Student Contributor: C. Sanchez
Teachers write their students notes of encouragement throughout the year. This serves to encourage students and reinforce positive behavior.
Teachers write their students encouraging notes throughout the year. These notes should be specific and should highlight specific positive behavior noticed by the teacher. This tool can be used at any time of the year as part of the preventive phase. Teachers should strive to recognize all their students, not just the A+ students. This method is beneficial because it affirms a student’s behavior and helps them realize that a teacher is their biggest supporter. Students should not see teachers as authoritarians but as encouragers and facilitators of learning. Therefore, writing a positive note of encouragement to their students is beneficial in the preventative phase.
This tool is part of the preventative phase because it helps to encourage positive behavior. Teachers will benefit from writing encouraging notes to students before behavioral problems arise. This is because teachers are reinforcing specific positive behaviors. These notes help students to pinpoint how they are succeeding as students. Ultimately, this tool is under the preventative phase because it addresses and encourages positive behavior rather than treating a misbehavior with a consequence.
More Information –
Tool Source: Todd Finley
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/big-and-small-classroom-management-strategies-todd-finley
2nd grade
19 students
Suburban
This tool was simple to prepare for! All I had to do was find paper to write the notes on. I bought some stationary from Amazon that included envelopes so I could put these notes into the student’s mailboxes. There was not any teaching involved with this strategy. The strategy was very easy to use because the notes took at most five minutes to write. It also encourages you to look for the positive behavior that the students are displaying in the classroom.
I noticed that after I put the letters in each of the students’ mailboxes, the particular students continued to do the action that I said they did a nice job of doing. I also noticed that it strengthened the relationship that I had with the students.
The students understood their role with the new tool. Since the students did not play a role with this tool, there wasn’t anything for them to do.
The adjustments to make this tool better could be using nice stationary that have sayings like “you rock” or “you’re awesome” on the note that you give the students. This way, the students could feel even more appreciated.
My students are a group of 23 fifth graders who attend school in an urban area. I decided to handwrite my letters because I felt like that would make them more meaningful. I prepared this tool by buying colorful cardstock paper. I wrote my letters on a blank piece of paper, cut them out, and glued them to a small cut-out cardstock paper. I introduced this tool one random day before they went home. I explained the meaning of it and then passed them out. I was nervous to introduce this tool because I did not know how their reactions were going to be. It is not common to receive handwritten letters. However, my students understood their role quickly. They understood to show good behavior in the classroom and to one another because that was the purpose of the letters. One successful outcome was seeing students excited to receive letters and asking me when they would get their next one. They looked forward to reading positive things about themselves, especially the few students who dealt with behavior problems. One thing I would change would be to pass them out every two weeks rather than just randomly.