JH & HS Principal - Cherokee ISD By Rebecca Sharkey
As a young athlete, my parents would find a way to attend all my games. As I transitioned to coach, they would do the same. And just like when I was a young player, they would immediately critique me at the game’s conclusion. One of my mother’s comments after one such game was, “you never say anything nice.” Now that was a slight exaggeration, but she was not entirely wrong. When my team was executing as they should, I said very little other than calling in plays or adjusting fielders. Now should a player make a mistake or fail to execute, I was fairly quick to correct. I coached them up. I was caught in the trap of not recognizing what was expected and only addressing that which was contrary. Inadvertently, all they ever heard from me was the negative as I took for granted the positive. As I continued to mature in my coaching, my mother’s words would echo in my mind. She was cliche’when it came to coaching. “For every one negative, at least three positives.” Where was that when I was a kid? Anyway, I tried it. I was not great at it at first. My focus was still on fixing what was not right, but I did look for opportunities to point out the good that was happening at the same time. I don’t know that I ever found the right ratio, but I did notice a positive difference in my athletes moving forward.
This goes for the classroom as well. It is easy to focus on all the things that are not going as they should, and you should address situations that need correction; however, we should take the time to recognize the behaviors that are as expected. Well-timed, meaningful praise can move mountains. It rewards those who are performing correctly and encourages those who are not to change their behavior. A young researcher named Bety Pechacova mentioned in her TedTalk that meaningful praise acts as a motivator in much the same way as money or a sweet reward such as chocolate. Please know that I am not encouraging you to break into the piggy bank nor do I want you load up on candies and turn into a human pinata. I would just encourage you to be purposeful in integrating positive behavior supports with your correction. You might just be surprised at the difference.