5.4.2 Reward Systems

The reward system that the principal comes up with also makes a huge difference. What are you rewarded for? Are you rewarded for keeping a quiet class, or are you rewarded for maintaining an exciting class? The principal comes by your room and the kids are all "buzzing, buzzing, buzzing." Does the principal say, "I heard a very noisy class yesterday" or does he say "Hey, it really sounded neat, it sounded like a lot of learning was going on in there." Do you see the difference? Do you get rewarded for keeping everything hush and silent or do you get rewarded for getting the kids actively involved and buzzing? Do you get rewarded for organizing extracurricular activities and taking the kids on trips or do you get rewarded for having the highest test scores in town? What do you get rewarded for?
The principal creates the reward system. Now, not all of it, but the principal can sure make a difference in terms of what the reward system is. The principal can decide what classes you get assigned to teach. You see now, I promise you, what classes a teacher gets to teach is a huge reward system. And unfortunately, the classes that all the teachers like to teach are again, the honors classes. I wish that principals would create reward systems so teachers would feel rewarded for teaching the naughty(?) kinds of kids. The kids that need it the most. All right, what can the principal do? You can have smaller classes. You can provide more resources. You can get teachers extra budget for materials.You can do all sorts of things to reward people who are willing to undertake the more difficult tasks. Rewards people
and make them feel that the support is there. Even if you have the right kinds of kids, your test results are always going to be better... I know that if I have honors kids, I'm never going to have trouble with Literacy Passports and
stuff like that because I can do ZIP in terms of teaching and the kids will carry it for me. You need a principal who will indemnify risk. What I mean by that is, if you make a mistake, who pays? You see, if I do something that is good or which succeeds and the principal is there taking all the credit for it, you know, I have this really neat new program in the school and here is Ms. Jones who introduced it and the principal is all there smiley faced and taking credit, but if it doesn't work Ms. Jones is left to hang out to dry because it didn't work, then Ms. Jones isn't going to take much risks in the future because she knows she is going to be all alone. Now some people are just perverse enough to go ahead and do it anyway. I would be one because I have more fun if I am trying new things. So, I don't need someone to indemnify my risks, I get beat on all the time for taking the risks I take and I don't mind because I have a high tolerance for that. Other people have lower tolerances. But the principal who indemnifies teachers for taking risks and
says "hey, you know that was a nice try even if it didn't work." And then when the parents come and complain, why the principal is right there on the front line saying " you know, your kid is really lucky to have Ms. Jones. It didn't work out this time but let me tell you about some of the things she has done and why I think your kid is lucky to have this women as their teacher." See the difference? As compared to the principal who says, "oh, you mean to say Ms. Jones did that to your kid? Well, I am going to have to talk to Ms. Jones." You see? "Really, I have a responsibility to you as a parent to make sure that that kind of stuff doesn't happen." Look at the difference; huge difference. Good principals indemnify the risks. I would take it this way, when I'm teaching principals this is what I say, "Whatever
your teachers do, you back them. If it goes wrong, you still back them. Now, you sit down and you work with them to make sure that if they have done something stupid they know not to do it again. And that they are going to have to account to you even if nobody notices but if someone notices, everything that happens in that school is your responsibility. That's your job as principal." That's what I tell principals. So I am encouraging them to indemnify the risks for you. I am encouraging you to be responsible to them. That way the whole system works better.

	Why does the reward system the principal uses make such a big difference in whether or not teachers take risks in the classroom?	Answer Here
	Mrs. Fisher is the principal of Maplewood middle school. When she walks past one class during observations, she hears complete silence. When she walks past the next class classroom the same day, the kids are all stretching out of their seats with their hands in the air screaming , "Me, me, me..." at the teacher. While this class is louder, Mrs. Fisher alsonotes that all of the students are constructively loud, not just chaotic. When asked by the superintendent, who is visiting the school that day to observe things for himself, which class she prefers, how should Mrs. Fisher answer?	Answer Here