Re-labeling

In The Awesome Power to Re-Label from Success In the Classroom, Sam shares,

“…we have an awesome opportunity to “re-label” these kids, and this “re-labeling” power can be life-changing.”

Sam talks about how teachers can help to re-label the students and I agree that it is important. But I also feel like we need to help students re-label themselves.

I have also heard they didn’t believe in themselves because they have heard other people say negative things about them. When you hear negative things enough, you start to believe in it.

One way that I tried to help students is by finding a statement that they can say to fight the negative thoughts. I call it – Fighting the stinkin’ thinkin’!

I had a class motto – “I am a Born Winner!”

Every day, I had the class say the motto together before we started class.

I had all of my students write this on every paper that they turned in for a grade.

Sometimes I would quiz the students orally and one of the questions would be about the class motto.

At first the students were resistant to saying the motto or even writing it down. Once they knew that I would not move on to the next student and I would not accept their work, they would do what was required.

Eventually, it got easier for them and by the end of the year; I think they even believed it. I think it helped build their confidence and make them more willing to take risks.

It takes time but eventually the students were able to re-label themselves.

Do you help students re-label themselves? If so, how do you do it? Please share.