Pennies in Your Pocket
Praise,
Praise is a free and easy way to build student self-esteem and strengthen teacher-student relationships (Brophy, 1981). A report put out by the Dept. of Ed, said that praise is one of the top 5 most effective strategies for reducing common behavior problems (Morin, 2021).
Yet, most of us reprimand more than we praise – in fact, a recent study in 5 middle schools found a praise to reprimand ratio ranging from 1:4 to 1:9 (Caldarella, et al., 2021). That means only one praise statement for every 4 to 9 reprimands. In this study, teachers worked for a couple of months to increase their praise. With greater praise, there was less misbehavior and more engagement.
As researchers we always encourage teachers to collect the data! Track your praise to reprimand ratio. Keep track of who you are praising and how often. One way you can do this is to put pennies in your pocket (or one teacher used glass beads). When you notice yourself using praise, move a penny from one pocket to the other. You could also make tallies on a roster or ask students to help keep track. Becoming mindful of your use of praise will help you incorporate it into your classroom community.
Praise is a cornerstone of effective classroom management because it focuses on positivity, on the behaviors you want to see. One teacher from our SEED project said:
“I have added more praise and my students have responded very well. They light up every time I say positive statements. I did not realize how much of an impact that actually has. It has gotten my quiet kids out of their shell more as well.”
Read more about praise to reprimand here: The Necessity of Finding More Ways to Praise Students | Edutopia
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ProsocialEd strategies were developed and studied by the nation’s premiere Prosocial Development & Education Research Lab at the University of Missouri (MU). Based on 50 years of developmental psychology research, we show that how adults interact with children influences their development of self-control, empathy, and prosocial behavior.
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