http://highcallingblogs.com/satchelpooch/2008/02/28/what-did-she-say-what-did-they-hear/ by Satchel Pooch Tue, 02 Dec 2008 02:27:53 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 http://highcallingblogs.com/satchelpooch/2008/02/28/what-did-she-say-what-did-they-hear/#comment-162 vhaecky Sun, 06 Apr 2008 20:16:46 +0000 http://highcallingblogs.com/satchelpooch/2008/02/28/what-did-she-say-what-did-they-hear/#comment-162 Last week my daughter had to write an essay for middle school on a topic surrounding some problem and solution. She chose to write about the large amount of trash that on the grounds and wrestled with solutions that might convince kids to use the many available trash receptacles. She showed compassion for the janitor who had to pick up after them, and was puzzled by my suggestion that unless there was punishment, no appeal would likely convert lazy carelessness into neatness. While positive reinforcement is a powerful teaching tool, I find in practice that just like my dog occasionally needs a reminder of who is running this place, so do kids, along the lines of, "You want to eat here, you do your share of the chores." For the essay I suggested, "you drop trash, you practice picking it up for an hour after school." My suggestion, albeit, did not make it into the essay, parental tyrant that I am; instead, she suggested regular "pick up days" where all kids participate in cleaning up the world for those that trashed it....this reminds me of something... Last week my daughter had to write an essay for middle school on a topic surrounding some problem and solution. She chose to write about the large amount of trash that on the grounds and wrestled with solutions that might convince kids to use the many available trash receptacles. She showed compassion for the janitor who had to pick up after them, and was puzzled by my suggestion that unless there was punishment, no appeal would likely convert lazy carelessness into neatness.
While positive reinforcement is a powerful teaching tool, I find in practice that just like my dog occasionally needs a reminder of who is running this place, so do kids, along the lines of, “You want to eat here, you do your share of the chores.” For the essay I suggested, “you drop trash, you practice picking it up for an hour after school.” My suggestion, albeit, did not make it into the essay, parental tyrant that I am; instead, she suggested regular “pick up days” where all kids participate in cleaning up the world for those that trashed it….this reminds me of something…

]]>