Student Incentives: Brag Tags in the High School Classroom

For those that don't know, brag tags are an incentive-based program that promotes positive behavior and interactions amongst students. These are typically seen in an elementary school classroom, but I have found a way to use them in my high school classroom! Instead of brag tags, I call the student coupons, but the idea is the same. If I see a positive behavior in my classroom, I will allow the student to choose a student coupon from my stack.

For instance, there was a mess made by a previous class left on the tables for the incoming block. A student from that class, without prompting, cleaned up the mess for me. I was, of course, so happy that he had done that for me...but even happier that he would do that for someone without even being asked to do so. I wanted him to know how much I appreciated it, so I let him choose a student coupon. It was the first time I had awarded one of the coupons. I can't even begin to tell you how excited the receiving student was to choose his reward. He chose his coupon in front of his classmates, and boy were they jealous. I explained to them why he was getting the coupon and from then on out you better believe if they did anything they thought would be considered an act of kindness, they would let me know to see if they would get a coupon. Now, I don't give them away willy nilly. I only give the coupons out when they are deserved and something isn't being done JUST to reap the reward. However, I have noticed that my system definitely promotes and encourages positive behaviors. Not to mention it is a fun way to do so!

My "coupons" consist of the following:

• Stand at the door 2 minutes before the bell for a week (I do NOT allow this otherwise...huge pet peeve)
• Homework pass
• A "walk-through" of one problem on a test/quiz of choice with me
• Listen to your music during classwork
• 5 points extra credit on test of choice for current 9 weeks
• 10 points extra credit on quiz of choice for current 9 weeks
• Soda pass (when a student uses this one, I ask their favorite and pick it up before work the next morning)
• Popcorn pass (I pop the student a whole bag of popcorn in the teacher's lounge)
• Test/Quiz re-take
• Sit in the adirondack chair for the day (the chair has a huge comfy pillow and a lap desk to use...see my previous post for a picture!)
• Snack pass (when a student uses this one, I ask for their fav snack and pick it up before work the next morning...given that it is price appropriate, of course!)

Long story short...I love these coupons! Download them here in case you would like to use them too! I print, laminate, then cut them out. When a student wants to use their coupon, they give it back to me. I like that I can use them over and over again!