Classification Information
Giving Effective Praise
Strategy Overview:
Giving effective praise involves ensuring that it is perceived as sincere, earned, and truthful. Praise should be specific, detailing exactly what the student did well to reinforce the behavior or effort being commended. It should be given immediately after the student's action to maximize its impact. Authenticity is crucial, so avoid overusing generic phrases like “great job,” which can lose their meaning and become predictable. Instead, focus on praising the learning process and effort rather than inherent ability, emphasizing the student's dedication and progress.
Reacting to Errors
Strategy Overview:
It is important for the tutors to react to errors appropriately and in an encouraging way to ensure the student is not discouraged when approaching similar tasks in the future. The tutor should avoid directly pointing out the students' mistakes, instead, implicitly clearing up the misconceptions. They should ask leading questions that bring attention to the location of the error and guide the students toward the correct answer. Praising the student on their efforts is also beneficial, as well as expressing the sense of working together towards the joint goal.
Determining What Students Know
Strategy Overview:
It is important for tutors and teachers to assess what students know so that they know how to proceed with the lesson and what the students need help with. In order to effectively determine what students know, teachers should ask students open-ended questions that allow the student to demonstrate their knowledge instead of assuming the student does or doesn't know a certain concept. Yes or no questions and content specific questions do not effectively gauge the student's knowledge since they are very specific and do not give the student an opportunity to show the tutor what they know. Questions that ask the student to complete a specific task are not considered questions to determine what the student knows as they are part of the lesson.
Helping Students Manage Inequity
Strategy Overview:
When applying the Helping Students Manage Inequity strategy, tutors should assist students in identifying the inequity and advocating for themselves. Superficial hope, such as saying “keep working hard” to a student, does not lead to sustainable change for students. However, helping a student advocate for themselves, also called providing critical hope, is the best approach. This provides the student with resources to advocate for himself and it develops empowerment.
Responding to Negative Self-Talk
Strategy Overview:
When a student speaks about themself in a negative way it is important for tutors to intervene and encourage the student. Tutors should make sure to acknowledge the student's feelings and encourage positive self-talk by giving examples of times the student has succeeded. Tutors should respond to the student in an encouraging manner and state a positive affirmation related to the student's negative comment. Note that negative self-talk is typically of the form “I am [negative adjective]”.