According to research (Hattie & Timperley, 2007; Brookhart, 2008; Shute, 2008) saying "Good Job!" or other ambiguous general praise is not helpful for student continued success and growth. It makes you feel good as the teacher, but it's not helpful. Students like praise too, but they don't know exactly what "good" thing they have done to deserve the praise.

All good teachers praise their children, but more effective teachers know that specific praise increases student performance and attention to the specific targeted behavior or skills we are trying to encourage.

Praise must do 3 things to be effective:

1. It must be sincere. Student know when praise is hollow, so don't patronize them. Sincerity is important, and sometimes it needs to be practiced, especially with difficult or challenging students. Take a deep breath and connect.

2. It must be specific. Praise should identify the specific thing or behavior you want to reward or recognize.

• I appreciate you staying in your seat all period, I know it's hard sometimes, but I want you to know I noticed.
• Your attention to detail is really great, I love the way the shadows get darker as they go under the objects you have drawn. 
• I can see you are really paying attention to the vanishing point, your receding lines look perfect!

3. It must be personal. General praise is not very helpful, particularly if it's non-specific like, "You are all doing such a great job!" It is much more effective if you address students on an individual basis, particularly in middle and high school. Some students reject praise when it is heard by others so as not to be rejected by peers.

For improving work, specific statements are also necessary. "Try Harder," is probably the least helpful thing you can say to a student, "Just take your time" may be just as unhelpful. Instead, using the 3 ideas above, consider your statements to kids.

1. Sincerity: When you are about to deliver some redirected instruction to re-focus a student, start with a bit of sincere praise for what they are doing well at the moment or up to then. 

2. Specific:  ​Think about the student's skills and setting a reasonable mini-goal for that child so they don't feel overwhelmed by the whole project or assignment.  "For now, lets not worry about shadows, but focus instead on giving everything a color for now." Try to use inclusive language like Us, or I (As in "I think," "lets try this," or "I feel") avoiding "YOU" as it can sometimes be taken in an accusatory way when refocusing behavior or skills.

3. Keep it personal, and avoid nearby students hearing your redirection or refocusing statement so as not to unduly embarrass the student.

If you feel student effort is an issue, or one you want students to understand, defining effort for your class, and what it looks like can be very helpful. It needs to be specific. A rubric is a good way to do that.

More art teacher resources HERE. 

​This STEAMY lesson was done during my summer camp program and a full week of exploring architecture. We began with a chat about our favorite places; vacation spots, places visited, or even some dreamed of. Then we created a list of the biomes these places belong to; desert, tundra, rainforest, plains, etc. (Image of these biomes can sometimes be borrowed from science classes or printed from the internet) After choosing a favorite setting, students sketched a get-a-way cabin that would fit in that environment and take it into account. Some had cabins up in the trees, and others tucked away into the ground, and some with more traditional ideas.

​With a sketch completed, we then considered the inside, creating a list of necessities in your get-a-way: bathroom, kitchen, place to sleep, closets, etc. Students were given 8.5 x 11 in. graph paper and rulers to begin planning their space. We set some rules. Doors must be 3 squares wide and that would equal 3 feet. This was true for all hallways and walkways too so that a reasonably sized person could use the space. So if you had an island in your kitchen, it needs three squares of space on all sides.
 
This is how I began to introduce scale on the small sketch. 1 square equals 1 foot on the sketch paper. We used a quarter inch grid for sketches. We measured some items in the room to get a feel for scale. Chairs needed to be at least a square and a half wide. Counters needed to be between 2 and 3 squares deep. A bed needs to be 6 squares long and at least 3 squares wide. We measured a large room and a smaller one so they could have an idea of what the space would feel like.
 
When sketches were done, we shared them. Often the ideas presented by one student was added by another. Tree house with an indoor swimming pool? Why not? Some had more practical ideas, others, not so much. I didn’t squash the silly ideas though we did talk about the issues that they might cause.

​While all this sketching and planning was going on I was preparing for the next part, the architectural models. My concern was the use of exacto blades for my students and to minimize the necessity for them. To that end I pre-cut some parts that students could customize with scissors and when an Exacto was needed, I had a cutting station for students.
 
I used 20 x 30 in. foamcore boards that were about 1/4 inch thick. I glued extra large graph sheets to the foamcore with spray glue. (The paper I used was from eNasco.com, item number TB17689T) The thing I learned was to place the paper face down on a table, tape the corners down to lightly stretch the paper. Spraying the foamcore outside, returning, and slowly placing it on the paper, pressing firmly, then turning it over, and using a brayer to give a final pressing. I tried to line it up so the grid was square to the foamcore. The pattern does show through so it’s not hard to do.
 
Then I used a large paper cutter to cut 2 inch strips of foamcore with grid paper glued on, that would later become walls. I use to cut strips with a drywall t-square and a box cutter but the large paper cutter is faster. The new scale for building would be one square was equal to four feet. I discussed this with students, explaining that modular homes are based on the idea of building materials are mostly 4 x 8 ft. 

​This means also that 4 squares on their sketch is 1 square on the final board. This sounds like it might be a difficult transition but it's not. Their 4 small squares on their sketch was already 1/4 inch large, so on the larger paper, the scale was similar. They were given about a half sheet of gridded foamcore to draw their final copy of the house floorplan. When that was approved I let them select  from a bin of 2 inch pre-cut walls that could be cut again to length. Scissors worked well to cut walls to length, but an exacto was good for making doors and windows. I helped my younger students cut, but I would require them to draw the lines they wanted me to cut.
 
I set up a hot 3 hot glue stations around the perimeter of the room. They were told to glue one wall or object at a time as needed. This cut down on people "hogging" the glue guns. We did not do a roof or covering, but kept models open so the interior could be seen. Early finishers were encouraged to use patterned paper to add rugs or additional items to personalize their homes.
 
This was a long but worthwhile unit. Each design was unique, and they learned about engineering, math, geometry, spatial relationships, and problem solving. The pride in their finished projects is obvious.

This project was done with ages 8 through 16.

​For more resources, lessons, etc. please visit Firehouse Publications.