(BLOG 29) Affirmations of Students
It’s May! It’s May!
As a teacher, you are looking for the light at the end of tunnel,…you have a hundred different things to complete in your curriculum and you’re wondering if it will ever get done. Make sure that you remember to include the students’ human development and growth on your checklist!
Many students will leave your classroom in a month and head off to environments that are not as healthy or positive as the one they’ve experienced in your classroom this year. The students have developed many different “star qualities” since September (persistence, self-discipline, collaboration, etc.). It would mean a great deal to them if you pointed out those positive developments in the form of affirmations.
The affirmations can take many forms. You could single out one student per day this month,…or use the final couple days of school to affirm each person individually. It’s important that the other students are allowed to share positives with their classmate; many times they’ll notice things that the teacher has overlooked.
The ritual of affirmation can take any one of three levels:
“You have” (You have a nice smile. You have a great backpack.)
“You do” (You did great in the play. You are a good outfielder.)
“You are” (You are kind and thoughtful. You are trustworthy.)
Affirmation days turned out to be among the best days I ever had in the classroom in my forty-year career. I will forget many of the days when I taught my students fractions, but I will never forget these affirmations of students’ growth!
Check out a quick video regarding this topic: https://vimeo.com/164838114
Contact us to hear how we can open up this topic further with your faculty/staff, students, coaches, or business: info@top20training.com
