Should you praise or reward a student even if he/she is not performing well...will too much of praises spoil the child? If a child is not praised will he feel inferior to others? How often should you reward your students? How to keep the students motivated? These questions must be every teacher's predicament.
Well, after conducting so many classes for my students since the last couple of years, I still face this regular predicament whether I should offer praises or reward to a child or not at all. I believe that every kid likes to receive praises and rewards and he/she performs better and works harder. But if a student gets too much praise or receives a reward too often or too easily, the results are not positive.
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| Well done |
Initially, I had a 7-yr old student whom I rewarded with a chocolate in every class, wanting to reward her for the patience and hard work she exhibited during the Art Hours classes, but in one of the classes, I didn't reward her with a chocolate since chocolates were out of stock. So she boldly claimed her reward and when I said they are out of stock and that it doesn't matter, you have done well today as always, she was upset and felt unrewarded. The praises didn't matter to this child, it was only the chocolates she cared about!
This made me think, and I stopped rewarding my students with chocolates for quite some time, thinking that it builds up an addiction...also consumption of chocolates not good for the teeth and so on I thought...what if parents complain that their kids aren't allowed too much of chocolates...so quit rewarding with chocolates. But then how to keep these little minds motivated? Are chocolates the only possible solution? How can I encourage them to do better? Was there any way to reward them?
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| Best Artist Tags by Art Hours |
So, I devised this method. Every week I would give away small reward tags with handwritten messages appreciating their work of art. Small words of praise like "that's awesome work", "splendid", "wow, well done", "keep it up", "best artist for the day", "good job", "work harder", and so on were small lines that made them happy and kept them motivated. It kept them interested in their art work and also guessing as to who would win the best artist tag the next week...and this made them perform better. Also, I encouraged the ones performing better to appreciate their neighbor's work and not look down upon them.
The kids who just came to Art Hours are not only learning new things every week but are becoming better artists with every passing week.
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| Reward Tags by Art Hours |
Sometimes, I just keep the reward tag in front of them and tell them I will give it only if he/she truly completes the work in every aspect...strict ain't I? Well, sometimes you have to be! And sometimes, these little students are so adorable that I end up giving 'well done' tags to all of them in the batch.
So well, this is our post today on rewarding a student. Don't give false praises. Only praise and reward when he/she truly deserves it. Exaggeration or too many praises can be deceptive and even a child however small he/she is can understand the difference between honest appreciation and a false one. Let every child earn the reward.
If you agree with me, please drop in your comments. We would love to hear some constructive comments and feedback.
Thank you for stopping by...have a great Monday!
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