Moral Focus Spotlight

The Moral Focus virtue for the month of October is respect. We can all recognize that this virtue plays a big role with classroom culture. I found an article titled “How to Show Students You Respect Them.” The author Alex Van Tol identifies six ways to show students you care. While observing each of you, I have seen all of you do a great job showing respect towards your students, even the difficult ones.J One of Van Tol ways to show respect is to offer choices. He writes,

“Offer choices. Give your misbehaving student a choice between two possible outcomes. Say, “Right now you have a choice. You can choose to put your shoes on and join the rest of the class as we begin our lesson on geography, or you can choose to (insert appropriate consequence here, such as ‘stay inside next recess’ or ‘eat your lunch by yourself’) instead.” Offering choice allows a student a chance to save face, and it allows you a bit more room to dodge defiance with grace. Be persistent.”

Thank you for being role models for your students. It sets the standard as they show respect towards one another; reducing inappropriate behavior and supporting collaboration. Please click here for the entire article.