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ESL forum >
Techniques and methods in Language Teaching > Postive Feedback - Do teachers understand the benefit of it?
Postive Feedback - Do teachers understand the benefit of it?
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Vickiii
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Postive Feedback - Do teachers understand the benefit of it?
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Hi fellow teachers.
I am a great believer in positive reinforcement. I find I can turn a student labelled with �badboy � and turn them into a wonderful positive and successful member of my classroom.
I was wondering if other teachers use positive reinforcement always.
Whenever I am getting frustrated with a childs behaviour or annoyed at their behaviour - I find something that I like about what they are doing and focus on that. I don �t even have to tell them about their bad behaviour - I don �t even mention it - I just focus on the positive.
I was wondering if other people do this in their teaching - and even in their everyday life. I see so many wonderful comments on worksheets and messages in the forum that are placed their to make other people feel good about themselves - whenever I see these it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
I use this wonderful site for my special needs child now - as I teach english as a first language - and am nowhere near as active as I was last year. But I love this website and hope it continues to be an inspriational website for many teachers around the world.
I would love to hear from others about their experiences on only focussing on the positive - I have seen so many wonderfully misunderstood children turned around completely because of positiveness = HOW ABOUT YOU?
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16 Apr 2009
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johanne23232
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Hi Vicki,
I totally agree with your attitude! I also have had amazing results by taking the labelled �bad boys � and , by focusing on their skills and positive qualities, and by expressing my total belief in them, have managed to get them well on the road to being happier, more successful individuals.
I think it works for all of us....as school staff members, don �t we love the feeling that our work is appreciated, that our efforts are NOTICED and once in a while even get a small pat on the back.
The same holds true for this wonderful site.......telling others how we appreciate their work is a real pleasure. After all, we �re all in this same boat together and the mutual support is so great. The worksheets don �t even have to be visually amazing for the work that goes behind them to be appreciated...even the more simple exercises I �ve found here have been a great help to me.
good luck with your special needs child, you sound like a wonderful person!
Johanne
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16 Apr 2009
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arkel
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I totally agree with you vickiii. I also use a very positive attitude with my students. It �s wonderful to see a child �s face light up when you praise him/her for even the smallest achievement. It really makes them lose their fear of making a mistake the next time because they sense you are not �out to get them �. A good class for me is when all the kids want to volunteer to read, do the next sentence, etc because they know they will receive a �well done � from you for even the smallest effort. One of my young students was terrified of reading out loud and now he �s the first with his hand up, all because I smiled and told him how pleased I was with him the first time he did it. A positive attitude will always help. The children see too much negativity in their lives. Let our classes be an oasis for them. |
16 Apr 2009
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MartaZ
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Hi, I can �t agree more with you all!
What I also do is I encourage positive thinking by asking my students at the beginning of every lesson �What �s your GOOD news today? � (we meet at 3 p.m. or later so they �re after school) First they had problems as it �s easier to think of things that went wrong but now I see they are so used to it and everybody has at least 1 piece of good news ready to share.
Once I forgot to ask and guess what... the group reminded me! - it only proved how much they want to share news and talk about their lives. They see that you care, show interest (by asking further questions or making a comment, listen to them. There is too much complaining around. I �m trying not to have it in my classroom.
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16 Apr 2009
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libertybelle
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I totally agree with you Vickii.
Treating children with negativity only creates more negativity, like a vicious circle.
The "bad-boy" syndrome can be changed to something positive by giving that child some responsibility and telling them that you expect the very best from them. That shows that you count on them and trust them unless they prove you wrong.
One of my annoying students was always disrupting the class, until I gave him the responsibility of making sure all the books were collected at the end of class and also asking him to help a student that had a hard time with grammar. He more than lived up to my expectations and is now one of my best pupils.
I believe that it is important to always find the very best in each child, no matter how deeply buried it is!
L
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16 Apr 2009
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freddie
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What a lovely topic!!
With my students, who are adults, positive feedback is also especially important but usually not about their behaviour. They usually join a class because English is important for their career and they need it NOW! or yesterday!  So they get frustrated very easily and discouraged. Then even the smallest improvements have to be pointed out to keep them motivated and open to learning.
I also think giving them feedback about their shortcomings is important but of course I am careful about how. I always use the `sandwich` method. One positive piece of feedback, then the most important piece of feedback about their shortcomings, followed by another positive. I find they respond well to this as they can focus on the one area and make some noticeable improvement. Then of course it is important to give them feedback that you notice their improvement. |
16 Apr 2009
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Vickiii
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Thanks fellow teachers - some wonderful feedbacks. One to add to the sandwich technique Freddie.
I ask the children to identify one thing they like about their work - then I identify one thing I like about hte childs work - then I ask them to identify one thing that they would like to improve on. Children are quite astute and usually pick something of great value to their learning - I then give them one tip on how they could improve in the area they ahve identified and praise their ability to appraise their work so well.
This is a wonderful technique for improving childrens self appraisal skills and making their learning relevant to them.
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17 Apr 2009
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