Praising Children for a Job Well Done

When working to establish a positive classroom atmosphere, teachers need to spend twice as much time praising students as they do correcting studetns. This mean that for every single warning or correction, a teacher needs to find two positive things to say to the same student.

Here are some ideas for how to priase a child:

• Stupendous!
• I’m proud of you!
• Thank you for listening!
• Thank you for being such a great helper!
• Perfect!
• Awesome!
• Great job!
• Thanks for being such great listeners!
• Super job!
• Amazing work!
• Hurray!
• Nice job!

More Ways to Praise

Praising one student often has a positive effect on other students who are within ear shot. Teachers can use this to their advantage. So for example if Sam is not paying attention, walk over to Sarah and thank her for paying attention.

While some experimentation may be necessary, this can be a very effective method of managing minor classroom issues. Younger children respond to this especially well when it comes to demonstrating a specific behavior such as standing quietly in line, sitting nice and tall at their desks and so on.