Another prominent feature in all the observations is her spirit of encouragement, be it praises for answering, commendations for getting good marks, or passing simple words of encouragement. She does not seem to have much negativism in her class. One student says she always “...says nice thing to us”. She has an inbuilt quality that runs when she is in her class and likely when she is outside of her class. During the interview, she explained the power of encouragement. Her encouragements make the students feel valued and also make them feel that they belong to the class. She is a great motivator as proven by Student B, who would continue to be the best even as she moved beyond this teacher; “Yes, because she tells us we must be the best even though she’s not there. Yes, be together as the best.”
Instead of penalising her homework dodger, she would praise him when the student finally handed in his homework to her. And when the same student did not pass up his work during the fifth observation, she attended to him one-on-one and helped him finish the work immediately after class. There was no shouting or yelling, nor would she send the student out of the class. She was in control. She embodied the Chinese saying “give the boy ‘face’ so as not to embarrass him.”
Though the competitive spirit was invoked during her lessons as well as in the distribution of games, she used competitiveness as points for rewards. Her rewards were abundant and generous. Pizzas, squash racquets, ice-creams, and sweets, were some of the prizes mentioned; “She gives us lots of presents; sweets, Pizza Hut, Dominoes pizza. She also uses her own money to buy stuff for the class. She also gives us things she doesn’t want.”
Points were also given for doing work on time, being honest, unusual answers and also group work rewards. Points were also used as her method of discipline. “When she wants to teach us from our wrong doing, she just minus marks, millions of marks. The most is grounding.” (Grounding is taking away the privilege of play time