Children need both encouragement and praise.
- Make your encouragement personal.
- Give specific and direct praise. Reword your praising words from fatigue and general (“That’s good”) to a personal and specific (“I like the way you are working on that paragraph”).
- Give encouragement until a task is done well. Then praise the student for a job well done.
- Empty praise is frustrating to the student and does not produce the sustained effort needed to finish a difficult lesson.
Words to Encourage
- Keep Going-you are getting it…because.
- You are trying very hard…because.
- I know that you can do it….because .
- I like the way you are focusing.
- You are my star student today because…
- I know sounding out words is difficult.
- Your persistence has paid off.
- You are putting forth wonderful effort and really learning a lot.
- Keep up the good work.
- I like the way you self-corrected yourself.
- You are my star student today because…
- That is the mark of an excellent student.
Words to Praise
- Well done!
- Great effort-it really paid off.
- 100% Perfect
- Excellent work.
- I am proud of you!
- Good going.
- You are really moving now.
By Jenny Beaumont, Swan Learning Center, www.swanlearningcenter.com
