Do students get points for practicing?

No, we don’t do rewards, points, a leaderboard or other such gamification devices. 

I get the idea of these kinds of tools. We want students to succeed in music. So we will try anything to get them practicing regularly so that they achieve what we know they’re capable of.

The problem is, it doesn’t last. 😟

Some kiddos will be into the points, tokens, digital stickers and leaderboards in the short term. But then the novelty wears off.

And the lesson they’re left with is this, “There’s no point practicing if I don’t get anything.”

Setting up practice routines and encouraging students to focus on the results isn’t swish-bang-wow. But it is what works.