Using Praise Effectively

04/30/2007

Students who are loved at home come to school to learn, and students who aren’t, come to school to be loved.
Nicholas A. Ferroni

In her Exchange article, "Fortune Cookie Philosophy: Using Motivation Effectively With Young Children," which forms the basis for the latest Out of the Box Training Kit, Tricia Kruse examines how to use praise effectively in motivating young children. She quotes one D. L. Martin who observes, "Praise can actually lessen self-motivation and cause children to become dependent upon rewards. Praise may be useful in motivating children to learn by rote, but it may actually discourage problem solving."

Following up on this, Kruse notes, "Effective praise .... takes thought and is individually tailored to each child. For example, 'Can you tell me how you made this color blue?' The comments are specific to each child’s action or creation, whether it is a block structure or a way they moved their bodies to music. An easy way to change from ineffective to effective praise is to change from saying 'I' to 'you.' Rather than saying 'I like' or 'I think' which offers the adult’s opinion, try saying 'You painted the whole paper!' or 'You jumped on one foot!' This adjustment creates a specific comment that allows the children to respond with their own remarks and to evaluate their own work, if they wish."

Learn more about and purchase this latest Out of the Box Training Kit, "Fortune Cookie Philosophy," and the 55 other Out of the Box Kits.

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