I have just been in a lesson where the teacher is literally the pin up teacher for Positive Behaviour Support. She makes a concerted effort to praise those students who are (1) on time, (2) have their homework done and (3) have their resources they were asked to bring to this lesson in the previous one. There were students who came in late, but did have their resources. There were students who came on time but did not have their homework. There were students who came on time but did not have their resources. In every situation she focused on the positive and what they had done well.
For example, one student arrived a good 8 mins after the bell had gone, but when he came in the first thing she said was "Welcome to the class, I am very glad you made it, and I see you have your homework and your resources for this lesson, well done".
I asked her why she did not say anything about him being almost 10 mins late to class and she said that he is a student who does not respond well to the negative, he recognised that he was late, and apologised for it, which she felt was enough. If she had made a big deal out of it, he has the type of character to then shut down for the rest of the lesson and not participate to his capable standard.
WOW! I really found this interesting. I think I default to the traditional model of focusing on the negative and thus potentially 'damaging' the student. This teacher knows her students really well and genuinely cares for each one, and I think as a result, it was clear that they work hard for her, they want to do well for her. They were on task and engaged throughout the lesson.
What I took from it:
(1) Positive Behaviour Support
(2) Student-Teacher relationship
(3) Genuine care for students
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