Learning from Thumper

Remember Thumper in the movie Bambie? His mother offered sage advice: “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all!” I like to take that advice one step further: “If you can say something nice, do it!” When a sincere compliment comes to my mind during a coaching conversation, I share it! Authentic, specific praise is encouraging, and we all benefit from encouragement!

However, you’ve probably been warned: Praise can sometimes backfire as a coaching move. We don’t want to create “approval junkies” (Nelsen, 2009) with a need to please or fear that they might not. That is why, when coaching using the GIR model, we move beyond affirming. At the affirming phase, those we coach may be unsure and looking for confirmation of their practice. Praise, however, is simply a deserved compliment for something that went well.

Notice that I said something that went well. Effective praise is not a compliment of someone; it is a compliment of something. Dweck and Kamins (1999) provide this alliterative reminder: Use process praise, not person praise.

So after observing a fantastic first grade lesson on pictographs, I didn’t say, “Good job, Lauren!” or “You’re an awesome teacher!” I said, “Having the pictures in the graph represent two objects really made students think.” (Well, okay, maybe I did gush a bit and say what a great idea it was, too!) Similarly, during a debrief conversation after a kindergarten lesson on the continents, rather than telling Shelby she was amazing, I talked about the effectiveness of the various activities she involved her little thinkers in.

Praising process has been shown to be beneficial to children’s motivation and can promote autonomy rather than reliance (Henderlong, & Lepper, 2002). I’ve found that praising teachers in this way has similar results (Collet, 2012). Saying something nice is sage advice.

Collet, V. (2012).  The Gradual Increase of Responsibility Model: Coaching for

Teacher Change.  Literacy Research and Instruction, (51)1, 27-47.

Henderlong, J. & Lepper, M.R. The effects of praise on children's intrinsic motivation: A review and synthesis. Psychological Bulleting, 128(5), 774-795.

Kamins, M. L. & Dweck, C.S. (1999). Person versus process praise and criticism: Implications for contingent self-worth and coping. Developmental Psychology, 35(3), 835-847. 

Nelsen, Jane. (2009). Encouragement: What does it mean and how is it done? Downloaded March 27, 2015 from http://blog.positivediscipline.com/2009/09/encouragement-what-does-it-mean-and-how.html.

This week, you might want to take a look at:

April is National Poetry Month! Celebrate by exploring these ideas:

12 great activities for using poetry in the classroom (scroll down to the 12 great activities part!): 

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/brisk-bright-approaches-poetry-month-brett-vogelsinger

A sampling of lessons and ideas about poetry (excerpts from books) free from Stenhouse:

http://www.stenhouse.com/assets/pdfs/poetrysampler.pdf

Hint cards in math:

https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/hint-cards?utm_campaign=digest&utm_medium=email&utm_source=digest

EdCamp and ScratchEd as playful learning for teachers (I’d skip to the paragraph before “Happy Campers”):

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/changemakers-playful-learning-teacher-networks-philipp-schmidt

p.s. Those in NWA can attend an EdCamp April 11 by registering at: http://edcampnwa.org