This reading was really eye-opening to me. Originally, I believed that as a future educator, I had to help my students achieve their goals through encouragement; for me, this meant saying "Good Job!" After reading Kohn's article, my opinion changed completely, and I now totally agree with the majority of Kohn's thoughts. Here's a couple things that helped me change my opinions.
I am a praise junkie. My educators throughout elementary school and high school raised me to be a praise junkie. Originally, I just thought I was perfectionistic because I focus on getting the highest marks possible and do the best that I possibly can on assignments. However, this was all wrong after I realized that so many of my teachers would tell me "good job" when I did well, and were demeaning to me when I didn't answer something right. I now realize that I'm a perfectionistic, not because I want to do the best I can in classes, but because I fear that I'm going to be a disappointment to my teachers, and to get recognition for what I do right. Even today, I still worry all the time about answering something wrong- I don't want to embarrass myself or my teachers. Now thinking about it, I don't want to be like some of my teachers. I need to take out the "good job" aspect so my students don't turn out like I have when it comes to confidence or perfectionistic tendencies. My students shouldn't have to be praise junkies- I want them to learn that it's okay to be wrong sometimes, and encourage future reflection, rather than thinking negatively about themselves when they do get something wrong. Change starts with me!
I agree with ALMOST everything Kohn says. However, I don't agree with idea of just saying nothing as a replacement to telling my students "good job." I get the idea, and this might even change in the future, but I would personally prefer encouraging more reflection in the classroom over just staying quiet when someone does well. I could teach more through personal reflection- which is something I wish I could have learned as an elementary and high school student. I think that a lot of what I'm saying here is due to personal experiences that I have gone through as a student, and I don't want people to go through the same thing as me because it does lead to a lot of anxiety and lower confidence levels. Even today, I still have to remind myself that it's okay to be wrong sometimes, and I need to keep reflecting on WHY I did something, or why I feel the way that I do.
I never thought about Kohn's thoughts on manipulation. Kohn says it best: "it’s a way of doing something to children to get them to comply with our wishes." In another personal experience, I found that I had many teachers would do this, just so they don't have to teach the same thing over and over again or get frustrated because a student doesn't do something their way. I have a couple thoughts on this: Firstly, is this something that teachers do to gain some sort of respect? Secondly, Isn't school meant for learning anyways? Doesn't this mean you should be ready to teach something again and help your students achieve their goals? From a personal experience, the hostility from some teachers towards myself actually helped me lose all of my motivation to do anything at school. I DO NOT want this for my students, whatsoever.
Losing interest is a very real thing. I personally lost so much motivation to actually learn in school- at most points, it was always about doing well enough to get that "Good Job" dialogue from my teachers. However, I was so focused on earning that praise that I didn't end up absorbing anything that I was supposed to learn. I just wanted the approval from my teachers and have the chance to show them that I was good enough. There was nothing I cared about more than hearing those two words- and that's not right. We should focus on absorbing our learning, and figuring out why we did something, rather than what we did to get that approval. Once again, it's okay to be wrong sometimes. We should have our students show up, motivated to learn - not have our students show up just to get praised for it.
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