During the summer I taught a webinar called, “Helping Your Young Client Persevere in the Face of Learning Differences”
We spoke a lot about how the way we talk to children can effect a child’s view of how well they can cope with school. Our words can either discourage or encourage children to take responsibility for their schoolwork and to work through the challenges that they may have.
One teacher, Stephanie Skelton, at Fieldcrest Elementary School, taught her students to think positively about their schoolwork and their capabilities. Her goal was to teach them a growth mindset (you can see many other articles on parenting simply.com about growth mindset).
She taught them that instead of saying:
“I am not good at this.”
That they should try thinking:
“What am I missing?”
Instead of:
“I’m awesome at this!”
Try thinking:
“I’m on the right track”
Instead of:
“I give up.”
Try thinking:
“I’ll use some of the strategies we learned.”
Instead of:
“This is too hard.”
Try thinking:
“This may take some time and effort.”
Instead of:
“I can’t make this any better.”
Try thinking:
“I can always improve, so I’ll keep on trying.”
Instead of:
“I just can’t do math.”
Try thinking:
“I’m going to train my brain in Math.”
Instead of:
“I made a mistake.”
Try thinking:
“Mistakes help me to learn better.”
Instead of:
“She’s so smart. I will never be that smart.”
Try thinking:
“I’m going to figure out how she does it, so I can try it.”
Instead of:
“It’s good enough.”
Try thinking:
“Is it really my best work?”
Instead of:
“Plan A didn’t work.”
Try thinking:
“Good thing the alphabet has 25 more letters.”
I would highly recommend checking out the Fieldcrest Elementary School, blog. There are so many other great ideas that are not just for the classroom. They can be easily implemented at home.