Teacher Tip #17: Spring Cleaning…
dust off your 'teacher talk'!
Happy spring! As you're packing away winter coats and mittens, take clean-up a step further with a fresh look at your everyday communication with students — specifically how you praise their thinking!
How can encouraging my kids be wrong? As important as it is to build a young learner's self esteem, research suggests that rewarding a job well done with comments like, "you're so smart!" can actually have the opposite effect.
In an interesting study, 400 5th graders took a test consisting of puzzles easy enough that all would do fairly well. Once a student finished, researchers told each his score, then offered a single line of praise.
Some were praised for their intelligence and told, "You must be smart at this." Others were praised for their effort: "You must have worked really hard."
After hearing this, students had 2 choices. One was a test more difficult than the first, and kids were told they'd learn a lot from attempting it. The other was an easy test, like the first. Of those praised for effort, 90% chose the harder test. Of those praised for intelligence, a majority chose the easy test. The "smart" kids took the cop-out.
What does this mean in the classroom? How do we become more mindful with our praise so kids continue to stretch themselves and take risks? As a new teacher, I posted sentence starters and key phrases on my walls, both as personal reminders and to help students communicate. These phrases (my original cheat sheet is scanned here!) encouraged our classroom community to use respectful, descriptive language when speaking to one another.
So what do you say when you can't say "SMART?" What are some strategies you've used or come across to help deliver effective, genuine praise? Please share your thoughts by leaving a comment here!
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