Change the Story

In What Story Are You Telling Yourself? From  @DavidGeurin Blog, David Geurin shares,

‘It's almost effortless to impose our stories on them or accept the limiting stories others believe about them without a question.”

He is talking about the negative stories we hear about our students that may limit their success.

I know it is easy to get caught up in these stories and try to avoid them as much as possible.

Sometimes students may have thick files and a heavy background that follows them through their school career. I try to look at medical needs, behavior plans, and immediate concerns without going too far back.

When students arrive, I tell them that we are all starting with a clean slate. I make mistakes like everyone else. This new school year is a way to work on making things better by changing the way I behave and do things. I share with the students that I try to do this every year to make myself a better teacher and a better person.

Sometimes when I’m with other teachers, I hear the negative stories about my students and it is hard not to join the bandwagon.

When I hear these stories, I try to think of a way to change this into a positive story in my mind. If I can keep a positive vision for this student, I believe it affects the way we interact with each other. This shows in my tone of voice, my body language, as well as in the words that I use.

When the student’s behavior is challenging, I look for ways to help the student overcome this obstacle. I tell the student that we have a challenge and we will work together to win. Many students know that they have challenges and knowing that they are not alone in fighting this may be helpful. When the students feel like they are battling the challenges and the teacher at the same time, they may become overwhelmed, discouraged, or depressed. This may cause their behavior to become worse.

I try to model this strategy with students on a daily basis. I may come up with some negative stories about myself and then change them to positive stories. I may even ask the students for some help in changing the stories. As they see me do this with my own stories, they may start changing their stories on their own. Eventually, this will show in their behavior but it takes time and patience.

Change does not happen overnight. But I believe by changing the stories, we can help our students be more successful in the classroom and in life.

How do you change the stories? Please share.

 Photo by Ian Schneider on Unsplash