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Posted by Jenni on 4/18/2012, 10:24 am, in reply to "Re: The impact we have on our students"
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Thanks for your comments, holly. Elementary kids are awesome, but I love my middle schoolers too. I think it's all about valuing them for who they are, letting them know you care about them, and making a connection. I try to always make time to hear about what's important to them and to make them feel special. Yeah, we have our work to get done too, and that has to be our primary focus. But I find that students are much more willing to work hard if they know that you respect and care about them as a person first.
And yes, I do have incentives, including hokey little prizes in the prize box for 10 sessions of working hard and following directions. We also play a game while we work every 2nd session as long as everyone is working and the game is not distracting us from our purpose in speech. Some may think I'm "old school" but I don't think there's anything wrong with having a little fun while you're learning!
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