Positive Changes

If I could go back to last August and change one thing... wait, any sentence that starts like that is a total lie. I would change a million things from last August, but recently, there has been one thing that I've really begun to appreciate. Positive reinforcement. I've been told from the beginning that it's important, but I guess I haven't used it regularly enough or in the right way. I've seen some great results in one of my classes where I have really been pouring on the praise and today I watched one girl just light up.

My student "Lisa" is an energetic and friendly sophomore who is involved in extracurriculars and always laughing or smiling. She's great to have around but tends to zone out during the period and performs in the lower half of her class. She can get down on herself very easily because of that. Today, as I was handing out progress reports and telling each student exactly what objectives they would be working on for the next few days. I realized that I had to tell Lisa that she was one of the few students who hadn't mastered any of the objectives from this unit and had a lot of work to do. I called her name and as she came to the back of the room and sat next to me for our conference. I decided to take a different approach and before even addressing her three mediocre/failing quiz grades, I took a minute and really told her how great her attendance and homework averages were, she did have an A in those two categories after all. As I looked her in the eye and told her she should be proud, she lit up. It was great. Following the good news, I did go on to tell her that she had three objectives to work on in the next few days; this would mean a lot of hard work. She didn't miss a beat upon hearing this, I had already given her the little extra confidence she needed. She spent the rest of the period working diligently with a friend to grasp the material she needed.

After 10 or so years of struggling through school, many students have zero confidence in their ability to be successful. This may be one of the biggest obstacles to overcome for both students and teachers alike. The lack of confidence is deeply ingrained, but taking just a minute to recognize success or remind students of their own strengths seems to make more of an impact than I ever thought it would. While I know this temporary boost of confidence will in no way make up for the many unsuccessful experiences so many students have grown accustomed to, at least it's something I can do on a daily basis.