Begin the Year with a Promise....
Our building has been learning about different ways to interact with kids that will give you the biggest bang for your buck. One of the big ones is helping kids be a part of your vision. So this year we are working on making promises with our kids. I decieded that we would start with them helping me make my promise. So we brainstormed different things they wanted from their teacher this year. Having taught kinder last year it was a pretty neat surprise to see all of the thinking the "big kids" had. My favorite still is..."Get to lunch on time" but I also got a good glimpse of their little spirits with comments like " No Yelling," and "If you are having a bad day, don't take it out on us," as well as " If we act like something is wrong, ask us how we are feeling," and lastly " Just care about us." So we grouped them into different categories such as
1. Listen, act, and talk respectfully
2. Help us be responsible
3. Provide engaging activities
Then I put them into partners and asked them what they needed to be successful this year...I also talked about how they needed to make sure to match mine. For example if they wanted me to provide engaging activities, they needed to be engaged ( another big bang for your buck item). We got them all together and grouped them. Theirs were very similar to mine with:
1. Be respectful (listen, act, and talk)
2. Be responsible (taking care of my stuff)
3. Be engaged
We were able to have a very good conversation about the difference between being engaged and just behaving. When you are engaged you are talking and asking questions...when you are behaving, you are just sitting there without talking.
