I’ve written before about what a difference a child’s attitude makes in their daily school performance. This week I have some classic examples.
Student C is always “looking out for #1”- herself. She is bossy, pushy, and manipulative. She will lie, cheat, steal or hurt other students in order to get her way and has done all of those in my class. Yesterday she kept playing with her coat, taking it off and on, putting it in her cubby, getting it out. It was just a good excuse to get out of her seat. I finally said, “Either put that coat on and leave it on, or leave it in your cubby. Make a choice, now.” I turned to answer a question from another student. When I looked at her again the coat was folded up and she was sitting on it! Attitude.
Student A is a bit lazy and hates to be challenged. She would rather socialize with her friends first and then if she has any extra time she might look at her class work. She has also hidden her work in order to move on to “free choice” activities. However, she has a tender heart and realizes that she should be doing her work. She is always remorseful when she neglects to turn in her work or I find that she has hidden it in the back of her desk. Last week she really got behind and she got a warning from our principal about her behavior. Well, yesterday she found something she had hidden last week. She tearfully brought it to my desk and admitted what she had done. I thanked her for her honesty, praised her because she has been doing all of her work this week, and told her to complete it for homework. She returned to her desk with a smile. Attitude.
Student S is happy, happy, happy to be at school and in my class. He works hard, gets along well with others, and tries to make me smile with stories and pretty pictures. Yesterday he brought me his journal. “I wrote you some singing words.” “That’s great!” “Don’t you want to hear them?” “Of course I do.” He proceeded to sing “You Are My Sunshine” and then he said, “I wrote those words for you.” Attitude.
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