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• Keep a list of student names in front of you during each class.
  (A post-it note at the top of a lesson plan works well.) Place a small check next to the student's name each time you praise a student. This serves several purposes. It keeps you alert to praise-worthy behavior. It allows you to track your own progress in confirming positive behavior through praise, and it alerts you to those students you might otherwise overlook (the students who might well have the greatest need for commendation and encouragement).
  
  
• Create a bulletin board to display exceptionally good work.
  Students love having work displayed publicly for parents and friends to view. This may be done by covering a section of the wall with colored paper, surrounding paper with a border, and placing a "phrase of praise" across the top. (This may be as simple as "Good Work" or "Star Students." To lend variety, I often adapted bulletin board title to the season -- "A Good Beginning" for New Year's, "Sweet Work" for Valentine's, "Performance that Will Blow You Away" during the blustery month of March, and so forth.) Papers may be attached to the paper board with sticky tack or tape.
  
  
• Send positive progress reports home whenever child's performance is particularly outstanding.
  The child will be overjoyed to share this good news with his parents, and parents will appreciate the special interest you've shown in THEIR child. (Language is seldom a barrier here. Even parents who don't speak English will generally find a way to read any notes bearing reference to their child.
  
  
• Develop small award certificates or badges to award on a weekly basis.
  Recognize more than academic achievements. (Every child is gifted, but not all are gifted in language ability.) Awards in our classes included Confident Speaker Award for conversational English, Ready Listener for comprehension of spoken language, Reading Wonder for performance in reading groups or high level of reading outside of class, Writer of the Week for excellence in writing, Attitude Worth Catching for superior attitude toward classroom experience, Diligent Worker for focus in class and consistency in completing assigned homework projects, and the Faithful Friend Award for any student who took the initiative and voluntarily assisted new or struggling students (i.e. sitting with new student instead of friends, so that newcomer would not be lonely; offering to share supplies with students who lost of forgot items, getting help for a student who had been injured, and so forth).
  
  
• Use motivational stickers freely.
  The cost is minimal. (A teacher's supply store will offer collections of several hundred fore less than $10, and these may be mailed overseas for ~$2.40.) Students take great delight in amassing collections of these, however. (I've even had middle school and high school students keep sticker albums so they could show their friends how well they were performing in class!)
  
  
• Praise the student in front of other teachers as well as in front of student's peers.
  Students feel a greater sense of accomplishment when they realize that their performance was worth sharing with others, especially other educators.
  
  
• Praise often.
  Quantity is just as important as quality. Students need consistent affirmation.
  
  
• Praise sincerely.
  Students will recognize and resent insincere flattery.
  
  
• Praise especially after correction.
  This assures the student you still value him or her as a person and believe he or she has great potential even when a mistake has been made.
  
  
• Teach students to praise one another.
  In one lesson, I required each student to tell one good thing about each person in the class. (It is good for the teacher to set the example. )I also found that praise was an excellent way to combat students' tendency to make fun of others. Anyone who made a derogatory comment or laughed at another student had to list immediately five positive characteristics of that same individual.
  
  
• Whenever possible, avoid giving poor letter grades when students have put forth good effort.
  Remember that the goal of our teaching is the students' learning. Mark mistakes, then allow students a chance to improve performance by correcting errors (i.e. writing correct spelling next to misspelled words and re-testing at a later date; writing rule violated next to incorrect sentence, and re-write sentence correctly).