Positive Reinforcement Lasts Forever

Today's post is simply a Thank You! A tribute to a very special teacher from my childhood who helped me so much more than she ever realized. 

Louise Anderson was my 6th grade English teacher. She worked very hard to let her students have fun and enjoy the material we covered; not always an easy task. I have to think part of this was because she was still a student herself. She was working on her Master's Degree in Childhood Education at the University of Southern Mississippi. When it came time to write our very first book report she went to great lengths to make sure the students had books that would appeal to them. There weren't assigned books to write on you see. She gave the guidelines of what the report should include and let us choose our own books. When I complained that the books we had in our little library didn't have enough information to write a 2 page report, she took me to the high school's library and let me pick from there. I got an A and she found a guinea pig! 

At this time she was working on her dissertation and needed a test subject. For the next couple of months I spent every Saturday morning with her. We would drive to U.S.M. and she'd administer some type of testing: vocabulary, reading and writing skills, spatial relations, all the stuff of standardized IQ testing. Not once did she ever indicate how I did other than a "Great job!" or some such comment. But, after each session we went out to eat and she would then give me $10 to buy something nice for myself, a "warm fuzzy" she'd call it. As you can imagine I was really disappointed when this came to an end!

But it really didn't end. True no one was paying me to take tests anymore but I was still attuned to that positive feedback and reinforcement. The special attention I had received made me feel more confident in myself. It made me want to work harder and do even better. And along the way I had also learned that there is no better place to escape to than into a well written book. 

Now I am not advocating giving money to kids to make them do better in school. It may or may not work for different kids or their families. However, a "warm fuzzy" doesn't have to be cash. For me it was also the feeling that someone really took notice and cared about  how I did in school. Parents are often too busy to do this but I do believe it makes a world of difference.