FOSTERING A POSITIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD LEARNING

"…the teacher can never write anything negative about a child…Everything is positive."
"…find something positive to say about a child every morning."
"When our children walk in the door, I say, ‘Welcome to success. Say goodbye to failure because you are not going to fail. I’m not going to let you fail.’"
"We have created an attitude that puts joy back into learning, that creates satisfaction at doing something correctly."
"We always find something positive to say about their papers — ‘Very good, but let’s proofread this.’ No teacher ever uses the words, ‘That’s wrong.’ We always find something positive to say about a child."
"Create an ambience of positiveness in the classroom where children learn that it takes more courage to be wrong than to play it safe without ever responding to questions."
"Children respond to love and positive feedback rather than negative programming."
"Write encouraging notes to children, not just when they are in trouble."
"Never let students say ‘I can’t.’ Say to them, ‘We remove the ‘t’ from the ‘can’t’ and we have ‘can.’"
"When a child gives an incorrect answer, say, ‘Very good try, but not quite.’"
"Praise is essential in developing the right attitude toward learning and toward school. We all know this in theory. In practice we often forget the importance of praise in dealing with children."