Not toxic positivity, but radical positivity.
On Wikipedia, one definition of toxic positivity is ” a ‘pressure to stay upbeat no matter how dire one’s circumstance is.'”
We’re right to discourage toxic positivity; however, I’m a huge fan of radical positivity.
I will always be excited about my students’ work. I will always be enthusiastic, encouraging, and, yes, positive. Being relentlessly, radically positive is a way to offset the negativity we hear from so many and from our own self-talk.
I can give my students constructive feedback, to be sure; but it’s all in the service of growth and couched in legitimate positive feedback about their present position.
Sometime I have heard people dismiss this kind of radical positivity in others as toxic positivity. But they fall in different categories for me. Radical positivity doesn’t deny circumstances, it only seeks to focus on the positive aspects and use them as a scaffolding to continue growth and improvement.
I’ve tried other approaches to leadership; radical positivity is the one that most effectively reaches the most students.