Make Sure You Give Meaningful Praise

A goal of educators is to help children to become intrinsically motivated. Self-esteem is likingg yourself children's self-worth develops as an aside from working hard, surmounting frustrations, and overcoming obstacles. Realize that honest praise provides children with the opportunity to gain a realistic understanding of their strengths and weaknesses. For children to be successful, feel strong, confident and independent, children must receive truthful valuation. Children, who have grown accustomed to continuous applause, may develop anxiety about their abilities, a fear of failure, a reluctance to try new things, and be ill-prepared to cope with future setbacks.

Research says that effective praise focuses on a child's effort rather than on what is actually accomplished. Praise has a place in any lesson and when educators give genuine praise that is specific, spontaneous and well-deserved, it encourages continuous learning and decreases competition among students.

Power of Positive praise

First, praise should always be positive. That may seem to be self-evident, but I’ve seen teachers who said they were praising students, but it was done in a sarcastic manner, with the corresponding body language. This snarky approach undermines any positive effects of the praise.

Oh so you may think sarcasm is an effective tool to use, particularly with older students. I respectfully disagree. Experience tells that, although students won’t show it, deep down sarcasm reinforces any negative comments they’ve heard in the past. Again, too often, they experience enough sarcasm at home and from their peers. They need us to be encouraging and appreciative.

Praise should Reinforces High Expectations

It means that praise should reinforce your high expectations. How to make sure that praise helps is that if we praise something that is too easy for students, we can actually undermine their confidence. For example, let’s say we give students less demanding work so they can “finish it easily and build their confidence,” and then praise them for that work.

It’s a strategy sure to backfire. They know they didn’t do the same level of work as their classmates, and when we praise them, they understand that we are just trying to make them “feel better.” In that case, rather than encouraging them, we are actually sending them the message that they aren’t “good enough” to do the real work, and it undermines their confidence.

Make sure Praise Is Appropriate

Learning abouut praise we should know that it has to be appropriate. This encompasses various specific behaviors we should use. If you are like most teachers you would know praise may be public or private. Every child is unique so sometimes students don’t want to be recognized in front of other students. Choose whatever best fits your students’ needs.

Next, praise may come in different forms. Teachers who praise regularly know sometimes you can praise students verbally, and other times you may want to use written praise.It is especially true that written praise is particularly effective, as many students will share your words with their families or keep them to look at later.

Some say praise needs to focus on what students do, not who they are. If we praise students for being the sister of a particularly strong student, we aren’t encouraging growth, we are simply acknowledging the older sibling. Children who receive praise should be praised for the quality of their work, or their effort, rather than their looks, their family connections, or their personality.

Independence Supportive Praise

Next, praise should encourage independence.At the same time if we aren’t careful, students can become so attached to our praise that they can’t be satisfied to simply do something well for the sake of it. We don’t want them to be more dependent on us; we want them to be less so.

This means that as part of our praise, we should ask questions of our students. For example: “How do you feel about your work?” Then we can agree with their positive comments. Or, “I notice you are very successful with that assignment. What did you do?” and then praise those steps. Questions such as these encourage self-reflection and focus on the student’s feelings rather than our own.

Praise Is always Sincere

It is obvious effective praise is always sincere. In other words, it’s not false or faint praise, which students can determine in a moment. When we say “good job” and don’t really mean it, or say it too often, it devalues praise and it undermines the trust students have with us.

Indeed sincere praise comes from the heart. You mean it. It’s authentic. And that comes through to students. It’s also based in reality; it’s not imagined. Consider this with sincere praise, you are identifying something specific the student has done or is doing, and that’s what you praise.

This helps as whether you are praising a successful action, or their effort, students know and appreciate the reality of the praise. When that happens, praise is meaningful to students.

How to present effective praise

Knowing what to praise your students for and when to give that praise is just as important as the praise itself. The following guidelines can help you deliver praise in the right way and at the right time.

Use behavior specific praise.

Descriptive and precise praise takes the guesswork out of what you’re praising. To know exactly students should be able to identify what they did well and know the positive behavior you want them to repeat. “Great job?— you were quiet in the hallway as we passed other classrooms!” is better than “You did a good job on the way to lunch.”

Praise the effort not the outcome.

Many students who learn and think differently may struggle to complete an assignment or task. In fact, it may take several attempts for students to finish. And yet students may feel discouraged when they’re working hard, but it feels like their work still isn’t good enough.

Reflecting on your teaching practice you can support students by giving behavior-specific praise about their process and progress as they work, letting them know they’re on the right track. Use phrases like “you’ve put so much effort into writing your first draft” to point out small wins, which helps students recognize that their hard work is moving them forward.

Being sensitive, and following culturally responsive practices.

Infact praise should also be appropriate for the individual student. Praise can boost good feeling an some students may thrive on being praised in front of the whole class. Other students may be ill at ease being singled out, even if it’s for a good reason.

Similarly, exactly what you choose to praise should be culturally appropriate to the student.The good news is some forms of “praise” may actually reinforce stereotypes related to race, ethnicity, or disability.

For example, consider teachers who tell Black students that they’re articulate. Although the teachers’ comment may have been well-intentioned as praise, it reveals that they don’t expect their Black students to be well-spoken. This harmful stereotype could leave students questioning their teachers’ assumptions and expectations.

Learning to know your students and understanding culturally responsive teaching practices can help you decide the most appropriate praise for each student.

Stop comparisons to other students.

This means that praise that is contingent on outperforming peers can lead students to doubt their abilities. I should mention here imagine a teacher praising one student in front of the class, saying “High five for coming in first in the spelling bee!”

As wonderful as your are this comment could send a message to the rest of the class that the teacher is comparing students’ abilities. It’s better to say something along the lines of, “High five for learning how to spell such tricky words!”