The administrative team at Longfellow Middle School introduced Lancer Cards in August 2023 to positively reinforce the Lancer Code. If a student follows or exemplifies the Lancer Code of being respectful, responsible and safe, then a teacher will give them a Lancer Card. Lancer Cards are a little slip of paper that you can turn in at the cafeteria at the end of the week for prizes.
Near the beginning of the year, some teachers give out Lancer Cards to students a little more often to encourage respect, responsibility, and safety in the classroom.
“If I could give out two Lancer cards, and those two cards would make that person continue doing good, I would,” Ms. Haley, a 7th grade history teacher, said.
People prefer to be recognized for good behavior over bad. Recognizing students’ accomplishments is what the administrative team at LMS is trying to do with Lancer Cards.
“We were punishing people for doing bad things, but we should have also been rewarding students who were doing positive things in our school,” Assistant Principal Mr. Vigil said.
At the beginning of the year, prizes only included popsicles, but the administrative team recently added more prizes for students who turn in more than one card, including Oreos, candy and chips. They also hold a raffle every other week for gift cards.
“When you turn in your Lancer Cards for prizes, they’re also entered into a raffle,” Ms. G, Longfellow’s After-School Specialist, said. “We’re giving out five-dollar gift cards as raffle prizes.”
The administrative team at Longfellow agrees that Lancer Cards have made a difference at our school. When students came back from the pandemic, their behavior was out of sorts. Students were adjusting from online learning to going back to school and sitting in a classroom. For many students, that was a challenge.
“Behavioral change was definitely seen at Longfellow when we introduced Lancer cards” Mr. Vigil said.
With the incentive of prizes, students are now more motivated to model the Lancer Code. Students’ behavior has improved so much that sometimes, prizes will even run out before everyone can get one!
