Humility and Appreciation - Maithreyi Venkataraman and Sukhpreet Kaur

"The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness." Dalai Lama

A humble person will undoubtedly be a person who will appreciate. To appreciate someone, one must look beyond oneself and recognise the other's effort and actions. One's level of appreciation indeed can vary by the quality of the job, but it should not qualify as the criteria for appreciation. 

Example. : With great excitement, a child who has attempted to draw scenery approaches his teacher and exhibits his work. That teacher must begin her feedback with a positive appreciation of the child's effort and then state how the child can improve the outcome.

Activity:  

The students planned and organised a class party for Teacher's Day. The party was a great hit, and the students' teamwork, hard work, and planning days were evident. As their grade mentor, I was overwhelmed with pride. The after-effect of the celebrations was not just loads of happy memories but also a dirty classroom. 

The children were now given this as an activity to clean up their classroom. They all participated without any apprehensions. I observed that they did have a few concerns, which they overcame with appreciation and motivation.

They enjoyed seeing a neat classroom after their effort. Now, this activity also made them realise the hard work put in by the cleaning staff, and they voluntarily went to thank the cleaning staff for keeping their classrooms always clean; they also apologised to them for increasing their work, dropping paper bits and promised to observe their part in keeping their classroom clean.

So, here are a few reasons why we should reward or appreciate students for their efforts. 

Sense of accomplishment - A sense of relief that the assigned task was completed and their hard work didn't go in vain gets inbuilt in the students. And with this thought, the mindset brings better, and they also receive what we all constantly seek: acceptance!

Overwhelming respect - Rewarded students get genuine appreciation and respect for just doing their best. 

Self-confidence - Rewarding someone for their work directly increases their level of self-confidence. 

Inclination towards learning - Success, when appreciated, turns into motivation, which brings zeal and enthusiasm to learn new things because how much you know and work determines how far you will go. 

Our learning: As grown-ups and mentors, we should trust more and criticise less. Students will always be more responsive when they are allowed to shoulder responsibilities.

-- Maithreyi Venkataraman and Sukhpreet Kaur, Gyanshree School