The Use of Incentives to Enrich Projects and Multi-age Connections

My experiences with young children are to develop ways to engage them, buying into projects that incentives can fuel. Productivity can sometimes be inspired by who is involved and the “what’s in it for me” thought process sixes and sevens have.

As a teacher of 1st graders, convincing a group of students to put effort into parts of a project can be easier to do when others are involved.

Wanting to please, hearing what can happen with what they do and eventually seeing a result of their efforts are only some ways 1st graders are willing to do this. 

If you can get kids to that point and show them how their efforts produced a result that gives them pride and joy, this can fuel future endeavors.

Such has been the case with the original request of 1-G 1st graders by Art teacher Kay Silva. She asked them to draw and color a made-up creature that would be used as an assignment for her sophomore students in her art class.

While the 1st graders’ imaginations and drawings supported their contribution to this project, the finished product surpassed what they thought possible.

Like the ripple in a pond when a single stone is cast, the effects now go beyond this project to include the gift Parker School encourages all of us to be—groups of people finding a common interest that creates a connection, learning about different-aged individuals who inhabit this school.

We are one—we are a K–12 school that goes beyond being just a group of students spanning ages from four to 18. We are a family. We thrive on connections. We create relationships. We extend these in a way that underscores belonging, caring and knowing our experiences have a lasting effect that creates a bond between any age or grade.

While there are times when hard work produces a reward, there is a significant takeaway that is more profound—memories and relationships that have the potential to grow.

First graders in 1-G are now connected beyond their tiny part of the school as Lower school students to the larger world of Parker, a part of the school they rarely see or even visit, the Upper School.

Upper School students better understand that Lower School students are more than just small children they see in the halls or are encouraged to wait for patiently, remembering not to break their line as they walk through the halls. They are faces and beings to connect with for a purpose, for an opportunity to share talents that can lead to pride and smiles as each group remembers the individual project that brought them together.

Being able to move forward in the school year and broaden relationships with multi-aged individuals underscores how parts become whole, which is the message I take away, knowing the memory of this experience can be one of the gifts Parker School gives to everyone if they are willing to make connections.