Tuesday, July 30, 2013

The Power and Dangers of Praise


It seems to come so naturally. You tell a high flying student “You're good at math.” or “You're a great reader!” We think that these kinds of statements build up a student's self esteem and act as a spur to achievement. Or maybe not.

New research is beginning to show us that when children are praised for being “smart” or “good at something” this can backfire and cause them to give up when things become difficult. This has been called the curse of the gifted label.

Does this mean that we should not praise children at all? No, the trick lies in praising children the right way. When we focus our comments on our student's efforts, this type of praise has a powerful positive effect.

Check out these helpful articles on the best way to praise early elementary and upper elementary students.

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