Why do teachers use lotteries!?!?

Tindle ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:15 pm

My son came home so upset today. He behaved really well and won lots of tickets for a weekly lottery and of course, he didn't win. He hasn't won yet this year. (I don't think this started at the beginning of the year.) Now it could be other boys haven't won yet either, it could be the rebbe only started this recently, etc.

But I hate the idea of lotteries!!! Can someone please explain why a teacher would use this as motivation?!?! Everyone works hard, collects tickets, but in the end, only a few kids win anyway. It's really not right. Wouldn't it make sense to buy cheaper prizes and give everyone who deserves?

(I'm not getting into a discussion about the use of external motivation. That's not my point here.)

Personally, I am a classroom teacher and would never use a lottery system in my class. I've never liked them and still disagree with using it. Just give everyone who deserves a prize, a prize!
There are so many other ways to encourage good behavior.

Vent over. What do you think?

watergirl ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:22 pm

Raffles are an antiquated and lazy classroom management technique, I say this all the time. Why rebbes and some general studies teachers still do this, I have no idea. I assume it's because they don't know what else to do.

So a student works hard all week, he has his finger on the right place, he has good answers, etc and all week he earns raffle tickets (or goes to avos u'bonim, camp, any time there is learning). Friday before dismissal, all tickets go in a hat and 1-3 winners are pulled out. The rest go in the trash. All the hard work, in the trash.

Point systems for a class store? Sure but takes more work and who wants to do that?
Encourage intrinsic rewards? Amazing but not all kids are intrinsically motivated and not all teachers can do this.

My kids never cared about the raffles. A thumbs up or high five is what got to them the most. Most rebbes were thrilled to do that for them, a few said no, he does raffles only. Guess who suffered that year?

I'm so anti this it's not even funny.

amother

Emerald

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:29 pm

I agree. Teachers really need to keep track of what's going on and should be finding reasons to reward every child. If they can't do that, they should drop these sorts of games and competitions. One of my strongest memories is from elementary school. Our limudei kodesh teacher tested us on all the material covered in all the different subjects over the year through a series of partially luck based team games. I remember that I studied so hard for these competitions and I did really well too. I correctly answered every single question I was asked. However because of the way the games were structured , for some reason I was never on a winning team and despite all my efforts I ended up being the only one in my class that did not receive a prize which was an extremely attractive package of stationary and stickers. I remember being absolutely devastated. It's forty years later and I'm over it but as I said it is one of strongest of my school memories. I really deserved a prize as well. I'm sure it was unintentional on the part of the teacher, but she really should have been more on top of things. Sure kids need to learn that they can't always be the winners, but the teachers have to exercise common sense as well.

↑ Tindle ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:32 pm

You said it so well - "All that hard work goes in the trash." Exactly.

I hate raffles. I hate them!

I'm thinking about calling his rebbe. Just to tell him what's going on for my son when he comes home and his reaction. I won't be confrontational but maybe ask if there's something else that might work. I really might call him. It's just not ok and not fair.

For some of my classes that really need external motivation (yes, we'd love for everyone to be motivated intrinsically but it doesn't work for everyone.) I do "punch cards" - EVERYONE gets a punch card that they keep with them. They earn punches for different things through out the lesson. Whenever a student gets 10 punches, she chooses a prize. Everyone wins, there's constant positive feedback (collecting punches, even if you didn't finish your card that day) and it's really not a hard system to maintain. At all.

I still don't get why teachers use raffles. I really don't. And I'm anti-raffles too!! Glad to hear that I'm not alone!! (Unfortunately, you're not my son's rebbe. Mad

)

↑ watergirl ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:33 pm

amother Mulberry wrote:

I run a weekly learning program in shul, and I give kids a choice. Raffle tickets to compete for larger $15-20 prizes or a guaranteed small $1 prize. Most kids want the raffle tickets, but one or two choose the small prizes.

I'd hazard a guess that they want to try their mazel at a bigger prize because it's the better of the options. Why not offer them "cash" for a store at the end of the program?

Young kids and even younger teens can't really understand the risk they are taking when there is a choice of a guaranteed small prize that no one really wants, vs. a cool big prize that only a few will get.

At the end, many kids will get nothing and their raffle tickets end up in the trash. It's so demoralizing.

↑ Tindle ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:36 pm

amother Emerald wrote:

I am so sorry! This is really hurtful. This is one of my fears as a teacher - impacting a child negatively that stays with them long after they've left my classroom. I have no idea if there are students walking around with negative memories of my classroom.

↑ Tindle ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:37 pm

watergirl wrote:

So true, Watergirl. Even though it's a "choice", it's not really fair.

amother

Burlywood ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:46 pm

As a teacher I do a mix
Because at the end of the day a lot of kids need that immediate gratification of receiving a ticket in the moment to show them they’re doing something right, rather than waiting for a prize at the end of the week.

Each of my students has their own individual charts for behavior and they get that completely based off of their own behavior and get a prize whenever they finish.
For davening, I give out tickets every day and then pick out multiple at the end of the week.
I’m not saying it’s the ideal situation but I also don’t want to be sending little prizes home every day. It cheapens it and then the kids don’t care as much about it.

Maybe it depends on age but when my students get the ticket they’re so excited about it, not even connected to winning a prize

amother

Mauve ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:47 pm

amother Burlywood wrote:

They can earn a ticket or whatever immediately to build up to a prize at the end of the week.
It still doesn't have to be a raffle

amother

↑ Mulberry ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:50 pm

watergirl wrote:

My program is part of a larger set of programs, and I am not at liberty to restructure the whole scheme. For what it's worth, most of our attendees are regulars, so they are familiar with the framework. I should add, that closer to the end of the winter season, they do special raffles only for those who haven't won yet. And then at the very end, any regulars who never won get a prize.

We do have another program where participants can bank their winnings and save up for bigger prizes.

In general, I think school should be viewed very differently from weekly or monthly programs. School is a much bigger and more immersive part of a student's life and is much more merit based in general.

In my program, I give the same to all kids, whether they give excellent answers or sit passively. I am an unpaid volunteer, I am not responsible for ensuring any kind of mastery or skill acquisition for my attendees, and I don't have the mental bandwidth to "grade" them or manage anything too complicated. The prizes are just to sweeten the deal enough to make attendance worthwhile.

Forgot to add another reason why school is different: managing points systems on Shabbos and Yom Tov, when writing is not allowed and you also don't have a firm class list (I.e. random kids can show up any week), is very annoying and I would not want to do so.

amother

Ballota ↓

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:51 pm

I used to do a raffle, more like an auction style - but there was a prize for every kid. And the prizes were wrapped up so you couldn't see them. If you had more tickets you could spend more on what looked like a bigger prize but you really didn't know if it was better. All the kids worked hard and all the kids deserved prizes and everyone was happy to win something in the end.

amother

↑ Ballota

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:54 pm

But I must be honest and say that a system where you earn towards prizes that have a set "price" is much better. This is how our shul runs their program. There is a cupboard full of prizes and everything has a price. You can save up for a month or a year depending on what you want. This type of system is much more fair and motivating!

giftedmom

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 12:57 pm

Boys love raffles! There’s a reason gambling is an addiction. There’s a reason for Chinese auctions. It lets them dream. And also teaches you that life doesn’t always pan out the way you want it to.
My son’s rebbes do a mix of small prizes, nosh, raffles, and point systems for the older ones. Awards too. I think it’s a good system if a bit overdone. Ds came home from camp with a huge bag full of prizes that he hasn’t looked at since.

amother

Burntblack

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 1:00 pm

This reminds me of how I much I also dislike raffles and Chinese auctions as an adult! My community does one each year for the women’s annual event, and it makes me sad… the people with the most money to buy the most tickets end unsurprisingly end up winning the prizes, meanwhile some of us can hardly afford one ticket. Seems the opposite of community-building.

gr82no

Mon, Nov 18 2024, 1:00 pm

amother Burlywood wrote:

You can give out dollars for a prize store same instant gratification
You can do mini eraser and they build a collection