"The other principle is intrinsic motivation. Are our comments creating the conditions the person we are praising to become more deeply involved in what she is doing? Or are they turning the task into something she does to win our approval?" Alfie Kohn alfiekohn.org

"To determine the likely effect of praise, we need to examine, first, our own motives. Are we trying to control someone’s behaviour for our own convenience, or saying nice things just to have something to say, or hoping to get that person to like us more?" Alfie Kohn

"There are 4 things that we can do to blunt the damaging impact of praise: Don’t praise people, only what people do. Saying something about what the person has done/is doing makes more sense: “That’s a really nice story” is better than “You’re such a good writer.”" Alfie Kohn

"Make praise as specific as possible. Even better than “That’s a really nice story” is “That’s neat at the end when you leave the main character a little confused about what happened to him.”" Alfie Kohn alfiekohn.org #soccer #youthsoccer #adultsoccer #adultsoccerleague

"Avoid phony praise. Praise becomes objectionable when it is clearly not a spontaneous expression but a deliberate strategy, a gimmick that seems to have been picked up from a book or a seminar." Alfie Kohn alfiekohn.org #soccer #youthsoccer #adultsoccer #milton

"Avoid praise that sets up a competition. It is never a good idea to praise someone by comparing her to someone else." Alfie Kohn alfiekohn.org #soccer #youthsoccer #adultsoccer #adultsoccerleague #milton

"People will typically be more enthusiastic where they feel a sense of belonging & see themselves as part of a community than they will in a workplace in which each person is left to their own devices." Alfie Kohn alfiekohn.org #soccer #youthsoccer #adultsoccer #milton

"Motivation is typically highest when the job offers an opportunity to learn new skills, to experience some variations in tasks, and to acquire and demonstrate competence." Alfie Kohn alfiekohn.org #soccer #youthsoccer #adultsoccer #adultsoccerleague #milton

"Given an environment in which they don’t feel controlled & in which they're encouraged to think about what they're doing (rather than how well they're doing it), students of any age will generally exhibit an abundance of motivation & a healthy appetite for challenge."Alfie Kohn

"“I never use the expression ‘motivate a child,’” says Raymond Wlodkowski, who specializes in the topic. “That takes away their choice. All we can do is influence how they motivate themselves.”" Alfie Kohn alfiekohn.org #soccer #youthsoccer #adultsoccer #milton

"The available research shows that encouraging children to become fully involved with what they’re working on and to stop worrying about their performance contributes to “a motivational pattern likely to promote long-term and high-quality involvement in learning.” Alfie Kohn

"Bruner likes to talk about the teacher’s role as helping students approach what they are doing with a mind to “discovering something rather than ‘learning about‘ it. The child is now in a position to experience success & failure not as a reward & punishment, but as information.”

"One of my epiphanies as a teacher came with the realization that students’ disruptive acts were less a sign of malice than of a simple desire to make the time pass faster. Misbehaviour often reflects students’ lack of interest in much of what we are teaching." Alfie Kohn

"At least 1 social scientist has built a career on the observation that people do their best when the tasks they are working on are neither so easy as to be boring nor so difficult as to cause anxiety. Students not only react well to moderate challenge, they seek it out."

A sincere thank-you to author Alfie Kohn for providing us with plenty of content to post from his book, "Punished by Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise & Other Bribes. His book is available at Indigo & Amazon alfiekohn.org

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