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Educational Praise
The self-esteem movement, in which self-esteem was predicted to be one of the most important facets of a person, began in the early 1970’s. Parents were encouraged to praise their children in an attempt to boost their feelings of self-worth. Sports leagues started giving every child a trophy so they would feel successful. Continued research in the area of the effect of effusive and largely unconditional praise eventually showed that there were different types of praise. Some of these types were more effective in influencing positive development than others. Praise that indicates judgment on the part of the praiser tends to have a negative effect. "Great game" after a game Jim's team won, may get a thought response from Jim of "Sure, only I played lousy." "Nice job" after a book report may get a thought response of "I could have done better; I hardly tried."
At camp (and most everywhere else) we use EDUCATIONAL PRAISE. After Jane’s climbing you might say, "I like the way you were focused up there, Jane, especially after you’d fallen a couple times." In archery you may say "In that last round, your technique was very consistent. Most of the arrows clustered in that one area because you did the same thing every time. Consistency is something we aim for in archery.“ Your praise describes what happened specifically. “Educational praise” is good for people – it let’s them know how they did when they did not know already.
Praise needs to be given carefully, however. It can become the carrot (incentive) to keep the horse (person) walking forward. In the long run, it is more beneficial for children to be striving to achieve a goal for internal reasons, rather than because they want to hear that a trusted adult is proud of them, or thinks they did a “good job.” A child that relies on praise is less likely to see the positive in what they do without someone else to point it out. We want to teach the person to fish, not feed them fish for the rest of their lives, or feed them until they look healthy. If we don’t teach them how to fish, they get sick when we are not around, because they can't feed themselves. Children need to learn to praise themselves and see both the things they did well in a given situation and the things they would like to change for next time. This skill will serve them well both now and in adulthood. Can you think of any well-rounded, healthy, successful people that need someone to feed them fish?
Descriptive/Educational Praise
- Can be given anytime and relates to effort and improvement, not the outcome. Praise is ideally offered “educationally.” By that, we mean that the child/person was not aware of their success or ability and you pointed it out to them
- Allows the camper to make an internal evaluation (“Hey, I'm doing better”).
- While judgmental praise can be embarrassing, descriptive praise is helpful.
- May seem more honest than judgmental praise. Descriptive praise is specific and sincere.
- A problem with judgmental praise (“That was a great story!”) is that people often feel they must "out do it" next time, i.e. provide an encore or they won't be accepted.
Example
Joe has come up to archery for the first time. His first round, he hit the target with one arrow, the rest missed. He’s now on round three, three of his arrows have hit the target and you hear him say that he isn’t getting any better.
Counselor: Hey Joe, your shooting was really consistent this round. Look at how all of your arrows are clustered to the left side of the target, and all the arrows that missed the target missed left.
Joe: They still missed…
Counselor: They did, but they’re all clustered together which means you were using the same technique with each arrow which is something we aim for in archery. During the next round, focus on a nice smooth release of the string. {Follow with an observation of tip application next round}
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