Practicing Praise

Negative events or feelings typically have a more significant impact on our psychological state than positive ones. This “negativity bias” may explain why, after observing a lesson, the things that stand out to coaches are often the things they would change. Similarly, feedback that is negative may loom after a coaching conversation. Perhaps this is a reason to cultivate the moves in the GIR Model (below) of affirmation and praise.
 
When I asked effective coaches about their use of affirmation and praise, they said things like:
 
“Definitely, when something is done well, it should be noticed.”
 
“That is only going to provide encouragement for her to continue to do those things in the future.”
 
“They want to know, do you like that? do you not like that?”
 
“There were times when she was stressed out about things. Letting her know that she was on the right track.”
 
“A little bit of encouragement and affirmation can go a long way.”
 
“It helped make her confident.”
 
“I strive to be an encouraging person in my life. I know how big of a deal that is when people encourage me. I try  to make people feel good about the things that they are doing well.”
 
Clearly, these coaches value expressions of the positive when working with teachers. But what if affirming and praising are unnatural for you? How do you cultivate these practices?
 
Metta McGarvey, from the Harvard Graduate School of Education, suggests the following to build positive habits of mind:

·       Several times a day, take a break to reset and focus on a feeling of calm.

·       Practice looking for small moments of beauty, kindness, or joy.

·       Comment on the positive qualities and actions of others.

The first two practices, of pausing for calm and looking for joy, help cultivate the third, making positive comments. If you think something nice, you should say it! Why wouldn’t you? Today’s teaching climate is challenging and often fraught with criticism. Coaches can lighten teachers’ loads by offering specific, authentic praise.

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

Ten significant education studies of 2022:
 
https://www.edutopia.org/article/the-10-most-significant-education-studies-of-2022
 
 
Fixing up versus teaching:
 
https://choiceliteracy.com/article/conference-records-that-stay-with-kids/
 
 
A short video about the value of plants in the classroom:
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBIQDu5b5uM
 
 
Measuring student engagement with an “engagometer”:
 
https://studysites.corwin.com/highimpactinstruction/videos/v12.2.htm
 
 
Content-area literacy or disciplinary literacy – what’s the shift and how does it look across disciplines:
 
https://www.literacyworldwide.org/blog/literacy-now/2016/10/13/disciplinary-literacy-and-the-value-of-making-connections
 
That’s it for this week. Happy Coaching!
 
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