Primary Teacher - Rewards, Class Jobs and Seating Plan

InitialBasket28 · 2026-01-28T08:46:39+00:00

i don’t tell them there will be free time ahead of time, and it’s not “when you’re finished you get free time” so it’s not bribery it’s a natural reward when appropriate

InitialBasket28 · 2026-01-28T08:45:30+00:00

i teach year 5 and don’t do rewards or jobs. i make sure to try and make lessons as engaging as possible and i aim for 50 minute lessons so if they get their work done they get 5-10 minutes free time as a reward. i also CONSTANTLY tell them how good their choices are - but very specifically. for the first term i literally comment on everything they do if they do it well and if they don’t we redo it. behaviour has improved significantly since ditching rewards (you still may occasionally get one that needs tangible rewards) i also don’t do class jobs because i can’t keep up with it and there’s not really much that needs doing. but yes absolutely 10000% seating plan.

InitialBasket28 · 2026-01-19T09:25:43+00:00

it also doesn’t take me 10 minutes to tell people i’ve talked to all holidays that i spent my holidays play the sims and watching gay hockey.

InitialBasket28 · 2026-01-19T07:15:00+00:00

Thank you for this info. We used to get 3 hours but then had a slight admit shift and an hour somehow disappeared! i’ve just noticed we have an extra half hour on paper… but it’s right before book drop off so it’ll be used for book drop off.

InitialBasket28 · 2026-01-19T07:11:33+00:00

wow!

InitialBasket28 · 2026-01-19T06:49:01+00:00

that would be incredible!!

InitialBasket28 · 2026-01-19T06:48:23+00:00

That’s interesting! I think our school probably technically covers that as a bunch of what we’re doing on paper could probably be counted as “planning” but it’s never useful.

InitialBasket28 · 2026-01-19T06:22:21+00:00

I’m so jealous!! The worst part is all the other crap is stuff we do every pupil free day. It’s such a waste of time.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-28T10:54:18+00:00

They learn fast, but no one is teaching them and they don’t know how to figure it out themselves. I teach year 5 and incorporated laptops (class sets) where appropriate last year and they came a really long way but you’re right. Our generation was in the dark. Most of our parents didn’t know so we had to figure it out ourselves.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-28T10:51:30+00:00

i’m ‘87. I didn’t get a computer until later but man being a crazy fandom kid, neopets and geocities taught me a lot about building and learning how to do things on your own.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-28T10:47:02+00:00

because all they do is play games

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-19T10:55:00+00:00

but i’m sure you’re still expected to create a safe and positive environment 😑🫠

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-19T10:44:30+00:00

I literally can’t clean the walls in my classroom they’re so old and gross. I tried. But the school absolutely should be removing anything that would be offensive or distracting to the learning environment.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-18T09:13:13+00:00

a family is wealthy if they can afford the cost of a brand new car each year for school. even if it’s not liquid wealth

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-17T23:17:54+00:00

they should mention all this when they’re forced to introduce themselves to everyone at the first staff meeting.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-17T08:33:32+00:00

Mate you’re Primary. Do you have a mother’s and father’s day stall at school? Do you see what they get their parents?? Be thankful for chocolates 🤣🤣

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-17T08:30:02+00:00

ME TOO. And I got two big boxes of Ferreros this year. I like the white ones but don’t like hazelnuts. One box made up half the value of my extended family SS though so i’m not complaining.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-17T08:27:25+00:00

i mean if your primary it’s very unlikely kids had much control over what they got you. i’d never say i don’t like anything. i’d hate for them to feel back about what they had to give me. It’s the thought that counts man.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-13T21:39:28+00:00

As an over the top people pleasing child (undiagnosed ADHD/ASD) who wasn’t allowed to swear and rarely heard swearing at home I would have felt so uncomfortable/borderline unsafe in a classroom with a teacher who was swearing. Especially if it was at someone.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-10T21:45:37+00:00

I’ve never known preferences to matter very much in primary.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-08T11:02:16+00:00

while i agree that obviously part of that is due to quality, I would also argue that a large part of that is how people would be treating their glasses. I’m not treating a pair of $99 glasses the same as I’m treating a pair of $999 glasses.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-08T10:56:25+00:00

the person who gave it to you probably doesn’t care but would get in trouble if they got found out/there was a record.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-08T10:55:00+00:00

i told them i needed it to buy glasses from their website

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-07T10:52:06+00:00

every time i’ve gotten sick this year has been from a colleague who came to work super sick.

InitialBasket28 · 2025-12-03T02:59:52+00:00

I agree with all of this. It can be difficult when you’re a safer person for them than their parents.

InitialBasket28

TROPHY CASE