How to Provide Positive Praise and Affirmations

How to Provide Positive Praise and Affirmations.

Effective teachers motivate students with praise. By recognising students’ efforts, teachers increase their awareness of it and amplify the effects of student success. 

Affirmations 

The process is as follows: 
After a student/s says the correct answer, the teacher says, ‘Yes’ and repeats the answer. 

Specific Positive Praise 

The process is: 

• based on what the child is doing well in a positive way so it can be replicated in the future 
• descriptive of the child’s skill, effort and work-products  
• short, sincere and conveyed with enthusiasm 
• provided frequently, focuses on what students can control, and shows them that hard work pays off 
• individualised based on the child’s needs (for example, visual supports, verbal statements, close proximity) and preferences (for example, whether the child is comfortable being praised in front of others or prefers private recognition. 

 When to use specific positive praise. 

• Contingently. Students “earn” specific positive feedback and consequences, so provide it only when students have demonstrated the required behaviour to ensure they sustain the skills that they have learned. 
• Immediately. Specific positive feedback is delivered soon after the behaviour was demonstrated so that students can connect what they did with the feedback they are receiving. This is especially important for younger students.
• Frequently. Feedback is more frequent when students are learning a new behaviour or skill. The student receives positive feedback every time they display the desired behaviour. Less feedback is required as the behaviour becomes the norm. 
• Intermittently. Once the skill or behaviour has been learned, it becomes the norm, so only general praise and occasional use of specific positive feedback is required.