Precise Praise

The steps

1. Save praise for effort beyond the expectation. A student who meets an expectation gets a nod or a thank-you (see Narrate the Good). Reserve praise for something more: a second attempt, a harder method chosen deliberately, or progress on a genuine weakness. Progress is measured against the student's own last attempt, so praise stays within reach for everyone.
2. Name the exact action. Describe what the student did, precisely enough that a colleague who overheard could picture it.
   You were stuck on step two, went back to the worked example and found your own fix.
   "Good job" on its own leaves the student guessing about what earned it.
3. Add why it mattered. A single clause is enough:
   …and checking the example first is what gets you through question six.
   The reason connects the action to a result the student cares about.
4. Point it at decisions and effort. A student can choose tomorrow to reread the example or attempt the question a third time. Praise aimed at those choices shows students how to succeed on purpose.
5. Choose public or private before you speak. Public praise teaches the whole room a move worth copying. A quiet word at the desk is often better received by teenagers, and a line in the margin or a sentence at the door counts just as well.
   That redraft this morning: you cut the padding and led with your strongest point. Keep doing that.
6. Ease off once the habit forms. Praise has done its job once the named action reappears without it. At that point a nod is enough, and the words stay fresh for the next genuine step forward.

How you’ll know it’s working

• The action you praised reappears within days, from that student and from others who overheard it.
• Keep a tally for one lesson: comments that name a specific action outnumber "good job", "well done" and "brilliant".
• Praise stops being shrugged off. A praised teenager returns to work instead of checking who heard, and the eye-rolling fades.
• Students begin describing their own work in the same terms: "I did what you said and checked the example before asking."

Weigh it up

Why it’s worth it

• Praise starts to carry information. A student who hears exactly what worked can do it again on purpose, and everyone who overheard learns the same move for free.
• It reaches the coasting middle. Progress against a student's own last attempt is a legitimate target, so students who will never top the class can still earn praise that is true.
• Scarce, accurate praise survives an audience of teenagers who learned long ago to discount "well done", so your words keep their value across the year.
• It sharpens your assessment eye. You can only name the action if you have genuinely looked at the work, so looking for something precise to praise makes you notice what students are actually doing.
• A private, specific sentence is one of the cheapest relationship-building moves you have. Students remember for years the teacher who saw the effort that nobody else noticed.

The costs

• It takes attention you will not always have. Precision requires genuinely seeing the action, and generic praise is what everyone reaches for on a tired Friday afternoon.
• The scarcity feels uncomfortable at first. A class accustomed to constant "well done" may need a few weeks to recalibrate, and you may worry that you have become stingy.
• Delivery with teenagers takes some tuning. A misjudged public compliment can cost a student standing with their friends, and you will get one or two wrong while you are learning the class.