Are you positive?

The proven truth of the week: You attract more bees with honey than with vinegar.

I've learned the power of positive reinforcement when it comes to working with--not just children--but all people. The same way that my students respond better to encouragement and requests phrased in a positive way, so do I. I have one supervisor and two mentor teachers who are in a constant dialogue about my progress, my skill level, and my successes (and failures). I get a lot of feedback and I've been learning since September how to take the criticism I'm given with the best attitude. It's been hard. Though I feel I've mostly been mediocre in my past endeavors (yikes--thinking back to basketball, oboe, soccer, singing, etc.)... I suppose none of these put me in a situation where I was outright TOLD what I was bad at. It's a tough thing to get used to and something that evidently stays around for a while. The profession I've chosen is one that is very performance based, though not in pay. Yet. And it is therefore one where my abilities are under constant observation.

But as a beginning teacher, I need guidance and direction. I need it put positively. One of my mentor teachers told me about a study that was done on John Wooden and Pat Summit, two of the winningest basketball coaches in history. The study looked at their praise/scold ratios in relation to their success rates. Of course the study found that in addition to the success of their teams as far as championship wins, it also showed that "higher athlete satisfaction has been found to be associated with higher frequencies of coaches’ instruction, praise, encouragement, social support, and democratic behavior." A classroom functions very much like a team in this respect. Students crave hearing their name in a positive light. That's why when I look at a noisy, unprepared table and I comment that "Luis is quiet and ready to begin" the others scurry to do the same so that I can praise them as well. You can imagine that this works much better than scolding the three students who do not have their materials ready. Though I know there are times when negativity is necessary and effective, the positive enforcement so greatly improves the classroom climate and overall attitude. In light of all this, my goal is to be keenly aware of my ratio of scold to praise and keeping it high in the praise category, all the while appreciating the positive feedback that I receive from my superiors. It's SO MUCH MORE EFFECTIVE.