Investing and Paying Dividends, pt. 1

At Kenan-Flagler Business School at UNC, whenever people talked about investing, I tuned out because that has to do with finance I think and I just don't get finance and I was going to be a teacher anyway and coasting through all my classes, so I thought whatever, Professor Blocher, I don't care and I'm not going to listen to you.

At Agua Fria High School at the TFA Phoenix Institute, it means getting students, parents, and teachers involved and engaged in lessons to the point where they self-motivate. It's an intriguing concept, motivation in - what lights that internal drive in a student? How can you foster that? How can you make a kid WANT to learn - to move from the "I CAN do it" (which is tough enough for some kids to begin with) to the "I WANT to do it". The second one was how I was in school, and how most of y'all probably were too, so I never really had thought about it before.

But getting kids to want to learn is tough.

There are all kinds of strategies - class themes to pique students' interest (ours is SuperStars - more on that to come), continued communication about student progress, references to students' dreams, aspirations, and their "Big Goals", building informal relationships - all of these are ways to foster that "I WANT".

My favorite, however, is positive reinforcement. These kids need to know that they are indeed capable of succeeding, that it will take a lot of work, and they we, as TFA teachers, are here to guide, facilitate, and help them along the way. The best way, I have found, of doing this is to repeatedly, constantly, and consistently praise students for what they do well. Focus on the positive, not on the negative. In TFA terms, the "pluses" and not the "deltas".

If Joe is misbehaving, mention all of the positive behaviors you see from students around Joey, and he'll come around.

If Jared is struggling in his writing, make sure you make a big deal when he does well, and he'll come around.

If Junior is not participating, make sure you praise him when he does and thank him for volunteering, and he'll come around. You'll see his hand more than anyone else's, as a matter of fact, by the end of the week.

Tell your kids they're SuperStars. Chart their progress on a "StarChart" in the room to let them know how well they're doing. Give them constant and unsolicited praise - it works.

That's kind of the set-up to the Investment process - it's become a big deal in my daily routine at Institute. However, I'm not the only one Investing - TFA staff invests in us daily just as much as we invest in our students.

And more to come about this later; I'm exhausted and really need to go to bed.

good night from the grand canyon state,

pb