What is ‘Meaningful Praise’?

An article by Richard James Rogers (Bestselling author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management and The Power of Praise: Empowering Students Through Positive Feedback).

I’ve been an advocate for the use of praise as a student empowerment tool for a very long time. After drafting the The Four Rules of Praise back in 2018, I wrote my second book, The Power of Praise: Empowering Students Through Positive Feedback, with the aim being to provide the teaching profession with a concise, practical manual on how to create long-lasting student-drive and motivation through meaningful praise. 

As a reminder, and for those who are new to my work, The Four Rules of Praise are as follows:

  • Praise must be sincere.
  • Praise must be specific.
  • Praise must be recorded and remembered by the teacher.
  • Praise must be reinforced at significant points in the future.

…….and, as an optional (but powerful) extra:

  • Praise must be collective in order to be effective (ask colleagues and parents to reinforce the praise you’ve given to a student).

The Four Rules can be remembered using the acronym S.S.R.R. – Sincere, Specific, Remembered and Reinforced. 

To conclude today’s blog post, I’ve made a YouTube video that summarizes my thoughts on what meaningful praise means. In essence, I make the point that all of our praise must connect with our students on a deep, emotional level

You can watch today’s video here:

 

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Author:

High School Science and Mathematics Teacher, Author and Blogger. Graduated from Bangor University with a BSc (Hons) degree in Molecular Biology and a PGCE in Secondary Science Education. Richard also holds the coveted Certificate in Mathematics from the Open University (UK). Richard is the award-winning author of The Quick Guide to Classroom Management: 45 Secrets That All High School Teachers Need to Know

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