Today I decided to put up my signs about "genius" and talk about it a little more with my classes. I was so excited when I first put them up and couldn't wait to inspire kids, their reaction to it was definitely not what I expected. I had a few kids who would light up and say "I'm a genius!" but only because they saw it posted on my door. I had a lot of kids who walked in and said "That sign is a lie," or "I'm not a genius." It was disheartening to see that so many people just flat out said it and didn't seem to care.
Even when I went through and talked about genius and how it doesn't necessarily mean you are extremely smart and good at everything, it just might be a certain thing that you are really good at. That turned a few more on to genius, but I still had the few in each class who thought it was ridiculous. How do you address that? How do you help them to see they really are someone and are good at things?
The next thing that went through my mind is what are we doing to kids to make them feel like they are not a genius? That they are not good at anything? How is their self confidence so low that they can't even think of one thing they are good at? I know that I'm not good at a lot, but I can think of a few good qualities of mine that I could say are genius. How come so many kids can't do that? It was even more frustrating when I thought about who these students are that don't feel like a genius. They were students who I would think / hope have someone telling them, "YES! You are great at ___." and have some form of positive reinforcement verbally.
After today, I will give my kids more positive reinforcement and continue to point out the good things they do. They obviously need to hear it more often, and I'm more than willing to do that.
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