The Brightside: Choices Academy behavior incentives
VIENNA, Md. – A behavior incentive initiative over at Choices Academy is allowing students who are working hard to rehabilitate their behavior to access unique experiences to not only reward good behavior but provide them opportunities they may otherwise not get. “We’re bringing them to an area where they may not otherwise have exposure to, we’re giving them exposure to activities and time, things to help them de-stress as well,” says Leslie Tolley, dean of students.
“Good behavior and a good mentality will get you the things you want and you just have to work for it,” says Melody, just one of the many life lessons students like her and others at Choices Academy are learning and it’s not just from inside the classroom. At Choices Academy in Salisbury, students in middle and high school get some extra support to not only excel academically but work on their social and emotional needs as well.
To aid in those efforts, select students who put in the work get some unique opportunities and incentives, and this year they went fishing. “I’ve never really done this and so I had no idea how to do it so I think I’m excited to catch my first fish,” says Melody. A classmate, Joshua adds, “I like fishing, and the last time I went fishing I didn’t catch anything so I wanted to catch something today.”
We’re told Melody and Joshua are both 8th graders at Choices Academy and are among the many students who take part in this incentive program. Through good behavior, attendance, work ethic, participation in class, and consistency, these students make the direct correlation between positive actions; equating to positive outcomes and rewards. “I want to grow up and be an NFL player or an MBA player so I have to get good grades and stay healthy and stuff like that,” says Joshua. Tolley adds, “They know that we believe in them, we support them, we have expectations of them that we’re going to hold them to but we’re not going to drop them either.”
Tolley explains that there’s so much more to this incentive than catching a fish. It’s also a part of their physical education curriculum which educates students on fishing, basic survival skills, orienteering, and outdoor leadership. “While they’re with us, hopefully for a short period, they’re excelling, we’re providing that therapeutic setting but it’s also a setting where they’re learning to adhere to expectations, set goals, and get out,” she says.
One of the goals at the academy is to teach accountability and responsibility. It gets students outside the classroom, takes them to new places, provides new skill sets, and gives them a sense of confidence, purpose, and a shift in their point of view. Melody reiterates that by advising others like her, “I suggest people my age younger or older should focus more in school and forget about any problems they have and to not run away but to confront them.”
Tolley also says she hopes these opportunities create lifelong relationships, and a new perspective on life when these students return to their schools and communities. It’s partnerships that have paved the way to provide these incentives that show students how valuable it is to pour into their community as well. She says, “To have those community relationships and community partners, get them out, get them exposed to things that are available to them and they can be a part of outside of the negative things in our community.”
The bait used in the fishing incentive was donated by Pam Price, and Tolley says she hopes partnerships like that with the community expand so they can provide more opportunities and incentives for students that could potentially go beyond a yearly event.
