Friday, May 24, 2013
Chapter 2--Praise vs. Encouragement
I was very surprised to read the following statement in our text: "Probably no statement in this resource guide raises more eyebrows than the statement that praise for most children beyond primary years has little or no value as a form of positive reinforcement" (Kellough, 63). I have been a believer that praising students is a way to foster their intrinsic motivation to learn. Perhaps the Kellough statement applies to the more mature 7th and 8th grade middle school students. Middle school students exist at all levels of maturity. I have seen 6th graders who act like 3rd graders and 8th graders who resemble young adults. I believe that both praise and encouragement are valuable to use with 6th grade middle school students as well as immature 7th and 8th graders.
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Hello Janet!
ReplyDeletePraising children is always something that seems to be automatic when it comes to learning and teaching, whether in the classroom or at home. It comes in a multitude of ways, and a variety of reasons. You just have to make sure that praise, as well as encouragement, is used productivity, and is not freely given!
I liked that you chose a specific part of the chapter to discuss, and that you questioned the authors' statement. I agree that both praise and encouragement are valuable to use regardless of the grade level of the children. However, as the authors discussed, too much praise can be detrimental to students, since they may begin to expect it for everything that they do. Then, when they don't receive praise, they may feel insecure. I think that both praise and encouragement can and should be used, but praise shouldn't be used to the extent where students expect it all the time.
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