What Great Teachers Do Differently - Respect Everyone, Every Day

Great teachers create a positive atmosphere in their classrooms and schools.  They treat every person with respect.  In particular, they understand the power of praise." (Whitaker, 56)

It seems trivial, but the old adage of "Treat others how you would like to be treated", really is a crucial part to what separates the good teachers from the great teachers.  Think about a time you were mistreated...now think of a time you were praised.  Which one was easier to think about?  Which memory was more recent.  Chances are, you could easily identify a time when you were mistreated and your memory of praise happened more recently.  Why is this?  It's because those memories of mistreatment stick with you.

How does this apply to the classroom?  Think about the student who constantly feels as if he/she is mistreated by the teachers.  Do you think that will stick with them?  Whitaker makes a great point.  He says, "You don't have to like the students; you just have to act as if you like them." (Whitaker, 50).  Now, this seems like an awful statement to make, but I guarantee you that there are one or two students in your classroom who you can think of right now who you have a hard time liking.  If they know you don't like them, they can sense you don't care about them.  Do you think they will do anything for you?  Probably not.  If you act as if you like them and treat them with the same respect you treat all other students, they will be more than likely to do what you want them to do.

Whitaker goes into length about Ben Bissell's "five strategies that help praise work".  They are the praise must be authentic, specific, immediate, clean, and private.  Authentic, specific, immediate, and private praise are self-explanatory.  But clean praise could be somewhat confusing.  For praise to be clean, you can't expect something in return for the praise.  For example if you praise a kid on Monday, you can't expect the kid to not screw up on Tuesday.  The two behaviors are not related.  For praise to also be clean, it cannot contain the word "but".  For example, "great job on question 2, but you got 4 and 6 wrong".  The praise will not have an effect on the student because what do you think they remember from that sentence...they got 4 and 6 wrong.  They probably don't even realize you said "great job on question 2".

In short...respect everyone, every day!  Treat others how you would want to be treated, even if you really don't like them.  Give praise that is authentic, specific, immediate, clean, and private.  Great teachers, according to Whitaker, do all these things.