The Power of Yes!

This week we were working on learning strategies. One of the articles that I read was very useful in my teaching. The article is which is listed below. The part that I liked from the this articles was the strategies for understanding the power of yes. The interaction between teachers and students is one of the most lasting interactions in a child's life. This is one of their first interactions with an adult that is not their parent. A huge portion of the identity is based on this interaction. If the interaction is negative then the student will mold their identity with negativity and the same when the interaction is positive.
The article offerer four strategies to help become a teacher that uses yes with the students and not resort to no.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=6K6B6IcQM5c

The first strategy is to make a list of the positive qualities that will be noted by the teacher. But then during the day of instruction the teacher will use these positive qualities to make note of the student behavior. When this positive behavior gets the recognition the students crave, they will strive to model more and more of the positive behavior.

The second strategy is to give the student an alternative behavior. This means that rather than drawing attention to the behavior that is not wanted, give the child a task that will change that behavior. This can be where the student talking is given the job to push in chairs, or collect the books. When I tried this in my room, it was a relief to give the student a new task that ended the behavior that they couldn't stop. I have some students that just can't seem to stop talking. So, I gave reward points to the students modeling the positive behavior, then gave some of them things to do, and also to some of the students who couldn't stop the negative behavior.

The third strategy is to give the students a choice in the positive behavior. I have used this one often, but not in this way. I usually give them a choice between a consequence for the negative behavior and a positive behavior to do. But the article suggested to give the students the choice between two positive behavior's and neither one is a consequence for the negative behavior. I tried this with a students, and realized that by doing this I took away all of the power of the negative behavior, because I never mentioned it once. Loved it!!

Fourth strategy is the "when/then". This one I tried at home. And my children responded to it like bees to sugar. They loved having the outcome clearly laid out for them and they could follow the directions. They were even able to remember their directions, which is a common problem in my house.

Kersey, K. C., & Masterson, M. L. (2011). Learn to Say Yes! When You Want to Say No! to Create Cooperation Instead of Resistance: Positive Behavior Strategies in Teaching. Young Children, 66(4), 40-44.