I am finding the issue of praise very difficult to deal with. Frankly, I have no idea when to praise the kids or not. This has mainly come about from the research undertaken by Dinkmeyer, McKay and Dinkmeyer who suggest praise can be discouraging, arguing it sends the subtle message “You’re worthwhile only when you do things well.” (Robert Tauber provides a good table of 'Praise versus encouragement' on page 160 of his book Classroom management: sound theory and effective practice).
Praise, however warm, places a value judgement on the student as a person, they argue. In response, they believe we should be heaping encouragement on students as it focuses on the strengths of their work, allowing them to feel confident about their own abilities.
Fair enough. But how does that pan out in the real world? How does one articulate encouraging words compared to praiseworthy comments? I need examples!
I bring this up because on Wednesday I came across what I would call a praiseworthy moment. My students had a library lesson so I was sitting in the author's chair in the front of the class having a general discussion with my supervising teacher when the teacher next door, excited, brought in several of her students who had just composed a rap to some paragraphs they had written in the day’s English lesson. She was keen for us to hear their rap and beat boxing to the words they had composed (see image). And it was great. For many reasons: Students proud of their achievements. Students willing to share something openly (normally they are hiding behind their chairs at the thought of presenting to teachers). And students being artistic. What was I to do in this instance? Merely encourage? "Um boys you could do with a slower rhyme... more bass...." Well, I praised them for their quick thinking and originality. Why wouldn’t I? It is hard enough to get Stage 3 boys to like English at the best of times. But despite that, I somehow felt I had done something wrong if Messers Dinkmeyer et al were sitting in the room, watching.
I shall explore this further during my practicum. But it is certainly something that hangs over my head. And something I hope to get better guidance on from fellow teachers and academic staff.
I have also found this to be a confusing area Howie- My experience, a little different to yours, was that during a creative writing task, students were told to use 'wow' words which are the teachers way of telling them to use better words than they usually do. In doing so the students were coming up with all different types of spelling mistakes. I was really confused on whether I should be praising them for thinking of some really great words, or telling them that they spelt them incorrect!?
ReplyDeleteAh, well in Chapter 8 of Campbell & Green's Literacies and Learners we should not be bothered if students introduce spelling errors during their creative writing pursuits. We should be encouraging them to take risks, even invent words so as not to slow down the flow of their writing. I guess the key here is how you "provide the scaffolding to move the child ahead" from their current stage of development.
ReplyDelete