Simple Suggestions (cont.)
0 Posted: July 26th, 2012Continuing our list of essential truths to teach by from Gospel Light's Teacher Training Smart Pages, here are "commandments" #3 & #4 for early childhood and elementary teachers:
Make suggestions more often than you give commands. Phrase directions positively (telling them what they can instead of what they can't do).
It is easy for an adult to say no, but often we assume the child knows the alternative. Never assume with children. Lovingly explain what you would like them to do. Don't spend all of your energy explaining what the child cannot do.
Be a teacher of great vision: see the most active, most difficult, or most withdrawn child not as a problem, but as a person to be loved into God's family. (Remember and repeat often that God has good plans for each one.)
Look for the best in each kid. Try to narrow your focus in on one problem kid each session and look for something positive you can tell his or her parents when they come to pick up the child. Speak the truth over them! You may be the only person in their life that does this. Teach the child to declare the promises of God over themselves. Correct a child if he or she says something negative and give the child a Scripture which says what is really true about them. Teach them to use their words well.
