Five Behavioral Sciences That Can Help You Understand Your Youthful Students’ Core Nature
- Understand that every behavior does have a positive intention and is a sign of the child’s individuality. Sometimes children may act strange or out-of-bounds during class only because he or she is simply finding his or her own path. Many teachers have a distorted perception of strange or aggressive behavior. Don’t assume that strange or aggressive behaviors are signs of negativity. If you teach yourself to approach every behavior as a signal of the child’s individuality and treat it with a positive approach, you’ll be surprised at the result you’ll find. After all, it’s the individuality in every child that makes teaching fun.
- Help your children discover that there is no such thing as failure, only feedback. As a teacher it is our role to nurture each and every student and help them grow. When a child makes a mistake, it is not a bad thing. Mistakes are how children learn, and if you help your children understand that mistakes don’t mean failure, then you’ll improve their overall growth. There is no such thing as failure if you know how to give positive and constructive feedback when necessary.
- You cannot “not” communicate. It’s a funny thing when you watch teachers that do not directly connect with the children they are teaching. It is virtually impossible to communicate with a child if you do not know how to connect with them. To improve your teaching abilities with children keep in mind that communication is delivered not only by language, but by voice, tone, and posture as well. Every move and every noise you make conveys a message. Choose the right words, tones, and movements and your communication abilities and teaching abilities will have a powerful, positive impact.
- A child’s action does not make the child. It is natural for a teacher to feel discouraged towards children that do not behave appropriately. The problem is many teachers put blame on the child as if the child is a menace, yet in reality it is not the child but the behavior that the child chose that is the real problem. Instead of telling a child “you’re a bad child because you hit her” try saying something like “your choice to hit her was not the right choice.” Learn how to separate the behavior from the child so that the child does not feel like you think that he/she is a bad person.
- EVERYONE has the ability to succeed. When you look at some of the greatest people in history such as Albert Einstein and Thomas Edison, you would never know that both had learning disabilities. The reason why they succeeded is because they both, in spite of their problems, used all of their resources to achieve their dreams. Being aware of the fact that children can succeed if you simply believe in them will make a world of difference. Give your struggling students more love and support and you will help them realize they have more potential than they thought.