1. The 5:1 Ratio
Slide #1:  Title Slide
 Procedural Directions: Introduce yourself and explain your role.
Presenter Notes:
This presentation was developed as a collaboration between WI FACETS, the Wisconsin RtI Center, and MPS.
Activities & Discussion:
One of the most important principles in building relationships and teaching

2. What is 5:1? Slide #2: What is 5:1 Procedural Directions:
Procedural Directions:
Presenter Notes:
The ratio of giving positive feedback to corrective feedback should be 5 positives to every corrective or negative statement. When this ratio is present in a relationship, whether it is a teacher - student relationship, parent- child relationship, or co-worker relationships, or spouse relationship, research tells us that the number of positives statements made makes a difference to the health of the relationship.
Activities & Discussion:

3. The Research: Business Teams
High Performance = 5.6:1
Medium Performance = 1.9:1
Low Performance = 1:2.7
Slide #3: Research on Businesses
Procedural Directions:
 Point out that this research is done with adults. It is even more important with children!
Presenter Notes:
Let's look at the research in this area. Businesses are always looking at how to be more productive. When teams were observed to see if there was a relationship between the ratio of positives to correctives and the overall functioning of the team, researchers found that the highest performing teams had a ratio of 5 positives to 1 corrective. Medium performing teams had a ratio of 2 to1, and low performing teams had ratio of 1 positive to 3 correctives. Losada, 1999; Losada & Heaphy, 2004
Activities & Discussion:
May want people to reflect on their experience in the work place. Were there settings where their bosses were affirming? Punitive? Where did they prefer to work? Where did they do a better job?

4. The research: Marriages That Last
Marriages likely to end in divorce = 1:1.3
Slide #4: Research on Personal Relationships
 Procedural Directions:
Presenter Notes:
Moving to the realm of personal relationships, and marriages specifically, Gottman looked at 700 newly wed couples and scored their positive and negative interaction in one 15 minute conversation between husband and wife.
Ten years later, the follow-up revealed that they had predicted divorces with 94 percent accuracy.
Marriages that last had a 5.1 to 1 for speech acts and 4.7 to 1 for observed emotions
Marriages likely to end in divorce had a 1 positive to 1.3 negative ratio
Think about that! Researchers could predict with over 90% accuracy which marriages lasted and which ended in divorce by looking at the ratio of positives to correctives in the couples' communications to one another. Marriages that lasted had a ratio of 5 positives to 1 corrective, while those that ended in divorce had a ratio of 1 positive to 1 corrective.
Activities & Discussion:
May want to ask people to reflect on their current relationship. On past relationships. Where do they think they fall. Don’t need to share this out, as it is private.

5. Research from Becker and Evertson
91%
Original
Student
Engagement
Student engagement and praise
Withholding
Praise
74%
Tripling
Criticism
Of Off-task
Behavior
Slide #5: Research for Students
 Procedural Directions:
·         Note when to click to bring up the next point on this slide
After reflection, share the importance of positives in developing relationships.
Presenter Notes:
Let’s look more at this last point. Student engagement is one of the strongest factors that impacts achievement, and research from Carolyn Evertson confirms that student engagement is impacted by praise or specific, positive feedback. (click) This study found that 91 percent of the students were engaged in the initial learning activity. (click) When the teacher deliberately withheld praise, student engagement slipped to 74 percent. (click) When the teacher deliberately tripled the criticism of off-task behavior, student engagement fell AGAIN to percent. The reason? Whatever a teacher attends to increases, even if it is negative attention. Source: Brophy and Evertson (1976); Becker et al. (1975)
After reflection:  Acknowledging things that we appreciate about people also builds relationship. It is like money in the relationship bank account. When you say something positive, you are putting money into the bank. When you correct, you are pulling money out. This becomes important when children are having a hard time with something. They are more likely to work to improve a poor behavior, or to confide about a problem if their relationship with their parent is strong; if they feel that the adults in their lives believe in them.
Activities & Discussion:
Reflect: What do they think their ratio is? May not be exact, but do they think they give more positive, correctives, or about the same?
50-69%

6. What are 5 things you appreciate about your child?
Think About It……
What are 5 things you appreciate about your child?
Slide #6 : Self Reflection
Procedural Directions:
Give people around 2 – 3 minutes to list the things they appreciate about each child. Discuss/share.
Presenter Notes:
This principle is applied in classrooms, as teachers strive to have a 5:1 ratio of positives to correctives with their students. Aside from the research, this is considered good coaching strategy. People learn faster when they are told what they are doing correctly and why, rather than being told that they are doing things wrong, and given little specific feedback on how to improve.
Take a moment to reflect on your relationship with each of your children. List at least 5 things that you appreciate about your child. How often to you communicate these things to them? Now think of 1 thing you'd like them to improve on? How often do you remind them of this? Was it easier to think of one category than the other? This might be an indication of which one you practice more often. One way of thinking about this is to think of a bank account. When you say something positive to your child, you putting a deposit in their emotional bank account. Not only does this strengthen the relationship capital you have with your child, it also improves their self esteem. Whenever you make a correction, or say something negative, you are making a withdrawal from your relationship account with your child. Too many negatives can also adversely impact their self-esteem and emotional resilience.
Activities & Discussion:
Activity 1: What do you appreciate about each of your children. Allow 3 – 5 minutes. This should be easy, but may need more time if they have a lot of children. Ask if they need more time before moving on. After reflection, have 3 people share some of things they appreciate about their child.
Activity 2: One thing you wish they could improve on. Try to get them to be specific, and limit to one activity. This will probably only take 1 minute. Have a few people share out. If it is not specific, coach to get it one, specific thing. Example: Always argues when corrected. Isn’t ready in time in the morning. Leaves their things around the house.
What is one thing you wish they would improve?

7. Make it effective…. Be specific What was the impact?
You got all of your things ready last night before you went to bed….
Be specific
It made for a much better morning!
What was the impact?
Thank – you! Or
Good Job! Or
I’m proud of you!
Slide #7: How make Acknowledgement Effective
 Procedural Directions:
As you go through the speaker notes, you can refer to the slide for an example of Specific, what was the impact and optional.
Allow time for questions during this time.
 Presenter Notes:
There are ways to make the positive communications with our children more impactful. First, be very specific about what you appreciate, or what your child did well. Rather than the generic, "Good Job!", which while positive, may leave your child wondering what they did to deserve your praise, a specific comment makes them aware of what they did well.
Next, share the impact of their good deed.
If you want, you can then add something like, "I'm proud of you!" or "Thank-you!"
Framing your positive communications in this way will increase the likelihood that your child will repeat their good behavior.
When a child is first learning something new, it helps to give a lot of specific positive feedback. This doesn't mean you never correct your child. Giving specific corrective feedback is also useful. Just be aware of the ratio.
 Activities & Discussion:
Activity: Think of a time of day- What is the toughest part of the day with your child. Think of some things you can acknowledge about them, and try to increase acknowledgments.
Optional: Add a little something….

8. Put it into Practice Think of positive things to say for those
tough times during the day.
Think of the behavior you want to change. What do you want your child to do instead? Look for opportunities to acknowledge the new behavior.
Look at the list of things you appreciate about your child: When did you last tell them? When will you tell them?
Come up with some small ways that you can increase the positive things you communicate to your child(ren).
Slide #8: Put it Into Practice
Procedural Directions:
Share ideas for putting this information into practice.
Be open to discussion
Give time for participants to reflect on how they will use this information, and ask for people to share out.   
Presenter Notes:
 How can you put this into practice? Here are some suggestions:
What is a tough time of day for your child, and you? Can you think of some positive things to acknowledge you child during this time?
Think of the behavior that is challenging, that you wrote down at the beginning of this session. What do you want your child to do instead? Look for opportunities to acknowledge the new behavior. Remember, increasing acknowledgement when a child is learning a new behavior or skill is very effective.
Look at the list of things you appreciate about your child. When did you last tell them?
Think of a small way you can increase the positive things you communicate to children to increase your ratio of Positives to Corrective. For instance, before correcting a behavior, say something you appreciate.
Activities & Discussion:
Activity: Take some time to think about how you might put this information into practice. Ask for people to share out.