Don’t Say These Two Words.

"Good job."

This one drives me up the wall.  It rings through the halls and rooms of all schools. It's the compliment that isn't a compliment. They are the two words that say you can't be bothered to positively summerize the student excellence you just experienced.

Some people have a swear jar at work where they have to put a certain amount of money in anytime someone swears. One summer, I had a “good work jar” on my cart as I went from room to room teaching. Anyone who praised a student's work by saying “good job” had to put a quarter in.

Try this. Create a repertoire of new positive affirmations. 

Take each letter of the alphabet in order and think of a word or phrase you could say instead of good job.

Awesome.

Beautiful.

Can’t believe how cool that was!

Then take that word and incorporated it in a short sentence that sums up what you just saw.

“That was awesome how you played drums with me while I played the guitar!”

“It sounds beautiful when we stop the song at the same time!”
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The student will walk away with a visual image of their success instead of a generic teacher word-burp of “yada yada”.