We want students to be recognized and reinforced when they do a good job. We want them to feel good about what they have accomplished. We also want them to be motivated to replicate their success with future challenges and in other circumstances. Achieving this goal requires more than general praise and positive words.
Students need to feel they own their successes. They must see their accomplishments as more than luck or good fortune. The more students understand how their actions led to their success, the better able they will be able to apply effective strategies and the more confidence they likely will have when approaching new challenges.
Consequently, the words and approaches we select must convey a multi-level message beyond, “Good job.” What we choose to say needs to reveal key elements that are within the student’s control and offer enough clarity and specificity for them to reflect, learn, and act on what they hear.
Here are eight ways we can send the message that what the student did was good, how they can own their behavior, and how they can use what they have done to do even better in the future:
- Choose a context that is comfortable for the student. Some students thrive when their efforts and accomplishments are shared in front of an audience. Other students will feel embarrassed to have others witness our feedback and prefer to receive praise privately. Tailoring our approach to the student can make a significant difference in how they will respond and use what we offer.
- Focus on the student, not your feelings. After the student talks about what they did, how they feel, and what it means, we can follow-up with expressions of pride and delight. However, the focus needs to be on the student, not on how it makes us feel.
- Highlight what the student did, not their ability or talent. Effort, persistence, flexibility, creativity, and other behaviors are within the control of the student. They can be replicated and built on. Talent, ability, and giftedness may be nice to have, but students are likely to see them as inherent qualities over which they have little control and may not be present when facing the next task or challenge.
- Be specific. Point out the behavior or behaviors that led to the achievement. Highlighting strategies, persistence, and good use of resources helps students to know what they can do next time to achieve similar results.
- Be timely. Praise and other forms of feedback that make a difference need to be shared as soon after a student engages in a behavior, completes a task, overcomes a challenge, or achieves success. The longer we wait to share our observations, the less students will recall about what they did and the less likely our message will lead to repetition of the behavior.
- Point out evidence of progress. Noting signs of emerging skills, improving habits, and better processes can give students information on areas they can reflect on and focus. Seeing evidence of progress also can be a powerful motivator to keep going.
- Link effort to outcome. Students do not always see how what they did led to the outcome they achieved. Our pointing out key connections and providing examples from their work can help students to see that they were responsible for what they achieved. The connection between effort and outcome can be a powerful motivator for future behavior.
- Connect performance to purpose. The connection might be to an established goal, benefit to the student or others, or the classroom environment. Understanding that their work matters and makes a difference can give students strong encouragement to do more.
Praise and other forms of positive feedback can be powerful motivators. However, students need to see how their behavior led to their improvement or success. They need to feel ownership for the outcomes they achieve. And they need to hear it from us.
