It's a somewhat tall order given the culture in which we live - it's a negative
culture. One can become negative from watching the news which is certainly
bad these days but in any day is always slanted toward the negative.
We're not a positive people anymore. Children can't be immune from that and
some schools are themselves very negative. What's the general tone of your
faculty? How's the lunch room? What's the general take on the kids by teachers
in your school - do teachers speak in a positive upbeat way looking foward to
each day?
Cause that's certainly not the case at my school and the kids pick up on it. A
well run school should have the principal in the foyer early every morning saying
a cheerful Good Morning to the kids and teachers but does yours? Mine used to
but he's the most negative person in the school now. And this by the way is a
charter school - we can pick our kids and don't have to take state tests. What's
there to be so negative about?
Do you think it's just your classroom or is it school-wide? In either case, I curb
the negativity by not being negative but rather being positive and all the time -
it takes energy to be positive. I think sometimes all of us dismiss what the kids
are saying as kids' whining but at least around here they never get a break. The
worst is usually assumed of them and the best they can expect is a quite a bit of
homework every night and 'no whining about it'.
I state positive policies right up front - I don't give homework on weekends or
holidays and encourage them to have fun on weekends. There's too little
downtime in all our lives including theirs. I try to have my class and its activities
be exciting if possible. I think of it like stage drama and I'm always 'on' - to
keep them interested I keep changing things up but always with a smile.
If we meet negativity with negativity like "stop sniveling', it only breeds more.
Few of us have time to really listen to kids any more and fewer still are willing to
give any credence to what they're saying. There's a lot of anger everywhere and
it doesn't stop at the school room door.
> The life is being sucked out of me by all the negativity
> in my classroom and in our school in general. I have
> students who cannot open their mouths without something
> negative coming out - literally! How can I turn this
> around? or prevent it? or stop it? I am already looking
> ahead to next year, knowing that I don't want to deal with
> it again for another year, and knowing I must nip it in
> the bud. The negativity is about everything from the
> day's lesson to the temperature of the room to the fact
> they have to get up out of their chair to get a pencil
> from the supply table in the corner of the room.
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