "So? You know I'm going to go red. Who cares? I ain't never getting that pizza and I don't want your bleeping pizza." Exactly. He knew he'd never do it so why even try? It wasn't an incentive for him at all.

well that’s an issue with rewards, not food

[Anonymous]

OP you are asking about the healthy schools act. Technically schools are only allowed to give students food if it meets the criteria for being “healthy.” Don’t shoot the messenger here, as a teacher I hate it too. Ask kids what rewards they want to work towards and it’s always pizza or candy. We are technically not allowed to ever give them either. SmartPop popcorn bags were the only thing we found that meets the requirements.

I would love for parents to get some momentum and revise the law. At my school some teachers do it anyway. Some get written up, some get ignored.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I dislike both candy-as-reward and screen-time-as-reward but have found they are both really common at our DCPS. I do try to give the teachers some slack -- I know they are doing their best and often have limited resources, and these can be easy ways to motivate a broad range of kids.

I agree I'd rather see more outdoor or free play time given as a reward, but I know why it doesn't happen -- DCPS schedules these kids to within an inch of their lives, sets ridiculous curriculum requirements, and pushes hard on raising test scores. That really limits the ability of teachers to flex their schedule for these things. I will say that teachers we've had have found ways to do it, but I know it's a lot harder for them than just passing out some candy or letting the kids watch a movie during lunch (this one drives me nuts because the kids are not allowed to talk at lunch in order to encourage them to eat, and then they will put on a screen as a treat, and they are just training children to eat mindlessly while staring at a screen, this should not be allowed!).

I don't know what the answer is. For us it might be a charter? I don't know, I'm pretty jaded about public education at this point.

My school we are not allowed to use extra recess as a reward unless it’s for a long term class incentive. We were told even 5 minutes a day adds up to a whole 25 minutes of instruction lost a week. So they aren’t talking about extra 30 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

When you have 25 children in your house, all of whom have different needs, and your paycheck depends on keeping their attention while teaching them things they don't want to learn, I'll listen.

NP (and a non-teacher). Any parent who needed PP teacher to explain that having to corral 25 kids from varying backgrounds is NOT the same thing as getting Larla to comply should be disregarded on DCUM and in the classroom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

If you think a classroom pizza party is going to give your kid an eating disorder, consider that the unhealthy relationship to food may be coming from you …

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In my experience as a teacher, teachers tend to resort to things like a food/candy reward when everything else has failed. Cut them some slack; student behaviors are becoming increasingly difficult to manage.

Parents have to deal with the same challenges (and the future eating disorders). Why should teachers get to claim the cheap and easy tactics?

If you think a classroom pizza party is going to give your kid an eating disorder, consider that the unhealthy relationship to food may be coming from you …

I don't care about classroom parties or pizza. I do care when kids are given candy as a specific reward tied to doing a daily assignment or whatever, like they are dogs getting treats, particularly when the treats go to only some of the class.