I really miss those positive reinforcements as an adult. Like nobody tells me,"Good job! You got right up with your alarm today." or "Great! How well have you ironed your shirt /dress today!" Well, that is adulthood for you. And now that we seldom receive it, we seldom give it. But that my friend, that, has to change.
Positive reinforcement is a system where every good behavior is valued and is rewarded. What we can definitely do is, let the children have their share. As educators/facilitators we should keep giving them daily dosage of positive reinforcements. Now come one who doesn't like compliments so generously shower them on people.
The key to attain flawless positive reinforcement system is:
• Positive reinforcement should be an ongoing process: If you reward one child's behaviour and stop there, others lose their morale and start feeling unfair about the whole process. You should keep on encouraging and rewarding good behavior.
• With immediate effect: A positive behaviour should be noted and appreciated immediately. When we do not do it at the right moment the whole charm of it is lost.
•Improvement should never go unnoticed: A pragmatic concern is,we all seek perfection. Let's put that theory aside. If you observe a child showing improvement reward it.
•Not clogged by emotions: As a teacher make sure you are positively reinforcing on the basis of behaviour and not because you have any sort of soft corner for the child reason what may. This might result in the child involving in self pity.
•Reinforcement should be age-appropriate : Expecting a high school student to change his/her behaviour by rewarding them with a smiley is like a mockery of yourself and the student.
There is a strong notion people have that positive reinforcement and bribing are a similar approach. Technically speaking bribe is given before a certain action to channelize it in your favour. Whereas positive reinforcement is done after the action is completed and once the desired result is achieved.
Let us all as teachers and humans decide to bring up a generation where kids learn to appreciate and get appreciated.