So, the “Lesson Learned” that I’m introducing to you today is the fourth one in the series, and it has everything to do with incentivizing children to read and write. It’s funny because I’m trying to remember what “new journey” I was alluding to in this reblog, entitled “Lessons Learned as a Parent of a Virtually-Schooled Student – #4, originally posted on December 1, 2020.
It’s been a minute since December 2020, so let me reach back and think about it for a minute. Hmmmm??? I want to say that I may have started my reading and writing ebook around that time. Because I did have a reading and writing ebook that I put out as a freebie to my email list, and I also had one that I created and put up in my Etsy store at the time. Since then, I closed my Etsy shop, which was opened in 2020, and decided to pull the ebook from the online shelves and not sell it anymore. (However, I have used some of its contents on this blog site and in my monthly newsletter.)
Now, I will say that while I closed my Etsy store, I opened my TpT (formerly called “Teachers Pay Teachers”) store in 2021. And, it’s open to this day. And what do you know? I sell reading and writing incentives and learning tools for children and those who teach them. If you’re a little curious about the online resources I’ve made available, you can visit the store here.
Apparently, I’ve been riding the incentivizing children to read and write wave for some time. I mean . . . I am a reading tutor, you know. And, I happen to know, through experience, that children can and, most often, will respond positively to rewards to encourage and reinforce sought-after behaviors. Some children may not need the external motivators, but others may. And, it’s important to pull out all the stops when seeking methods to help children develop important skill sets that will pay them dividends now and into their futures.
Check out this brief reblog about rewards and incentives:
Lesson #4: Creating rewards systems for reading and writing is a value-added proposition.
Let’s face it. We, adults, need incentives from time to time; and we especially need some external motivation when it comes to completing challenging or unpleasant tasks. So, wouldn’t the same premise apply to the younger versions of ourselves — our children? And when our children struggle with certain directives, assignments, or tasks, I would imagine that incentives could be the perfect sweetening agents to make those unsavory activities a little more palatable.
Being a parent of a virtually-schooled student (or just a 10-year-old, in general) has definitely taught me a thing or two about a thing or two. One of those teachable moments enlightened me to the fact that children may need some external forces to be those catalysts that help them make the initial strategic move or keep them progressively moving forward toward achieving certain goals.
When doing some deep soul searching as to what my next goal-oriented assignment would be, I decided to focus my concentrated efforts on an initiative that would not only put a helpful process in place on how to incentivize my son to continuously develop his reading and writing skills but to share that process with anyone who would be interested in such information.
After all, I can’t believe that I’m the only parent who has a child who may need some extra motivation when it comes to reading and writing activities.
And the purpose-driven thought that comes to mind with any endeavor I engage in going forward is “am I adding any value to others in what I do“. That very thought is even further reinforced when I keep hearing creative entrepreneurs state that the “creative” must be in the business of creating value — something that’s considered valuable or a benefit to others (not just oneself). Sounds reasonable to me. I mean we have so much information bombarding us at any given moment in our day, so it’s virtually going to take that special “something” of the highest helpful caliber to grab our fleeting attention spans and make us want to siphon off some of our time to give that special “something” a quick look-see at the least.
So, my creative goal-setting initiatives must deliver in the area of hitting constructive chords with others who may be going through similar life situations I’m going through and create a solution to a challenge that may be presenting itself within that situation.
And if you know my intentions with the Degrees of Maternity blog, then you know a lot of my focus in what I do here revolves around my children and children in general. That same focus also has a strong concentration in reading and writing and encouraging child development in those skill sets — mainly because I love reading and writing and mostly because I have a child coming up through the educational ranks who could use some encouragement in both areas.
Therefore, I would like for you to come along on this new journey I’m taking to develop a user-friendly process to help parents (like me) find the most beneficial method(s) for motivating their children to achieve their reading and writing goals.
I do believe a new journey (with purposed focus) has commenced once again. And your presence throughout this journey has been requested.
degreesofmaternity.com 