Domino praise - (re)engaging students through positivity

For many teachers, some teaching tools are so ingrained or instinctive we just take them for granted. This is one such case, which I only realised wasn't completely obvious when observing a new teacher the other day...

Picture the scene: the class is working to find evidence in a text or working through a series of Maths/MFL exercises (this could be any subject at this point). Many are working diligently, but others aren't. There's some off topic chat, nothing major, nothing really disruptive, but these students are not engaged in the task. They aren't learning. To me, which getting on for 20 years of experience in education, there's a simple fix, yet the teacher remained seated and tried to manage this by tackling those who are off topic. 

Ok, that might work. But maybe they are disengaged because they don't know how to approach the task or what's in it for them. So, rather than go with stick, provide a carrot.

Get up. Immediately that will refocus some students, but go to those who are working diligently. Reward them with the attention.

Then find something to praise. Be specific... but not too much. 

"Oh, well done Lisa. You found all three bits of key information in paragraph 1."

Circulate. Repeat.

"Good choice in paragraph 2 there, David. That's clearer going to help us answer our focus question."

Repeat (perhaps in a Maths class now).

"Nice progress there Safina. Well done for remembering to calculate the total area first." 

What's going on here? (Most of you already know, I'm sure, but at the risk of being patronising, I'll spell it out.) Through the praise you are reminding everyone of what they should be doing, without having to tell anyone off and introduce negativity into the room. You're keeping it positive. You are making the students want to engage: everyone likes praise, right? Perhaps back it up with merits, if your school runs a merit/points system. 

Furthermore, you are subtly scaffolding those who are struggling with the task by reminding them of the processes they should be using, the ultimate learning goals and by narrowing the scope of the task. 

Thus, after picking up on the cues in your praise, like dominoes they fall in line and reengage in the learning. Of course, it's even better to use this before they start to disengage...





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