This is just a quick snapshot into the positive reinforcement in the classroom and how it can be used to not only reinforce the behavior you want to see, but how it can be used to bring back the behavior.
~ Zeba McGibbon from Episode 73 of The Kindergarten Cafe Podcast
Episode Summary
What would it look like to give positive feedback without having to constantly feel like you are nagging? In this episode, I discuss the role of positive reinforcement in the classroom, and how specific praise highlights student successes. I share strategies for celebrating small improvements and fostering a supportive classroom culture. The episode also covers using positive reinforcement to manage behavior effectively and promote self-reflection among students. Lots of examples are given so make sure you listen!
In this episode I share:
- Importance of Specific Praise
- Celebrating Student Progress
- Reinforcing Expected Behaviors
- Effective Classroom Management Techniques
Related Episodes:
- Building Strong Classroom Management ~ Ep. 43
- How to Have Smooth Transitions in Kindergarten ~ Ep. 51
Learn More:
Connect with Zeba:
- Instagram – @kindergartencafe
- Facebook – @kindergartencafe
- Website – www.kindergartencafe.org
- Tik Tok – @kindergartencafe
Read the Transcript
[0:00] Hey, teacher friends, you are doing a great job being an amazing teacher because you are here and you are learning about how to be an even better teacher. See what I did there? I gave you positive reinforcement, and that’s what we’re talking about in today’s episode. We are talking all about the power of positive reinforcement and how it can be your lifesaver in the classroom. So let’s dive in.
[0:23] Music. You’re listening to the kindergarten cafe podcast where kindergarten teachers come to learn classroom tested tips and tricks and teaching ideas they can use in their classroom right away i’m Zeba creator and founder of kindergarten cafe and i help kindergarten teachers with everything they need from arrival to dismissal in order to save time work smarter not harder and support students with engaging and purposeful lessons. I’m here to cheer you on through your successes and breakthroughs and offer support and resources so you never have to feel stuck or alone. Ready to start saving time and reducing your stress all while using effective and purposeful lessons that students love? Let’s get started.
[1:06] Music. So first what do i mean by positive reinforcement i mean telling the kids what it is they’re doing right this is the thing that they need to hear the most and this is the thing we forget about the most this takes like the backside to giving reminders or giving consequences or giving redirections. Focusing on the negative is what we tend to do as teachers. We tend to focus on they’re not doing this or they should be doing this as opposed to really zeroing in on what are they doing well. I struggle with this too. It’s so easy to jump to, oh, you’re not doing this or you should be doing this or to be frustrated with what they aren’t doing. It’s so easy to fall into that, but what we should be doing the most of is positive reinforcement.
[2:07] How do we get kids to do what we want them to do? We need to show them by having models of what we want to see, by telling them exactly what we want to see, as in being specific, like not just saying, be kind. We want to tell them exactly how to be kind. Instead of saying, don’t run, we should say exactly what we do want to see. We should say, walk. Those are the first two parts of getting kids to do what we want. But the third part is that positive reinforcement where we are reinforcing when we see them doing what it is we want. We are giving them praise, but not just empty praise, not just good job. We are being very specific about complimenting them on what it is they’re doing.
[2:56] So, for example, instead of saying just like, oh, you got that math problem right. Good job. You could try. I know today’s math was tough for you, but you kept trying. And that persistence will help you solve all kinds of problems. I took my compliment of you did that math problem right. Good job. And I took it even further to get more out of that positive reinforcement by telling the child what it is I really want to keep seeing them do. I want to keep seeing them persist and not give up. It’s not that they got two plus one equals three. That’s good. it’s the fact that they didn’t give up and they kept trying. Instead of just saying, oh, nice job reading. Like, what was it that they were doing good? What was it that you want to see them keep doing? I could say, you read three books during Reader’s Workshop today. What helped you concentrate? And that’s putting it on the child, too, to reflect on their own performance and reflect on what helped them and supported them. That’s a huge benefit to reinforcing what it is you want to see.
[4:00] And think about how you could flip that, because let’s say you have a kid that struggles to stay focused during reading. And let’s say maybe the other kids in the class are reading for 15 minutes or reading, you know, 10 books. And this kid is only reading three. It’s so easy for us as teachers to get frustrated and be like, why aren’t you reading more? Why aren’t you doing better? Why, you know, you can just go down this rabbit hole like it’s not good enough. Or the things that they’re doing wrong. But instead, if we flip it to what are they doing right?
[4:35] Well, maybe yesterday they read two books or they read zero books. Today they read three. That’s really good. That’s good improvement. So compliment on, you read three books. They don’t need to know that everyone else read 10. They don’t need to focus on that. You read three books today. What helped you do so much better today with three books? What helped you concentrate? And a similar idea, when you’re not just talking to one kid, maybe you’re talking to the whole class. We might just jump right to the transition. Okay, it’s time to clean up. But what if we took one minute to compliment the class on what it is they are doing right? We could say, today you read for 15 minutes straight. You’re really getting close to your 20-minute goal. What helped you read longer today? Again, it’s asking the children to reflect on what’s going well. It’s calling out what it is they are doing right. Did they hit their 20-minute goal? No. And you could focus on that. You could be like, you did not read for 20 minutes. I had to stop you because you were chatting, blah, blah, blah. You could do that. Or you could focus on what it is they did write. You read really well for 15 straight minutes.
[5:41] What was it that helped you read longer today? Because yesterday was only 13 minutes.
[5:45] When behavior slips in our classroom, our go-to is to focus on calling out that behavior, right like for the example of the reading like you didn’t read for 24 minutes i had to stop you early we didn’t meet our goal it’s really easy to focus on that stuff but the quickest way to bring it back is with positive reinforcement i don’t mean prizes, I mean calling out what it is you’re seeing the kids doing. So, for example, let’s go through a couple examples about behavior slipping and how you could use positive reinforcement to rein that behavior back in. So, for example, most kids have come to the rug, but a few haven’t. You could focus on the kids that haven’t and give them reminders or redirections.
[6:34] Or say like, come on, we’re waiting for you. Why haven’t you come to the rug yet? You know, sort of the negative side of things. Or you could do the positive reinforcement, which is pointing out what it is you want to see. Wow, so many of the kids are sitting on the rug. Oh, I see five model students. They have their hands raised. Like, that’s our quiet signal in our school. I think I’ve talked before how I don’t love it because it’s confusing, but that’s what the school does. So I would call that out. Like, I see five kids doing the quiet signal. Oh, I see eight of the kids are facing the learning. Immediately, all the kids that weren’t doing what you want, start doing it. They want to be the one that you’re noticing. They want to be the one that’s doing the right thing. And they are given a reminder of what is there you are expecting without it being a nagging reminder. You’re not saying, okay, I’m waiting for everyone to be facing the learning. I’m waiting for everyone to be sitting quietly versus, oh, wow, half of you are sitting so quietly. This is amazing. You’re ready for learning. We’re ready to go. The kids that aren’t sitting quietly, boom, instantly sitting quietly because they’re reminded to sit quietly. They’re reminded that that’s the expectation and they want to be one of the ones that you’re complimenting. So it works for in both those ways. And I’ve just found it to be so much more effective than, come on, we’re waiting for you.
[8:01] Please come to the rug. Okay, I’m waiting for everyone to be quiet. Come on, we should be quiet. Come on, I told you the expectation is coming to the rug quietly. What did I tell you about coming to the rug? It’s so much quicker to be like, oh, I see two students sitting quietly. Oh, wow, I see so many more students sitting quietly. Now, I don’t love calling out kids by name as the model students because I don’t want it to be like a competition. But this is where I have like my inner struggle where it’s a balance, right? Like sometimes I do call kids by name like, oh, I see Jessica sitting there quietly on the rug. She’s being such a model student. Thank you, Jessica, for being so ready for the learning.
[8:42] Want to compliment and praise her for what she’s doing, but I don’t do it every time because I don’t want to be a competition between the kids of feeling bad if their name wasn’t called or not trying to be the one only doing the good behavior because they want to have their name called. Like I try to balance it and it’s tough. I don’t have any right answers. But I think being purposeful about when you use someone’s name and not doing it as a way to kind of manipulate the other kids, but doing it genuinely as a way to reinforce their good behavior and compliment them. I think that’s my overall philosophy. Okay, so let’s say that you’re waiting for some tables to be ready for the next direction. Like you’ve said that the tables need to clean up, and then you’ll call them for the next direction, right? So let’s say tables one and two have cleaned up, but three and four haven’t. Well, you could be like, come on, table three and four, you need to clean up. I said to clean up. Why haven’t you cleaned up? You could also be like, oh, tables one and two, you win, you were the fastest. I don’t like doing that because, again, it gets that competition mindset as opposed to like working together as a team, as a classroom. So here’s what I would do. I would just point out, awesome, I see two tables are ready. They are totally cleaned up and wow, they are standing so quietly waiting to hear my direction. I am so impressed.
[10:08] Instantly, everyone wants to be at that table. They will have cleaned up. They’ll be quiet. It works like a charm. Or you could even call it like, oh, I see two of the kids at table three are really working hard to clean up their table and they’re making sure that everything gets cleaned up. Come on, guys, let’s have the whole table help, right? So that’s a little bit of a reminder, but it is reinforcing what it is you want to see. You see two of the kids that are cleaning up the table, so call them out on it and say, I see you working really hard to clean up the table. The final example, you are waiting for kids in line to be quiet. Again, it’s very easy for us as teachers to be like, come on, please be quiet. I’m waiting. I’m waiting for me to be quiet. But instead, if you call out the kids that are being quiet, it’s so much more effective. So instead of saying, mom, please be quiet, you say, oh, I see three students standing quietly in line. Oh, I see four, five, oh, six students. Look at those quiet signals. Look at those bodies, nice and calm. And by calling out, it is exactly what you want them to see. Oh, their hands are by their side. Oh, they’re not touching anyone. They’re having a safe body. They’re being quiet.
[11:18] You are giving everyone a reminder of exactly what it is you want to see. You are reinforcing the kids who are doing it and ensuring that they will keep doing it. And other kids will follow in line. The other thing you may have noticed is my voice got calm and quiet in that example.
[11:36] Because when we want to bring the energy down, we want to bring our own energy down. If we want the kids to be quiet, we should get quiet. The louder we get, they’re going to get louder trying to talk over you. So when you can get their attention and then start bringing it down and quieter and quieter and quieter, it’s going to be much more effective. And you could even start giving like taps and thumbs up to the kids that are doing it that are standing quietly in line. You could be using a quiet signal and you could just go around like tapping the kids that are being quiet. That’s super effective because you’re not talking at all. The kids that are still talking, you could go and tap them and give it a quiet signal.
[12:14] You’re not making any noise. That’s going to bring it way down real fast. So that’s not really a positive reinforcement, but it is a really good classroom management trick of just bringing the energy, bringing the volume down yourself to help the volume and energy go down in the classroom. So this is just a quick snapshot into positive reinforcement in the classroom and how it can be used to not only reinforce the behavior you want to see, but how it can be used to bring back the behavior when we start to notice it slipping or when we start to see issues in the whole class. We can bring it back real fast by using some positive reinforcement.
[12:56] So our quote of the day is, oh boy, five years old, he said, I’m always proud. I just loved that. We want our kids to always be proud. And one way we can help do that is with positive reinforcement. One little side note, I do love when I am giving a positive reinforcement, like about a learning target or something, you know, like, oh, you counted all the way to 32. You couldn’t do that when you first came to kindergarten. You can only count to 10 when you first started here. Now you can count to 32. That’s one of our goals. So that’s why it’s so specific.
[13:31] Like, wow, I’m so proud of you. But to get a step further and say, you should be so proud of your hard work. You should be so proud of the learning you’ve done. Are you proud? Are you proud of all the hard work you’ve done? Like I put it on them to be proud of themselves because I don’t want them to be doing things just to make me happy. I want them to recognize the hard work that they’ve put in themselves. And so that’s reinforcing of the hard work, but it’s also helping them to reflect and grow intrinsically, intrinsic motivation. I want them to be motivated by their own growth and hard work and to see the benefits of that, that the hard work brings them and not just doing it because, oh, it makes Mrs.
[14:15] McGibbon happy. That was a side note. Anyway, I hope you liked this little snapshot into positive reinforcement. Next week, well, next week, we might have a little guest episode, so stay tuned for that. I’m really excited about this one. I’ll keep it a secret until then, but stay tuned. Oh, and if you liked today’s episode, send me a DM on Instagram with the words positive reinforcement, and feel free to give me some positive reinforcement. Let me know what you want to see me keep doing so that I keep doing it. Are there topics you want me to keep talking about? Are there things you like that you want me to keep doing or things you don’t like that you want me to stop? Let me know. I’m here for you. Anyway, see you in the next episode.
[15:00] Music.
[15:05] Thanks so much for listening to the Kindergarten Cafe podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes for more information and resources, or just head straight to kindergartencafe.org for all the goodies. If you liked this episode, the best ways to show your support are to subscribe, leave a review, or send it to a friend. I’ll be back next week with even more kindergarten tips. See you then.