Teachers faced unique challenges in 2020 as they tried to balance their usual tower of responsibilities with COVID-19 safety protocol. Students had to adjust too, sometimes a big ask for families with fewer resources.
Anyone in education—students, teachers, and administrators alike—could use a classroom award right now. This article has the quick, easy, but still special ideas for classroom awards you need.
1. Save the Memory on a Certificate
It’s a cliché, but true that shared experience is sometimes rewarding enough. Still, it’s nice to have something to look at and remember what you did. There’s no faster or easier way to satisfy that need than by making a certificate of participation.
These classic printable classroom awards are extra-handy right now. Because they’re printable, you can give them out via email or through other electronic means for students to print out at home. You don’t have to hand them out person-to-person or worry about backed-up snail mail.
2. Offer a Special Activity as a Class Reward
Certificates and knick-knacks are great solutions when you need to come up with a classroom award on short notice. They’re nice for rewarding large groups because they don’t take much time or money.
If you have more funds and a smaller group, consider offering an activity as an award. Smaller gifts are fun for everyday activities. Yet, classes taking on tricky assignments and drawn-out undertakings benefit from more substantial things.
This could be as simple as bringing in snacks for a little classroom party. You could defray the cost by making it a potluck-style activity where everyone brings in snacks and/or activities.
Some activities are off the table at the moment due to social distancing. Virtual classes can still enjoy movies, games, and other fun group events over the net.
3. Be Your Own Goofy Classroom Award
Sometimes, the only award a class needs is its teacher. That’s one way to say good instructors hold up their classes, but it’s also a good rule for literal classroom awards.
Say you’re trying to meet a big goal with your class—perhaps a B average on a quiz, no missing assignments for a term, or a certain number of free reading pages read in a month. If a funny classroom award is in order, you might not need to buy much of anything to reward your students.
Some of the most popular classroom awards involve teachers putting themselves up for ridicule. Over the years, brave classroom leaders have volunteered to shave their heads, wear funny outfits, do stunts in public, participate in silly games such as dunk tanks, and more.
This is a classroom reward idea that asks a lot of you, but your students will remember it forever. Your boldness may even be remembered by your school for years to come, long after you leave the job. It’s a big reward appropriate for big goals, so craft your ideas with care to make the biggest impact.
Become Your Best Business Self
These easy classroom award ideas are must-knows for any instructor who wants to take their teaching to the next level. Parents can use them to reward kids for chores and other tasks, too.
Whatever your job, you can use these ideas to take your work life to the next level. After learning what these tips can do for you, take a look around the site and read another article for more impactful advice.