Good Job

If we want to build students’ self-confidence and help them get into the habit of evaluating their own choices, we might want to rethink the way we provide feedback.

Just as I don’t want kids making good choices out of fear of punishment, I also don’t want them doing so out of an expectation for reward or praise. Though well-intentioned, I believe providing excessive external praise can work against our efforts.  I’m a strong advocate for attending to more positive behaviors than negative, but when it comes to praise, less can be more.

When we give ongoing general praise, it starts to lose its value.  We also run the risk of raising individuals who come to expect it.  Teachers, for example, who typically receive “exceeds expectations” on their annual evaluations, when given a lower “meets expectations” mark, fixate on the ranking and question it.  Unfortunately, we forget the purpose of feedback, which is to provide qualitative information to help improve performance.

I try to provide feedback which prompts students to self-reflect. “Jacob, I see you finished your project.  What do you think?  Are you happy with it? Are you proud of your work?” And when praising, I provide targeted individual feedback. “Kia, I saw you walk back to class when others chose to run.  Thanks for following directions.”  I believe one heart-felt specific comment or note of praise will always carry more weight than a never-ending stream of “good jobs” and “nice work”.