Praise-Crazed

Guilty. Totally, undeniably, guilty. I am praise-crazed. But something I have come to notice in my Kindergarten class is that the students are not often given much praise by the teacher.  And by this I mean mostly general praise like, “Great job on that!” or “Nice going there!” or "I like the way you [insert accomplishment here]." And actually, I think I like it.   

Throughout my graduate program so far, I’ve heard multiple professors warn against the consistent use of praise, such that it becomes something that the children seek to earn, like an incentive, or to the point that it loses meaning and just becomes some sort of artificial filler for those moments when you want to avoid the potentially awkward silence.  Our literacy professor, Dr. Groth, recently posted an article on Blackboard that addresses how detrimental praise can be (and why). Although the article asserts that most praise is harmful, it is o.k. when it is targeted, specific, genuine, and not centered around you (the teacher) but rather maintains the focus on the accomplishment of the student.  The article also includes some great suggestions for alternative responses when students do something "praiseworthy," like simply saying what it was you saw them do (a mere acknowledgment- without an evaluative component attached) or asking them questions (for instance, what they like best about what they read/wrote/created or what was the most difficult part of a project).

Unfortunately, giving praise is something that I do almost automatically, so I think it will definitely take some time to make the transition to these more constructive and student-focused responses. But I am certainly going to try...actually, starting tomorrow! Wish me luck. :)