Module 3 - Social Skills

Sometimes, I have bad days. I'm moody, temperamental, and don't want to talk to anyone. But, I get up and go to work because I have 130 kids who are depending on me. On those days, my best may not be as good as I want it to be, but I try to find something positive that I can grab and use to try to pull me out of my funk. And, if all else fails, I fall back on my manners and my social skills training to help me be polite and get through the day. Knowing that I have bad days helps to keep things in perspective when working with kids, because sometimes, they have bad days. But, because they are kids they may not have as much practice with their social skills as I do. But, what about the times when a kid isn't having a bad day, they are just making bad choices in the classroom? One thing I've had luck with is using specific positive praise. I have found that using this with my students, letting them know I see them making a good choice, does a lot for their behavior. Because of this I want to be more intentional with my specific positive praise. Because even when I'm having a bad day, being told something nice, given a compliment, or having my effort acknowledged goes a long way to improving my day. And if it can do that for me, I know it can work to help my students, bad day or not.