In a study of 30 elementary school teachers' perceptions of the rewards of teaching, two major types of intrinsic rewards were found. One kind of reward came from enjoying interactions with the students regardless of the outcome. The other type of reward is achievement oriented and results from feeling instrumental in students' accomplishments. The two types of rewards were negatively related to one another, and each was related to particular factors in the work setting. Correlations were found between types of teaching rewards and students' socioeconomic status, length of teaching experience, and teachers' perceptions of challenges and skills. It was found that student attention in social studies classes was significantly connected with teacher rewards. Differences emerged between social studies and mathematics classes conducted by teachers who were achievement oriented as opposed to those who were experience oriented. Teachers who most enjoyed interacting with students were most likely to engage students in active learning modes that held their attention in social studies classes. Achievement-oriented teachers demanded little active participation of students and used individual rather than cooperative student pacing, which is particularly effective in mathematics classes. Students' attention in these classrooms was neither relatively high nor relatively low. (FG)