Looking for new ways to reinforce effort....

I am a kindergarten teacher looking for new ways to reinforce effort in my classroom. I feel as though I am very effective at this, but feel as though I have fallen into a rut with the same "reinforcers"....Braedon is making a great above the line choice....I like how Huriel is sitting tummy to table...and so on and so forth. I am just looking for some new and fresh ideas to bump it up a notch or two for second semester!

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Permalink Reply by Kelly Sigler on January 26, 2011 at 8:47pm

May I be so bold as to suggest my blog? It's incredibly rude, but I'm so excited about what's happening in my own classroom that I want to share these ideas with the world! :) I went to a tech conference with Angela Maiers and she made it clear that EVERY child is a genius. Literally! The criteria for geniuses describes Kindergarteners to a T. Now I say things like "Oh, Emma! I could see your genius today when you were helping Ryan with his math!" The kids just LOVE it, and it's totally true! Angela's mantra is "YOU are a genius and the world NEEDS your contribution!" I'm going to make it a poster to hang in my classroom! I also refer to the kids as Readers and Writers instead of just boys and girls or Mrs. Sigler's class. It gives them ownership of something and they are so proud. How simple but incredibly effective!

If you want to check out the blog, you can find it here: Join Our Journey! Good luck this semester! :)

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Permalink Reply by Barb Kucera on March 6, 2011 at 2:12pm

Kelly, thanks SOOOO ,much for the link to your blog....just love it and you were not rude suggesting it...I am thrilled! Thanks for all of the help! Barb

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Permalink Reply by Allisonn on January 27, 2011 at 8:03am

You may be interested in a great book called "Power of Our Words" by Paula Denton. It has great examples of reinforcing language.

Goodluck!

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Permalink Reply by Jeff Yearout on January 27, 2011 at 10:22am

You might also want to ponder the thinking of Carol Dweck as set forth in her book Mindset. What we praise can be critically important as well according to her theories.

http://mindsetonline.com/howmindsetaffects/parentsteacherscoaches/i...

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Permalink Reply by Barb Kucera on March 6, 2011 at 2:15pm

Thanks Jeff! This is awesome!

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Permalink Reply by Daniel Bassill on March 8, 2011 at 12:14pm

This is an article on motivation from the Center for Mental Health in Schools at UCLA. I think you'll find it and the other resources of the Center to be quite useful. I'm not with the Center but have found their ideas and resources to be very good.