I love to see the quiet students come out of their shells and grow. Seeing them share their thoughts confidently is one of the great blessings of teaching in my opinion. In my personal experience this is one of the greatest personal rewards of using positive reinforcement in school.
I am thinking of one particular little girl right now. She was very quiet and kind, quite shy. Speaking seemed difficult for her. Someone might actually notice her.
She was in my class for two years, and I watched her blossom with confidence. It started with putting her hand up in class to volunteer answers. Over time it became her willingness to risk making a mistake in front of others.
If you are looking for one of the most powerful tools for classroom management you have found it.
This is it.
In my classroom it was an essential that was an essential foundation for my five pillars of classroom management.
What is Positive Reinforcement?
Positive reinforcement is when we provide students with something pleasant in response to a positive choice that they have made. The types of rewards can be anything from words of affirmation to small tokens; all intended to have a positive impact.
These words or tokens reinforce the behavior, increasing the likelihood that the behavior will recur.
Often teachers lean towards offering students stickers and other tangible rewards, but authentic praise can have a greater impact. This post will focus on how to meaningfully reward students using genuine acknowledgment and appreciation.
Classroom Examples of Postive Reinforcement
1) Use Specific Praise
Statements such as, “Good job.” Do not have the same impact as “Good perseverance.” or, “Good problem solving.” Positive reinforcement in school is effective if it is specific.
I use short examples of positive reinforcement, because with the recommended ratio of positive to negative feedback being 4:1, it can be tricky to fit it all in.
Of course the best way to offer positive reinforcement in school is to say, “You showed good perseverance with working on your writing assignment today.” But, given the busyness of classrooms and the commitment to the 4:1 ratio, positive reinforcement may sometimes need to be concise.”
2) Recognize Effort and Improvement
Everyone wants to make the Principal’s List for academic achievement, but what about the students for whom that is an unlikely achievement? Praising effort and improvement convey to your students the significant value placed on perseverance and growth.
Positive reinforcement in school includes acknowledging the hard work of students who have improved, not perfected, their academic growth, or their resilience at tackling a difficult assignment. This reinforces the importance of continuous learning and development.
3) Encourage Positive Character Traits
To raise youth with integrity and other positive character traits it is important to using positive reinforcement in school to focus on issues beyond academics. When we highlight their kindness, honesty or perseverance our comments can have a tremendous impact on their self-esteem and character development. Highlighting students’ kindness, honesty, or perseverance can significantly impact their self-esteem and character development.
in addition to academic and athletic achievements.
4) Create a Positive Culture Between Peers
A favourite activity in my classroom was supporting the students in giving each other positive feedback. Encourage students to publicly speak kind words to each other for accomplishments or kindnesses offered. In addition to the benefits of positive reinforcement in school, this fosters a strong classroom community.
Once or twice a year, we all wrote a positive comment to each other. Everyone had a sheet of paper, and we took an organized walk around the room. Even those who were absent were included. My students loved doing this for each other.
5) Personal Notes with Positive Reinforcement
An occasional written personal note of encouragement to individual students is also powerful. This could be as simple as a quick, few, brief words on the side of an assignment, or a more formal encouraging note home to their parents, your students will feel seen, and that their hard work is valued.
6) The Power of Public Acknowledgement
All day every day I saw the power of calling out positive reinforcement in school. I had a microphone necklace, and I could softly speak a positive comment and the whole class could hear it. Just remember to turn it off if you have to reprimand a student. 😉).
From the moment they walked in and got started on their morning tasks I could be heard saying, “Thank you for getting straight to your job, Rebecca.” “I really appreciate you remembering all of your tasks James.” Thank you for helping Amelia, Kenny.”
Rarely did I need to walk to the back of the room to get my students on task with their start up activities. As one student commented, ‘When I hear you encouraging my friend, I remember what I need to do.’
Meanwhile I was able to be at my desk taking attendance, collecting money and whatever other odd jobs were required saving us time later in the morning.
A sincere word or two of praise in front of the class will boost a sense of confidence and belonging.
of their peers boosts the overall impact.
Elevating Classroom Culture through Positive Reinforcement
As I mentioned at the beginning, we, as teachers, have the privilege of shaping our students in more ways than just academically. We have a unique opportunity to shape our students socio-emotionally.
By demonstrating value for who our students are through authentic praise, we have the potential of creating a classroom environment in which students feel seen, valued and motivated to expand and reach their full potential.
Positive reinforcement in school is an effective powerhouse tool in classroom management , that benefits everyone – students and teachers alike.
Share your favourite positive reinforcement phrase in the comments below!
