I love rewarding kids, finding the good, praising…. accentuating the positive! So, I love finding, thinking of or coming across ideas that can do just that. This weekend I was thinking about a few kids I have this year that are smartie pants and either think outside the box or find a new way of doing something and I always praise them for thinking creatively. It’s kinda like a domino effect because when I do that, my other students want to be recognized and they want to share how they come up with an answer in math or thought about how to solve a problem. What I love about this is that it gets even my more reluctant learners to try to rethink a situation or solve a problem. They love to be recognized for this as well.
So, this weekend I started thinking about something I could do to make these kids feel extra special and since like I said earlier my outside the box thinkers have really been motivating my other learners to do the same so I wanted to give them a little shout out of sorts. I thought why not use a light bulb and put it on a necklace? The student that has the bright idea at the moment can be called out and recognized, I told the kids today that the light bulb might move around all day long. They were on board and loved the idea!
So, today when one of my struggling students asked if he could re organize my reading group books I said sure. He went about the task diligently and carefully. He found a new place to put them that made more sense and looked neater. I praised him for his creative organization skills. He beamed when I put the bright ideas necklace around his neck. He wore it so proudly! If you have students that don’t typically think outside the box that’s okay. Find something that they can shine at that you can turn into a bright idea and let them have their moment to shine!
It really is just about building those relationships and their self esteem…once you have that…the teaching comes so much easier…I promise!
The necklace made it rounds today, when another child had a brilliant idea or tackled a problem outside the box I transferred the necklace to that child. Another idea make a few necklaces so you can have 3 students wearing them at a time during the day. Either way they still feel special!
I hope you can use this idea, if you want to try it out you can grab it ( here ).
Don’t forget to join me here every Wednesday for my weekly series,
Happy teaching friends!
xo,
