Praise in the classroom

If every time you walked into my classroom I handed you a dol­lar for no apparent reason, you might be initially surprised and happy. You might be curious about what you did to deserve the dollar. Then, as I gave you a dollar each day for the next two weeks, perhaps you would just shrug and say, “Well, she must think I did something to deserve this, and I won’t argue.” As the daily dollar gift continues, you find yourself beginning to count on that dollar for a snack after school or savings toward a bicycle. You don’t ask why I’m giving you this gift, and I don’t tell. Then one day I stop. When we are accustomed to receiving a reward, even if we are not sure we earned it, we can be startled and resentful when it stops. Somehow in our minds, the sudden absence of the expected reward gets interpreted as punishment (Bennett, 1988; Kohn, 1992). We have a conundrum when a motivator (praise and rewards) demotivates. Too easily, the indiscriminate reward of praise cre­ates mini- addictions in our students. The intent here is not to ban praise and rewards from class­rooms, but to use them with judicious, vigilant knowledge of their risks. Three aspects of praise help illuminate some of its risks. 1. Gradations of compliments. Students notice the varying levels of empty praise: “Very good,” “Excellent,” “Good attempt,” “Okay.” And they notice who consistently gets what praise. Substitute feedback that feeds: offer neutral, observational, and encouraging comments. 2. Oppositional behaviors. When we gush praise, thinking we are making students “feel good” and building self- esteem, we can often embarrass them instead. Teasing by classmates can prompt students to make errors to avoid a teacher’s overt praise. Offer mostly observational comments, praise in private, and avoid overstated and overenthusiastic responses to students’ efforts. Competition. Many of us were taught to say things such as “I like the way Angie is sitting” to garner student compliance, espe­cially for younger students.