At the end of the day today, I told one of my kids a secret.
In front of the other kids.
I leaned down (another reason I teach first grade – I am slightly taller than them), whispered into his ear, and then sent him off to wherever he goes after school (dismissal is absolutely crazy at my school with multiple gates, bus riders, Kid’s Club, and different after school activities like Art and Science and Legos – yes – that’s true – and my team and I split up to take kids to different gates so I don’t get to walk all of my kids out everyday). So when I say I sent him off to wherever he goes, I knew where he was going, but I couldn’t take him there.
Well.
Whispering into a student’s ear with others watching makes those other students go nuts.
What? What did you say? Wait! What did you whisper?
And I said well, I can’t tell you, it’s private, and that’s why I whispered. Meanwhile, this little guy that I had whispered to has been having some difficulty in the mornings coming into the classroom without being teary-eyed and missing his parents so I whispered that if we could have a great morning the following day, I would pay him five gold tags.
Yes. I bribed said I would reward him if he could just pretend to be happy to see me the next day. You’d do it, too. Don’t look at me like that.
Well.
The rest of my kids wanted a secret, too.
Who knew?
So as I dismissed each student to wherever they were going, I whispered something to each of them.
I like how you never give up.
You are a good friend to everyone.
You are a math wizard.
You were such a great dancer today during GoNoodle.
You knocked my socks off when you shared (oral language) today.
I like how you always help others.
And on and on.
I had a group of about 12 kids that were coming with me to one of the gates, and all they could talk about was the secret I told them.
She said that I always have a positive attitude!
She said that I’m a deep thinker!
She said that my art should be in a museum!
As we were walking out, I started laughing and I told them that it was a secret, that they really shouldn’t be telling each other what I said, but most of all, I just listened.
They were thrilled.
I mean, they couldn’t get over what I said to each of them and each student wanted to tell another student what I said.
It took about one minute to do this at the end of the day.
It really didn’t matter what else had gone on – they were hanging onto my words like I had given them a million dollars.
Geesh.
I mean, I know words are powerful, but wow. WOW.
Once, after I presented at the Southern California Kinder Conference, I got to read my evaluations.
And while almost all of them were good (toot toot, excuse me while I blow my own horn) and people thought I was funny and energetic, or they liked the idea of my plays, there were a couple of evaluations that hurt my feelings.
And guess which ones I remember?
Exactly.
I don’t remember the pile that said all good things. I remember the one or two that hurt my feelings.
So with this spontaneous little secrets thing, I’m reminded of how powerful my words are. How easy it is to build a child up. And how easy it is to tear them down.
So, with that, I’m making it a little goal to tell my kids a secret way more often.
Except that it won’t be a secret.
🙂
This is amazing! We have so much power to influence our kiddos in either a positive or negative way and it is awesome that you found a way to end their school day with such a positive message! I have done the same thing with secret notes that I place in their folders and have heard from parents that their kiddos were beaming when they read the notes and shared them with their families! Love it!!!
My favorite post ever!!!!! Every teacher needs to read it!!! XOXOX -Lauren
This was amazing to read. I smiled the whole time. You are a wonderful teacher. Thanks so much for sharing 🙂
Brilliant and very insightful.
You know, I was going to write exactly what Lauren wrote. And I will. FAVORITE POST EVER! And every teacher does need to read this. Also, I would be right there with you remembering the review that hurt my feelings. 🙁 What a happy, happy post!
Love.
I love you for reminding me again what an important role we are in their lives!
Great post!
Insprirational. Thanks for sharing!
Awesome! You are very creative. I LOVE reading about all your great ideas. Thanks for sharing.
You freakin' ROCK!!!
Haha. I use "secrets" as classroom management. If the room is too loud, I'll ask one student to come speak to me at the door. The room immediately goes silent because they all want to know what is going on.
So true, a lovely post – and a great reminder that our students don't need anything too fancy, they just want our time and attention more often than not 🙂
I love this! You are right about the power of words! I'm 53 years old and was told in first grade (a LONG time ago) that I could not sing in the Christmas pageant. I have never sung in public again. Because of this experience, I am very careful with my words. We have to build our students up, and not year them down.
I love this! You are right about the power of words! I'm 53 years old and was told in first grade (a LONG time ago) that I could not sing in the Christmas pageant. I have never sung in public again. Because of this experience, I am very careful with my words. We have to build our students up, and not year them down.
I love this. That is all.
I love this. That is all.
What a completely simple but overwhelmingly powerful idea!! Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
~Erin
Mrs. Beattie's Classroom
love you even more!
First….how can anyone not think you are brilliant and engaging?? And second….why is it that we always remember the negative? I think we forget that our students will do the same (at least I have been forgetting). I need to tell my students secrets!! I have such a challenging class this year and this may be just what I need to help me break through to some of my behaviors and to build up the wonderful ones, who tend to get ignored.
Terri
KinderKapers
Cool! I love this.
That makes me sad someone would hurt your feelings!! You are the bestest ever and I always love reading your blog!! 🙂
#crying
My heart just melted. Thank you for this reminder.
“The wise woman builds her house, But the foolish pulls it down with her hands.”
Proverbs 14:1 NKJV
http://bible.com/114/pro.14.1.nkjv
Such an awesome reminder! Love, love, love!!! Xoxo
YES! Thank you Teeny for your fabulous insight. It's so easy to get caught up in the nuisances of the classroom and the undesirable student behaviors. Our words really do built them up and we can create the best self-fulfilling prophesies for our students.
Keep filling their buckets, one whispered compliment at a time. Such simple genius. Thank you for reminding us all of the power of kind words,
~Jennifer
Goosebumps = check, tears = check! You are the real deal my friend! I loved this! AND yes, those comments on conference feedbacks put me in the fetal position!
That's adorable! So simple, so meaningful.
LOVE this!!!