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COURAGE TO BE IMPERFECT: �USING ENCOURAGEMENT INSTEAD OF PRAISE IN THE CLASSROOM

Marina Chibisova, Vera Todorova

Plovdiv, 2022

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What helps a child succeed in class (and life!) and overcome failures?

Positive and stable self-esteem: students perceive themselves as good and capable, and this feeling does not depend on the result of a single task

Internal motivation: inner drive that propels a person to pursue an activity, not for external rewards, but for the fun, challenge, or satisfaction involved with an activity

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What influences self-esteem and motivation?

«Self-esteem can’t be given or received, it is developed through a sense of capability and the self-confidence gained form dealing with disappoinments, solving problems, and having lots of opportunities to learn from mistakes»

Jane Nelsen

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What influences self-esteem and motivation?

«Perfection is an unrealistic expectation, and very discouraging to those who feel they must live up to it… Recognition of improvement is encouraging and inspires children to continue their efforts»

Jane Nelsen

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Exercise

Remember a situation when someone praised you and you felt bad about it.

  • What happened?
  • How did they praise you?
  • What did you think or feel?

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Rate this praise

  • You did better than anyone else in the class.
  • Next time, if you work harder, I know you can get an A instead of a B+
  • It was hard, but you did not give up.
  • Out of 10 tasks you solved 8 correctly.
  • You have a gift for mathematics.
  • Great job!

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Heim Ginott on praise

‘Praise, like penicillin, must not be administered haphazardly. There are rules and cautions that govern the handling of potent medicines . . . There are similar regulations about the administration of emotional medicine’ (Ginott 1965: 39)

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Types of praise

  • Evaluative

Explicit positive evaluation: «Good boy!»

Focus on personality

May create anxiety and dependence on the reaction of others

  • Descriptive

Description of efforts and results, appreciation and acknowledgement without mentioning capabilities

Focus on actions

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Rudolf Dreikurs on encouragement

A child needs encouragement like a plant needs water.

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Praise vs encouragement

  • Praise

A judgement made from above.

Implies comparison and competition.

Focus on attaining an ideal outcome.

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  • Encouragement

A respectful observation or a question

Focus on changes (efforts and dynamic), on strengths and assets

Asking for opinions and

solutions

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What does research show?

  • Carol Dweck: Growth mindset vs fixed mindset. When praised for effort children are more motivated and cope with failures better.
  • Excessive praise lowers self-esteem(Brummelman, E., Nelemans, S. A., Thomaes, S., & Orobio de Castro, B. 2017)
  • Praise for abilities hinders overcoming obstacles among schoolchildren (Xing S, Gao X, Jiang Y, Archer M, Liu X. 2018)

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Examples of encouragement

  • You figured it out all by yourself.
  • You’re getting better at writing all the time
  • I appreciate your help
  • It took courage to do what you did
  • Just look at the progress you’ve made
  • This is hard for you, but you are

sticking with it.

  • You searched your mind and came up with something new.

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How do we react to mistakes?

Don’ts

  • «It is good only if it is perfect »
  • «A mistake is a problem »
  • «Why did you do that? »

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Do’s

  • Green ink method
  • «A mistake is normal »
  • «What have you learnt? »
  • «What are you going to do? »

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Practice: what do we say to a child who…

  • Won a second place in a competition
  • Wrote a really good essay with lots of grammar mistakes
  • Made a presentation during a conference
  • Helped his classmate
  • Learnt to solve equations

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