I am linking up with Maria Dismondy - children's author of books that teach wonderful life lessons about bullying, being kind, and treating others with respect for this month's Make a Difference Mondays. This month's character trait is RESPECT. How do you teach respect to your students? For teaching Kindergarten, I feel that the idea is a little abstract for them - it takes lots of modeling and practice for 5 and 6 year olds to really grasp what respect is.
Respect should be something that begins at home and carries along to all other facets of life. Modeling respect is one of the best ways to earn respect from your students. I know that as an adult, if I am treated respectfully I am going to treat that person the same way in return. (of course... it is much harder to treat rude people (HUGE pet peeve!!) with respect, but they deserve the same :) The problem is... our kids come from so many different walks of life. Mom, Dad, grandma, cousins, etc. might not be present in your students' lives. Consistency is so important, especially at this young age, to reinforce these life skills. WE as teachers might be the only consistency our kids have from day to day.
This is one of the huge reasons it is important to teach respect, being kind, and good citizenship. You might be the only person that your students can count on. I know it is hard when we've been up since 5 taking care of our own kids, getting them off to school, making sure everything is ready for the day, and Oh! Billy threw up all over the table to take the time and model the kind of behavior that we expect from our students.
Stay Calm and Carry On! my Teacher friends. If you model and reinforce it, they will mimic you. Just be you - sometimes our kids are degraded and disrespected at home - they might not have anyone that would take the time to listen to them. Be that person - who knows what a difference you could make in their lives??
I have not seen Maria's books before, but I am super excited to check them out - I just might have to order this one!!
