Friday, March 25, 2016

Beware the Praise Barometer!

Have you been the recipient of praise that felt lavish and insincere? Experienced teachers usually have a built-in praise barometer and know full-well when they have really accomplished something praiseworthy and when they have not. Constant praise can become background noise or, worse yet, can cause skepticism or self-doubt.  When coaches use frequent or generic praise connected to tiny achievements, it can actually backfire, creating cynicism and undermining the coach’s role as a mentor.

A teacher who is overly-praised for tasks that require little effort might doubt the sincerity of her coach or wonder if such praise is offered because there’s nothing more substantive to compliment. When praise is excessive or focused on trivialities, it may not be well-received and can lose its effectiveness (Bayat, 2011). Yet praise is an ingrained, Anglo-American cultural phenomenon (Quinn, 2005) – and one with many benefits, if used appropriately.

Rather than choosing not to praise, coaches should thoughtfully choose how to praise. Dweck’s groundbreaking research about the growth mindset applies to learners of all ages – including teachers who are being coached. The part of Dweck’s work that is often emphasized is the finding that praising for intelligence after success has undesirable negative effects. This has sometimes been generalized to: Don’t praise! Dweck’s other important finding, however, has relevance as we think about the role of praise during coaching: Praise that focuses on work and effort is encouraging! Recipients want to take on challenges, work hard, confront weakness and correct them (Dweck, 2007). Now that sounds like a disposition we as coaches want to encourage!

Praising for effort increases motivation. Those who receive such praise are more interested in receiving strategy-related information and have a healthier outlook about their own capabilities (Dweck, 2009). Coaches give this kind of “process praise”  when they pay positive attention to instruction that increases student learning. An encouraging description works as powerful praise. Saying, “Wow, you were flexible during that lesson! I noticed you spent a lot more time modeling than you had planned when you saw that students were confused,” gives a powerful description of what went right that feels like purposeful praise. “I can see how hard you worked on (fill-in-the-blank),” puts emphasis on effort. Acknowledging  hard work can provide a motivation boost when teachers’ energy is taxed!

Adults appreciate well-intentioned, well-deserved praise, and teachers who are working hard at the right things deserve it! Just do your own barometer check from time to time to ensure you aren’t overly effusive in your praise as you catch teachers doing good work!


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

A humorous look at positive reinforcement:



Eight components of effective professional development:



Reader response activities to take the thinking deeper:



This video describes the use of commas in complex sentences – a video to share with upper-grade students:



A good description of flipped classrooms:



That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!

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