Positive Feedback and Classroom Environment

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Positive Feedback and Classroom Environment

Student work is typically met by teacher feedback on a number of important items, including his or her achievement, progress, and skills. How that feedback is structured and delivered is a matter for debate among educators. The method and type of feedback teachers use in response to appropriate or inappropriate student behavior shapes the classroom environment (Conroy, Sutherland, Snyder, Al-Hendawi, & Vo, 2009). A potential role for administrators is to prescribe and model effective feedback for teacher use within the classroom. This administrative role broaches an important question: What constitutes effective feedback? For each student, teachers actively make a choice between delivering criticism or praise, and they also must decide to what extent the specificity of their feedback goes. An examination of feedback’s role in the classroom herein has been undertaken with an eye toward how feedback can be delivered effectively and what role administrators can play in raising awareness within the faculty they serve.

Praise and Student Behavior

Teachers who choose to recognize and value appropriate behavior with positive responses directly reinforce appropriate behavior while indirectly decreasing the prevalence of inappropriate behavior through restricting his or her attention. Praise has been shown to decrease inappropriate behavior while developing a positive impact on focus, self-esteem, academic success, motivation, and teacher-student relationships (Nelson, 2010). When used contingent upon observation of appropriate behaviors, praise can improve engagement, increase correct responses, following of directions, and raise levels of work completion and accuracy (Partin, Robertson, M...

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...). Effects of differential feedback on students’ examination performance. Journal Of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 15(4), 319-333. doi:10.1037/a001784

Nelson, J. (2010). Using Teacher-Written Praise Notes to Promote a Positive Environment in a Middle School. Preventing School Failure, 54(2), 119.

Partin, T., Robertson, R. E., Maggin, D. M., Oliver, R. M., & Wehby, J. H. (2010). Using Teacher Praise and Opportunities to Respond to Promote Appropriate Student Behavior. Preventing School Failure, 54(3), 172-178.

Stormont, M., & Reinke, W. (2009). The Importance of Precorrective Statements and Behavior-Specific Praise and Strategies to Increase Their Use. Beyond Behavior, 18(3), 26-32.

Tapp, A., & Lively, D. L. (2009). Think Twice Before You Speak: Using effective praise in the early childhood and university setting. Research In Higher Education Journal, 31-9.

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