Teacher Feature...
Teachers Net International Good Manners Week
by Carol Lambright
Over 100 "Toadally" Awesome Classrooms around the world will be participating during the week of September 11-September 15 sharing ideas to promote good listening and manners in their classrooms.
In June of 2000 on Teachers Net Anne from Seattle said, "Wouldn't it be great to have a Manners and Listening Week?" Tracy Bankhead from South Carolina said, "Why not? Let's try!" Tracy began collecting the names of interested teachers and the idea grew. Carol Lambright, Kindergarten Teacher, Hallie Randall Elementary, Fruitvale, Texas said she would begin the web page for the project. Mrs.Tracy Bankhead, First Grade, EP Todd Elementary, Spartanburg, South Carolina and Mrs. Mary Jo Kaufman, First Grade, Sts. Peter and Paul School Ottawa, Ohio have been compiling the information. To date more than 100 "Toadally Awesome" teachers from all over the world have started sharing ideas to promote good manners and listening skills in classrooms everywhere. Hopefully, more interested teachers will jump on board and add to our exciting voyage of promoting these great qualities in children. We plan to collaborate our efforts one classroom at a time joining hands across the world. The week of September 11- 15 will be International Manners and Listening Week.
We, as educators, hope to make a difference in the lives of our students by promoting good listening and good manners. As teachers, it is our experience that many negative interactions between students could be handled in more positive ways if all students had a common background of skills they could call upon when interacting with others. We believe that the most fundamental of these skills are basic manners. Being polite to others actually shows that you care about others. We need to instill in our students the ability to understand and realize that each person has his/her own self worth and dignity. By listening to others and by respecting their "space" we show them they are unique and necessary to our existence. In order to learn acceptable behavior in real life situations they must first learn the types of responses and behaviors that generate good will. By taking the time early in the school year to ensure that each child has the same understanding of basic manners we feel many misunderstandings could be solved with less anger and frustration. We must teach the students not just to say those "polite" words but to understand what they mean. If we can make the world a better place for our students, we will have succeeded in our plan.
Related links
Mrs. Lambright's "Toadally" Awesome Kindergarten:
Webster A. Frog and Friends:
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