The Inverse Power of Praise Reflection
The Inverse Power of Praise deeply resonated with me as it explained a phenomenon that I hadn’t realized I was experiencing. Language is a powerful tool that we as a society don’t consider very often. Children are especially sensitive to this power and it’s our duty to use it correctly.
Throughout my career as a student I’ve always been concerned with how others see me. In my classes, the “smart ones” were the cool people. Being part of this environment that valued being “smart” caused me to strive for the higher grade. For as long as I can remember I’ve always gotten down on myself whenever I deemed my performance unsatisfactory. Being smart was what made you valuable at school, and I’ve always struggled
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However, my parents praise me and my siblings based on our effort. Yes, grades are important, but they’ve never been what makes us valuable. My family has tried to stress the importance of being well-rounded and happy with life. Despite their efforts, the very next day I would have to spend 8 hours in the facility that only valued how “smart” I was.
Because of my experience with school, I’ve become extremely self-motivated. I have always strived to be the best I can be. This also means that I tend to drag myself down whenever I feel as though I’ve failed. Praise from others would help relive this dejection for a little while, but only succeeded in reaffirming the lofty standards I held myself to.
As a caretaker of young children, I understand the desire to encourage my kids. We want them to be amazing and fully functional human beings. Unfortunately for us, that means that they have to learn to maintain themselves. Instead of holding them to high standards and forcing the desire for higher knowledge on them, they need to be curious and excited about their learning. Children need to grow up in a non-judgmental, encouraging and positive environment, and that includes both home and
Children are motivated to learn when they have opportunities to make choices in an environment that is secure, enriching and stimulating. Children are curious from infancy and have a desire to learn from their environment and people around them. When children are encouraged to interact with their peers and adults in positive ways, they feel safe to explore their surroundings.
I worked just as hard, yet my test results were notably underwhelming in comparison to my ‘top 10’ classmates. What was different about me, I thought every night before I fell asleep. Then I realized, I was alone in my cherishment of extracurricular activities. While my classmates were up late Friday nights studying, I was cheering on the sidelines, exerting myself to pep up the crowd via backflips. When others were reading ahead, I was helping to feed outlying communities. While the ‘top 10’ was still cramming, I was at a Wednesday worship program. I’m committed to giving my complete impetus to everything I take part in, and sometimes, your best isn’t enough for what you want and there is almost nothing you can do about it. This taught me that in order to be truly fulfilled, you need to accept failure as part of your life and learn to move on. Thinking about it, I would not be happier if I quit doing the things I love to study more so that I could be in the ‘top 10’. In fact, I would most definitely be more miserable. Learning to accept failure, I have decided to cultivate my energy into simply giving my all and to welcome whatever rank, or not, I receive with open
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They are not able to develop their thoughts and ideas fully in the classroom. Most of the children drop out of school and not being able to pay for a quality education. They would love to be like their friends going to prom, homecoming, and football games. It would be a dream for them to know what it’s like to graduate high school and go on as a freshman in college. To be able to have that experience of being taught by teachers, and professors that are invested in them and their lives. They would love to take interesting subject that would expand their knowledge and build on prior knowledge. These children would love to mingle with other students working on their social skills. Building connections with others, and learning about other families different than their own. Education is not free it’s a privilege. It is a gift and should be open to all who want to learn. Once you have an education you cannot have it taken away from you. It will always be a part of who you are. What your past experiences are is what has shaped and molded you into the person you are today. Learning is an ongoing thing, you learn about something new every day. You put information and knowledge into practice and use it on a daily basis with those you come in contact
Don’t Change for the Worst As we have come to understand there are different types of smart such as school smarts (math, English etc.) but there is also social smarts. Someone could be amazing in one but not so bright in the other. The book “Flowers for Algernon” by Daniel Keyes is about Charlie Gordon, a 37-year-old man, who has been an outsider his whole life because he did not have “school” smarts. He believes that if he can be in a lab and have a bunch of tests done on him, that he will eventually be smart.
Thanks to my parents pushing me to do my best, I have an outstanding work ethic in school and on the field. Because of this effort and work put in, I have been a captain on basketball, football, and baseball teams. Not only were my parents important factors but, so were my coaches and teachers. Coaches and teachers have pushed me to do the best I could and told me when I did things wrong, but praised me when I did them right. They helped to slowly build my character, leadership, scholarship and dedication to everything and anything that I do so that when I had to do something it was done the right way instead of halfway.
My parents’ ultimate goal was for my siblings and me to graduate from high school. Noemi, Jesus, and Erwin, my older siblings, never told me about the do’s and don’ts of school. Their lack of guidance frustrated me. I always thought that older siblings wanted the best for the youngest. Whenever I asked them something though, like how to spell a word, their response was, “Are you stupid? How don't you know how to spell that?” After getting shut down multiple times, I stopped asking for help.
My moms raised me with a strong set of morals, including “hard work pays off.” Sometimes this can be discouraging when you work hard, but it doesn’t pay off as you’d like it to. I’ve always gotten the grades I strive for without much struggle. However, once high school started, everything changed. I’d work for weeks on a scholarship essay, and I wouldn’t even place. I’d work for months to get something published and then read other people’s names in the congratulations announcement. I’d constantly wonder: Who’s at the top of the class? Who’s going to win the end of year awards? When you consistently get the grades that I do, people just expect those grades. No one congratulates you on your hard work anymore, and you don’t always get recognized. Despite the lack of recognition, I still take pride in my grades, and continue to work hard. Getting great grades is something I know I can do, even when it’s difficult to do. The difficulty makes it even more satisfying when I see the hard work pay off, and I get the grade I wanted. I’ve encountered
From my days as a little kindergartener till now, I have always taken school very seriously and worked hard to be an honor roll student. I have never missed a day of school in my entire life and I have never failed to turn in an assignment. I have always been determined to be the best in my class and never give up. What drives me to work hard, are the lessons my parents have instilled in my mind at an early age. Since I was little, my parents have preached the importance of school and working hard for my future. Their lessons have taught me profoundly and I can’t thank them enough.
When I was younger, I desired my mother to be proud of me - good grades made my mother happy, so therefore made me happy. Because of this, I constantly strive to be the best academically, in the room. However, something negative always happens within me when I realize I am not the “smartest” in the room - the feeling of being corrected or wrong completely humiliates me, so I am always competing to be smart. Maybe it is because it's the one thing I think I excel at - that is, what I want the most approval in. This makes me question why I place so much value on my academics. Pondering upon it, I became aware that it truly is not about me if I seek other’s approval. My sense of pride stemmed from impressing those around me, seeking their affirmation.
I come from a household of three: my mother, my father, and I. Both of my parents graduated from high school. My mother was only able to complete her first year of college in the Dominican Republic before she moved to the United States with my father. She, like me, was also studying psychology. Even though both have only finished their high school, my parents have always seen the value of education, especially my mother. From my childhood to my adult years, my parents have encouraged me to do my best in school because they believed education was the best way to succeed in life.
Every student is different, from how they learn to how much effort do they put in when studying. But with the right teacher guiding them to success, nothing is impossible. So, how do we motivate the future generation to succeed in school? The Perils and Promise of Praise, by Carole S. Dweck. The author focus on how to motivate students to succeed in school. From how you talk to them, motivate them to learn and rewarding them.
Education is very important to my parents and it is not just a means of obtaining a good job in the future, but it serves as a way to get respect and social standing in a world that is so heavily focused on societal and class statuses. Being the first generation to have gone onto higher education, the pressures, put on by my family, can sometimes be overwhelming. In fact, at times I think my parents are more excited and ready for me to graduate than I am, which can be quite comical.
Ernest Hemingway 's third novel a Farewell to arms was being created with his early
Bullying has become a worldwide issue that has evolved over the years. Some people may argue that bullying has decreased as more people are aware and educated about the effects of bullying. Although people are more educated about bullying, it has only increased over the years. Today, every seven seconds someone is being bullied. Every seven seconds a life is ruined. It is horrendous. Bullying rates have gone through the roof over the years and only makes life for teenagers harder now. 1 in 10 people drop out of school because repeated bullying. 1 in 10 lives ruined. 1 in 10 further education opportunities destroyed. Our current society is doing appalling when it comes to bullying.