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Enthusiasm

One of the things I miss very, very much about third grade is the enthusiasm. You can get third graders (and younger kids also) excited about anything.

I figured this out during my first year of teaching, when I was joking with a student and said something about maybe making him wash my car if he didn't bring his homework and his face lit up. "Really? Can I wash your car??"

Not what I was going for. But it can be used for good.

Try it. Tell a group of kids it's time to clean the tops of their desks and they will find a million other things to do. But, if you say something like... "Guess what?? It's time to clean the tops of the desks!! Who wants to do it?!? You can use the SPRAY BOTTLE! And the SPONGES!!! But only THREE KIDS can help me!!!"

Well, now the kids are all raising their hands and bouncing up and down because they are SO EXCITED about cleaning the tops of the desks!!!

It works for many different things. These are the things that make me miss teaching!

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Jessamyn Harris said…
I remember being excited to do the dishes and wash the car. HA! You can only trick em for so long...
11:41 AM
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