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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Commending students effort encourages them to challenge themselves. Some may argue that complimenting children for their intelligence has the same
In conclusion I feel that using effective assessment methods throughout any course allows tutors to give feedback at the right time to allow the correct progress for the learners to achieve. I have experienced feedback many times as coach and more recently as a teacher and feel it has only helped me to improve and to keep wanting to improve so I can inspire others to achieve.
Scheuermann, B., & Hall, J. (2012). Positive behavioral supports for the classroom. (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Inc. ISBN # 10:0132147831
As teachers, we are often expending more of our energy than is necessary by not taking time to implement a more comprehensive approach toward behavior management. In many cases one will need only a few of these strategies in place to create a positive behavioral support plan.
Discipline is important in maintaining a positive classroom environment and influencing a child’s development. During my field experience at S.H. Elementary, I have observed Mrs. Branson using various techniques to reinforce positive behavior in her 3rd grade classroom. Mrs. Branson’s teachers 3rd grade in a charter school located in the south suburbs of Minneapolis. Her class consist of 23 diverse student learners from various racial, ethical, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Each student acquires individual wants and needs, and exhibits a range of behaviors. Mrs. Branson practices operant conditioning techniques to acquire the good behavior she wants and needs from her students.
Psychologist, Carol S. Dweck in her well researched essay, “Brainology” analyzes how praise impacts mindset and how a growth mindset leads to greater success. She supports this claim by comparing the two different mindsets and how praise can affect them. She then proceeds to show praise leads to a fixed mindset harming a person by changing their views on effort. Finally, she argues that praise changes how and what people value, which can
In the video “When the Chips are down” by Rick Lavoie, I learned not only the same information as mentioned above but also helpful solutions that Rick Lavoie offered for teachers in how to respond with negative and positive student behavior. The presenter suggested among the following that teachers: restrain from yelling too much, as that might leave students to be less responsive over time; to extend verbal praise and other positive reinforcement as change from negative behavior; reinforce behavior progressively as the child makes steps towards positive behavior; set deadline incentive challenges to have the student complete tasks with positive behavior; and also the ‘broken record technique’ in which to state the rule 3 times to the offending student after indicating the infraction that was committed by the
We as educators and parents want our children to grow up to be the best that they can be. Are we helping them when we tell that they are doing a good job on something or are we hurting them? Some research has shown that praising a child with words like “Good Job” or “Way to Go” is not helping them build their self-esteem or grow as individuals. We need to do more to help them grow as individuals and learners. According to Alfie Kohn (2001) “praise is a verbal reward” (p. 1). He states in his article “Five Reasons to Stop Saying Good Job” that praise is also controlling (Kohn, 2001) Have you ever been at a restaurant or out to local grocery store (or even said to your own kids) and hear if you will be good I will buy you a treat. Controlling? Yes controlling, but in the classroom do we use the same type of praise to get our students to do the same thing?
Reinforcement is a motivation which depends upon a performance and increases the chance of a performance being frequent. Positive reinforcement can increase the chance of not only necessary behavior but also unwanted behavior. For example, if a student complaints in order to get attention and is successful in getting it, the attention helps as positive reinforcement which increases the possibility that the student will remain to complain. Positive reinforcement is one of the important ideas in behavior inquiry and it is something like rewards, or things usually work to get (Fahimafridi, 2016).
Everyone knows that when it comes to making a difference in a child’s academic and life achievements, their teachers play a large role. A teacher’s ability to relate to their students, and teach them to achieve both socially and academically contributes to how effective they are. What does it mean to be an effective teacher? Overall there seems to be an emphasis on teacher effectiveness related to how well their students are performing on standardized testing. As teachers we know there is more to being an effective teacher then just teaching our students based on tests. This paper will identify different definitions of an effective teacher along with how to assess teachers on being effective.
The reward system is a beneficial behavioral modification teaching method, which promotes more positive behaviors in the classroom (Charles & Barr, 2014). Many teachers generally use the reward method of praise within their classrooms for a variety of reasons. The first advantage of using praise within the classroom is because it encourages students do repeat positive behaviors in the classroom. Many children are simply looking for attention and enjoy it, which makes it a great technique to use in the classroom (Charles & Barr, 2014). Another advantage for this reward type is that due to the encouragement, the students are able to perform at a better rate; students excel academically. A final advantage to using praise is that it is easily implemented into the classroom and requires little to no preparation. This makes the reward method a great addition for teachers as well as students because students get instant feedback without
On top of everything else, teachers must possess an irrepressible yearning to motivate and educate children. Some children receive very little praise and motivation outside of the classroom environment. This puts a new responsibility on teachers to make sure that children (especially those who are underprivileged or disregarded by friends and family) get the attention and motivation they need in order to achieve. This can make all the difference in a child?s ability to do well in school.
Increased Proximity: A teacher can reestablish positive behavior simply by being closer to the student, reminding them that they must stay on task and avoid misbehaviors by adhering to the classroom rules.
I do not believe, however, in using rewards like stickers or stars, A’s or praise. To quote Alphie Kohn, "When rewards stop, people usually return to the way they acted before." I want my students to be intrinsically motivated and giving out rewards inhibits intrinsic motivation. I want my students to know it is okay to make mistakes and take risks in the classroom. I want to encourage my students by telling them specific feedback on an assignment rather than a star and a "good job." I don’t want them to become dependent on my praise. I want them to be successful learners.
The importance of constructive feedback allows for many positive opportunities. One important element is that feedback provides a foundation for positive student and teacher relationships. By providing appropriate feedback, the students understand the teacher is genuinely concerned about them and their education. This component also enhances a student’s self-efficacy and provides an avenue for motivation.