Technique 43: Positive Framing

Doug Lemov says, "People are motivated by the positive far more than the negative." (p 204)  This does not mean that you don't address negative behaviors, but it does mean that you train yourself to find positive, constructive ways to address these negative behaviors.

Positive Framing follows six rules:

1. Live in the now.  In short, don't take time in the middle of your lesson to address what a student or students are doing or have done wrong.  Instead, emphasize how the class can do better.  (This was also talked about in Strong Voice.) Examples:
• "Show me SLANT!", not "You weren't SLANTing." 
• "Keana, I need your eyes forward, " not, "Keana, stop looking back at Tanya." (p 205)
2. Assume the best.  As in What to Do, assume your students aren't being defiant, but incompetent, because they didn't understand the instructions, etc.  By framing the instruction positively, you are no longer judging, but employing a tool for improvement.  One particularly effective way to assume the best is to thank students as you give them a command.  This emphasizes that you assume (positively) that students will do their best.  Some examples of "Assume the best" are:
• "Just a minute, class.  Some people seem to have forgotten to push in their chairs", not, "Some people don't seem to think they have to push in their chairs."
• "Thank you for pushing in your chairs.", or, "Thank you for quickly getting out your textbooks."
3. Allow plausible anonymity. Simply, this means that you prefer to call out the class when one or more individuals are not exhibiting the best behavior.  By doing so, you 1) don't embarrass one person, and 2) you stress that the class has shared responsibility for an excellent learning environment.  Example:
• "Class, I need to hear quiet so everyone can do their best", instead of calling out one or two individuals who are talking.
4. Build momentum, and narrate the positive.  When you give an instruction to the class, and not everyone is complying, you can narrate the positive progress being made toward total compliance.  Another way of thinking of this is that you are narrating positive momentum toward successful completion. Example:
• "I need three more people to look at me.  OK, now I need two.  Now, one.  OK, thank you, let's get started.", not, "I need three people to look at me.  Some people don't appear to be listening.  I'm waiting, class!"
5. Challenge!  Build competition into the lessons.  Challenge teams within the classroom to do better than other teams.  Or, challenge the class to do better than another class.  Or, even, challenge the class to do better than some abstract standard ("I want to see whether you guys have what it takes!") (p 208)
6. Talk expectations and aspirations.  Encourage students to consider where they are going, long-term.  Examples:
• "You are going to be experts at this soon!"  "You will be CEOs one day!"

Avoid two things:

1. Rhetorical questions: It is better to be clear and direct than obtuse.  Example:
• "Thank you for joining us, David", not, "Would you like to join us, David?"
2. Contingencies: Don't say "I'll wait", unless you really are ready to wait.  Just as in parenting, don't make "threats" unless you are really willing to follow up on them.

My response:

I think these are great ideas for the college classroom.  Doing them correctly is going to take practice, practice, practice.  

I am considering creating teams in my introductory programming classes next time, and then, possibly using those team to create some competition in the classroom.  I don't know if that will really work in the college classroom or not.  I'll let you know...