Praise & Feedback: A Lollipop Moment or Not?
- John Boylan
- Nov 18, 2017
- 2 min read
Have you ever given praise and/or feedback to your students to make them feel good? Is there a time when maybe the praise given has been too much? How does praise and feedback impact the student-instructor relationship? These are questions that were asked in a fellow classmate's discussion forum in our PIDP3250 Discussion Group. The outcome of the discussion provided some interesting responses. Many of them were personal stories of breakthrough teachers that showed how praise should be used - it needs to be genuine, not just lip service. The topic of the "feedback sandwich"was also explained by a fellow colleague. In this situation, critical feedback is given in between praise at the beginning and the end of the conversation; hence the sandwich. This can be a dangerous approach as it really does not give the student the proper feedback they should receive as it diminishes its overall effect.
One article in the discussion submitted talks about three ways on how to make praise more effective. I really enjoyed the article and wanted to share its highlights, along with the link below. First, the article points out is that the praise needs to be specific. It is not good enough to say things like "well done" or "good job." You need to really spell out what the student did well. The article gives a great example: “Jonny! Stand back and look at what you’ve done… this is a fantastic portrait! What really sets this apart is the way you’ve made that eye come to life by showing the light reflecting here. That really makes it look realistic. And the texture you’ve got on the hair is superb.”
Second, the article states you need to praise the effort rather than the achievement - this allows you to praise a student, even if they fail. You don't want to miss the opportunity to praise and encourage a student along the learning journey. Here is an example from the article:
“You’ve tried so hard on this Jonny; it’s great to see you putting so much effort in – you’ve really shown tremendous determination and that’s an important strength to develop.”
Finally, the third way to make praise more effective is to be mindful that praise is often more effective when done on a one-on-one basis. The author points out that praise can make feel students uncomfortable when done in front of other students. Praise is much more sincere when done as a private affair.
When I read this article it made me reflect on a TedTalk done on leadership with lollipops that I saw on You Tube while researching on another project for the PIDP. The talk made me think that sometimes... you can be somebody''s hero and not even know it? I found the story to be very inspiring - and remind me that by being genuine and kind to others (i.e. when I give praise to my students) that my actions may somehow may make them feel good, a sense of pride that they are valued and respected. What a great feeling - most certainly a great lollipop moment I would say. Enjoy the clip.
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