What do you think about positive feedback?

I wanted to share with you something that happened with my third graders... So, every day they had to write four lines:

Today is Friday, September 14th.

Yesterday was Thursday and tomorrow will be Saturday.

It is a cloudy and warm morning.

I feel ......

This last Friday (7th) was the last time that I copied those four sentences on the board. Why? because I had told them that from Monday (10th)  they were going to do it alone.

I was scared and nervous as there were many students who do not want to work alone as they are shy or believe that they can't do it.

I made this big poster so they can write the sentences.

The BIG MOMENT came... so on Monday I told them that they had to write the four sentences. 

Many of them immediately took their folders and started writing.. I was

Wow!!!! they can do it alone... I was soooo happy

But there were some of them who were struggling.. so for them I prepare a card with his/her name on it and with the four sentences (they only had to complete with the days of the week, the weather and how they felt)

To my surprise.. It worked perfectly. As soon as they took their card, they sad and were able to write everything. I remembered the smile of one of the boys .. I was so proud of him and I told him that :) he is confident now and he feels so much better.

You may be thinking

Well.. I was thinking that we (teachers) need to encourage and give positive feedback to our students. They need to feel that we believe in them and that we know they can do it. And even the smallest thing they do, we have to congratulate them. 

I found this video which explains how giving positive feedback is good for our students.

He mentions 4 important characteristics:

1) Specific feedback means to be precise when you tell your student what you think.

2) Actionable feedback means to emphasize what they could be done differently next time.

3) Timely feedback means that we show do it immediately and frequently.

4) Respectful feedback means to look for the good! something concrete that the student did. 

Something else.. if you give positive feedback,

• your students will be motivated, 
• they will feel more confident,
• their affective filter will be low,
• and most importantly,, they will love to participate and to take risks 

Now... after reading all this. What do you think about positive feedback?

(I would love to hear your experiences in the classroom!!) 

Hi everyone!!

We are starting a new month today and I wanted to reflect a little bit about these last two months.

I was in a roller coaster these two months.. why?

To begin with, I had to sit for a final exam in july and that was my official ticket to be a teacher of English! I was anxious, nervous, excited, tired, happy.. imagine all those feelings together...hahaha.. my brain was a roller coaster (poor my husband that he had to put out with me)

Fortunately I passed and now I can say that I am a teacher of English!!!

I don't know why but after that I felt strange.. maybe a part of me was shocked because I was actually able to finish (part) of a career that I had started many years ago. And perhaps I couldn't believe it .. don't know. What I do know is that I felt sad and didn't celebrate it or felt happy...but well... this experience made me reflect about many things and I am still thinking about them.

August came and I had to continue studying... at the beginning I felt that I wasn't going to be able to finish all the subjects. But then I thought that I could try to live, work and study little by little (eventhough It's really difficult, I'm doing my best). I'm just going step by step..

So.. I was thinking that I want to share with you..

Does it happen to you that sometimes you just want to give up or stop studying or working in certain places? Sometimes it's frustated when you feel that you are doing everything you can and you have people that tell you that it's not good enough.. or when they don't give you any compliment (specially at school) at all and they just tell you the bad things you are doing. 

So I thought about my students and I didn't want them to feel the same way that I was feeling (frustated and not happy) so I changed my point of view completely and focused ONLY on positive things.. for instance

When I enter a classroom and they are smiling,

When I enter the school and some of them come quickly and hug me,

When they feel sad and after I talked to them, they feel better,

When they enjoy routines and they can't wait to do them all,

When they feel they can do something by themselves and I celebrate it,

and many many more...

Now I have a question for you... How do you cope with negativity or frustrated situations where you work/ study? What is your point of view?