Key Concepts Key Concepts♦ Great teachers create a positive atmosphere each day in their classrooms despite inevitable negatives such as irate parents, troubled students, and limited resources.
♦ Effective teachers treat everyone with dignity and respect ten days out of ten. They may not like all their students, but they act as if they do.
♦ Students may remember the times teachers treat them well, but they will always remember when they were treated disrespectfully or unfairly—even if it is only one time.
♦ Effective teachers understand the power of praise and look for opportunities to find people doing things right.
♦ To be effective, praise must be authentic, specific, immediate, clean, and private.
♦ Focusing on all the positive things in their classrooms and schools gives teachers the drive and energy to get through the less positive times.
♦ Effective teachers know that one of a teacher’s most important tasks is to model appropriate behavior. Great teachers, therefore, model the behavior of treating all people with dignity and respect all the time.
Discussion Questions1. Why must great teachers always act as if they like all their students?
2. Define the five necessary attributes of effective praise: authentic, specific, immediate, clean, and private. Explain why each is important and provide an example. Which of the five characteristics is often most challenging for educators? Why? Who determines how much you praise someone? Who feels better each time you do?
3. What are three myths often used in rationalizing why teachers do not praise more often? Offer an argument debunking each myth.
Journal PromptAll of us can recall an occasion in our professional lives when someone in a leadership role treated us inappropriately. Think of such a time in your own adult life when this happened. Is it, indeed, etched into your memory? Can you recall a similar situation from your own school career in grades K-12 when a teacher made a cutting remark or acted rudely toward you? Describe a situation from that time and how it made you feel. Did it change your opinion of that particular teacher?
Group ActivitiesOn page 51, the text details Bissell’s five traits that make praise work, noting that, to be effective, praise must be authentic, specific, immediate, clean, and private. After organizing the participants into several groups, have one group role-play a classroom scene in which a “teacher” praises “students” while clearly demonstrating authenticity, specificity, immediacy, cleanliness, and privacy. Ask other groups to portray a teacher using praise, but omitting one of the five requirements of effective praise. Have other participants identify which of the five requirements was violated. After the role-plays, have the entire group discuss what they think is the most important of the five characteristics of effective praise.
In this chapter, the text emphasizes that focusing on the positive elements of classrooms and schools will give teachers more drive and energy as they face their daily work. Divide participants into groups of three to five. Give each group a piece of chart paper with a large cup or glass drawn on it and a package of self-stick notes. Have participants “fill” their cup with examples of positive, productive things happening in their classrooms and schools by writing brief descriptions on the sticky notes and placing them inside the cup. Allow time for individuals to share within their groups. Then ask each group to choose and share their top five positive ideas with the entire group. Post these charts for all to read and discuss.
ApplicationOn page 55, the text notes that one reason teachers give for not praising more is lack of time. Make the time during the next five school days to praise at least five different students and five different colleagues. For the students, the praise should take the form of a phone call to parents praising a specific behavior or accomplishment or a postcard or handwritten note sent home in the mail. For colleagues, send a positive note via the teacher’s mailbox. At the next session, report your reaction to this activity, as well as the reactions of the people you praised.