The Best Way to Teach--feedback and rating requested!

[H10okie]

Hi there,

 

Please leave any feedback and/or rating for my Issue essay below.

 

Thanks!

 

 

 

 

The best way to teach—whether as an educator, employer, or parent—is to praise positive actions and ignore negative ones.

 

Write a response in which you discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the claim. In developing and supporting your position, be sure to address the most compelling reasons and/or examples that could be used to challenge your position.

 

 

 

Whether an educator, employer, or even parent, the best way to teach someone is to praise their actions and ignore their negative actions.

 

First of all by praising positive actions, one is ensuring that the frequency of these actions increases. When asking a question to my Kindergarten students, I praise students that quietly raise their hands and students that do not yell or shout out answers. The praise acts as an incentive for students to act a particular way and teaches the students what behavior is acceptable within the school setting. A student that is praised for raising his or her hand and not yelling out the answers learns that this is the desired behavior and receives the desired incentive—praise. Once receiving the incentive, the student will continue to behave in the desired manner, therefore, teaching the student how to act. Thus praising someone causes the person to continue the desired behavior and he or she learns how to act in that situation.

 

Moreover praising positive actions of one individual also teaches others around them. When I praise one student and point out what that student did that I liked, the rest of the students pay attention to what that student did to receive praise and start to behave similarly so they, too, can receive positive praise from their teachers. Thus my students learned that when they want to answer a question, they should raise their hands and not yell out the answers. Therefore praising action of one student influenced the behavior of the other students and caused a change in their actions.

 

However ignoring negative actions can teach someone to continue their negative actions. If a teacher ignores a student throwing a pencil, the student may think the teacher did not notice and continues to throw pencils at other students. As a parent if one ignores a child’s tantrums and screams, the child may increase the violence of the tantrums and the volume of the screams. Therefore someone may not learn if his or her negative actions are overlooked.

 

Although ignoring negative actions has its consequences, those consequences should not overshadow the fact that the best way to teach someone is through praise of their actions. Furthermore praising someone’s actions provides an incentive for one to work for and causes the desired actions to continue as well as influences the actions of individuals around the praised someone. Nonetheless educators, parents, and employers should praise others as a way to teach and receive the desired behaviors and actions appropriate for the situation and setting.