Special Edition | Seth Pozzi - Asst. Head of School
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Building Young Children's Self-Concept
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The way we talk to young children helps them develop their self-concept. There is so much wonderful research from the past couple decades on how the small nuances of our language can impact children’s mindset, resilience and approaches toward learning.
We have written about this over the past few years, noting research on mindset and the language teachers use with children. As we go into the final months of the school year, I challenge all of us (parents, teachers and even the front office) to strive to make some small but intentional shifts in our language, especially with our preschool age children, aiming for more specific encouragement over praise.
So, why encouragement over praise, and what’s the difference?
Praise sounds like this:
- “Great job”
- "I Love it!”
- “I’m so proud of you.”
- “You’re so smart.”
- “You’re the best.”
While we do in fact want our children to know that we love them and that they are smart, overuse of these non-specific statements makes an impression on children’s self-concept that:
- The approval of others is more important than their ability to evaluate their own efforts.
- Product and perfection matter more than the process.
- Can develop in them the need to seek approval from others all the time and cause anxiety.
- Puts pressure on children—if I tell a child how good a job s/he has done, that child then might feel the need to always measure up to that standard in an effort to please me.
- Dependence on praise can lead to avoidance of difficult work or fear of taking risks, focusing on a right or wrong outcome rather than having a meaningful experience.
- Trains children to inquire, “Do you like it?” “Did I do a good job?” “Are you proud of me?” “Did I do it right?”
Encouragement, on the other hand, is an observation, acknowledgment or statement that focuses on effort, improvement or choice.
You can think of encouragement as narrating and naming something positive your child did or attempted, which ultimately helps to promote self-esteem and a sense of well-being, confidence and resilience.
Encouragement:
- Avoids “I like…” or “I love...” when talking about something the child did or accomplished. We want our kids to listen to their internal voice. Instead of saying you LIKE or LOVE what they did, tell them something specific you noticed.
- Avoids saying “Thank you for…” behaviors that are the child’s personal responsibility (e.g. putting away their toys when done playing). Thanking suggests they did it as a favor to you or that that they did was optional.
- Emphasizes effort, progress, and approximations (improvement) rather than just results.
- Recognizes contribution rather than completion or quality over quantity; process over product.
- Promotes perseverance rather than giving up if a child doesn't initially achieve the success he expected.
Again, think of encouragement as narrating behavior to build self-concept; you want your child to be thinking in her head, "Yeah, I did that!"
Encouragement sounds like this:
- “I noticed that took time to make the lines really straight.”
- “You held the door for that man. Didn’t that feel good?”
- “The basketball hoop is really high, but you got the ball in several times today.”
- “You kept trying until you got all the puzzle pieces to fit.”
- “You are learning how to tie those shoelaces. Last week you had trouble getting them tied, but this week you did it with only a little help.”
- “You used all the different colors; that really made your picture come to life.”
- “You remembered to put away the balls when you were done playing. That helps keep the playroom safe for your little sister.”
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Collins Campus
Robin & Ms. Ailin |
Oxnard Campus
Ms. Tracy & Ms. Christine |
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Spring brings us warmer weather and plenty of sunshine. Our children are enjoying spending more and more time outdoors discovering all the changes the spring season brings. Flowers are blooming, and new leaves are appearing on our trees. Very soon, the trees will be shading us from the hot summer sun.
We are excited to see so many different topics of study emerging in our classrooms, including sea animals, dinosaurs, healthy bodies, cooking, nature, and insects & bugs. The children will become active in planting and gardening as well. Many classrooms will observe transformations take place right in front of them!
This month, the classrooms will also explore Earth Day and the environment. The children will discuss how to be resourceful and how to keep our planet healthy. To celebrate Earth Day, both campuses will have our annual GO Event (Get Outside) on April 13th. It’s a wonderful way for children to experience some fun activities related to our environment.
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Elementary News | Jacey Dexter - Elementary Principal |
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Welcome back! I hope everyone had a wonderful and restful Spring Break! It is hard to believe that we are in the final trimester for the school year with only 10 weeks to go! Our 4th and 5th graders kick off the month of April with their overnight trip to Cherry Cove on Catalina Island. While there, the students will participate in amazing experiences including snorkeling, kayaking, and even a squid dissection!
We had so many wonderful things happen at WHPS this past month. We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day around campus with bagpipers and those sneaky leprechauns visited again! The Bears held their last basketball game of the season in a Bears v. Bears home game. Volleyball season will begin soon, so keep an eye out for the signup forms! We closed the month of March with our annual Student-Led Talent Show. I am always amazed at the talents of our student population, from rocking out on the drums to robotics, dance, and comedy (to name a few). Thank you to our 5th grade Student Leaders for hosting such an amazing event.
Finally, among the most important April events are the "Taste of 2018-2019" meetings for each grade. This is your official orientation to your child’s grade for next year. Be sure to mark your calendar and attend!
"Taste of 2018-2019" Meetings @ 3:15pm Monday, April 16 - TK Tuesday, April 17 - K & 1st Grade Wednesday, April 18 - 2nd & 3rd Grade Monday, April 23 - 4th & 5th Grade Happy Spring!
Jacey Dexter
Elementary Principal
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| "Our Barnyard" News | The WHPS Science and Nature Center |
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Hello Barnyard friends!  This past month has been great for the Science & Nature Center. Two new friends have joined our family, a Blue-Tongued Skink and a new Flemish Giant Rabbit. Thanks to the Apelian family, and especially Nareg, our new Blue-Tongued Skink is named Blue Dragon! A very fitting name once you see him. As for our new Flemish, she has yet to be named, but a family will be naming her soon!
With Spring here, it is time to make things a little more green in our Barnyard. Elementary will be learning about planting and how to take care of plants, but we won’t stop there. Kindergarten and 3rd grade will learn about how plants help us take care of all our animals, not just the ones that eat them. 1st and 4th grade will be discovering how animals interact with plants, not just for food, but also how animals help plants grow. Finally, 2nd and 5th grade will take a look into the evolution of plants, and how they are not that different from us after all.
Preschool won’t be left out of the fun either! They will be doing most of the planting in the Barnyard. We will be planting our animals’ favorites, so that when we are ready to harvest, the preschoolers will get to feed the animals the plants they grew. Every day before their lesson, we will go see how our plants are doing and how much they have grown.
With the rain came lots of muddy fun, but now with the sun out, all the animals are happy and ready for the spring! Make sure you come out and visit them, they have missed you in these past weeks.
Mr. Matthew and Ms. Tanja
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