Hi All!
For the choice reflection I read Five Reasons to Stop Saying "Good Job!" I really thought a lot about my own use of the term good job in my classroom as I read. The thing that struck me the most was when the article talked about setting the students up to always need positive feedback and how it limits students abilities to stand up for their thoughts and ideas within their work. I think that these are very valid points that should be addressed as a whole school.
In my classroom my students are always running up to me for a "good job". I have offered them up willingly as a quick response as I'm addressing the students who need interventions in their work. The fact that it is the same hand full of students that come up to me is worrisome after reading this article. Am I setting them up to not be intrinsically motivated? Am I teaching them to not explain their thought process and back down if I give "good jobs" instead of always asking more questions. These are all valid points that are alarming from a teaching standpoint and will definitely effect how I give praise.
There were a few concerns that crossed my mind while reading. The first one is the amount of time it would take. Asking for more information from each child takes a lot longer than stamping their paper and correcting the errors. I already struggle to find the time to give meaningful feedback on my daily lessons, the suggestions in this article seem like a lot to fit in. My second big concern is that my students will not be used to not receiving this positive feedback. How many years of "good jobs" is enough for students to be affected? Also, am I the "mean teacher" because I don't think it will be very effective for me to change this if all it will do at this stage is deter my students from completing work. I think it would have to be a school-wide, district-wide, community-wide initiative in order to be effective. It would also be something I would want to discuss with my families and students before I stopped giving "good jobs."
I was heartened to read your post in reaction to Kohn's article about the dangers of a "good job" culture. Your insights are spot on--saying good job creates praise junkies and sabotages teachers' efforts to build intrinsic motivation for learning in their students, but our culture is really geared toward praise as a form of motivation and acknowledgement. No teacher says "good job" with the intent of stripping students of their sense of efficacy. Praise comes from a well-meaning place, but with just a few semantic changes, praise can become so much more substantive.
ReplyDeleteYou're also right to note that "good job" is a lot more efficient than digging into kids' thought processes, but making a switch doesn't have to throw off your whole time management plan, and it's so much more rewarding, as a teacher, to hear kids talk about their learning, that any little inefficiencies are well worth it.
Here's some language to try: When child comes to you to show his/her work and get feedback, try saying, "How did you figure that out?" or "I notice that . . . " or "Did you face any challenges while you worked on this (was anything hard)? How did you get past the challenge?" or "What part is your favorite?" or simply, "You did it! You figured it out!" All feedback should be showing students that THEY are the key factor in accomplishing something--through effort, persistence, careful thinking, making connection, staying focused . . . whatever. Helping them recognize what they did that lead to a final product is the most effective feedback move we can make as teachers.
Noticing and naming is such an important teacher-feedback skill to develop. I can tell from your post that you're interested in getting rid of your old praise habits. I have 2 great books to tell you about if you want to dig into this topic. Let me know.
Finally, I wanted to respond to two other ideas you brought up. #1: Kids won't think you're mean if you withhold the good job. They'll be so excited that you're interested enough in their work to ask a substantive question, or make a genuine observation, that they won't miss that good job at all. In fact, you may be surprised to hear them praise themselves, something like, "I did a good job on this!" You might even consider making the topic part of a morning meeting. You could tell the students that you're working on really noticing what they do well, and why they were successful, so they may hear you responding differently when they bring you work to look at, or when they answer a question in class.
And #2: A school-wide focus on making praise more substantive and productive would be a wonderful initiative. Keep that idea in your back pocket for future use. Again, there are lots of high-quality resources to jumpstart a PLC around this topic.