As a teacher your job is to build people up, to make them believe that anything is possible, to enable them to fulfil their potential. All too often you will hear teachers telling children ‘don’t forget to bring your book to the lesson’, or ‘don’t do it like that’. Even though the teacher is trying to be helpful, this phraseology doesn’t induce confidence and a feeling of optimism. The assumption is that the person is going to forget or do something wrong.
Almost everything can be said in the positive; ‘remember to bring your books to the lesson’, ‘try it like this’ and so on. When you say something in the positive the person feels calmer and more relaxed. It makes them feel like you are on their team and that you and they are finding solutions together.
I work really hard to try and be as positive as possible throughout the lesson and am always stopping myself from switching to the negative. 'Don't look at your hands' becomes 'Look at the music', Don't forget B flat!' becomes 'Remember those B flats!'.
Not only do we need to be positive in our language, we also need to give praise as much as possible. I have a whole stack of synonyms for 'well done' ready to go at any given moment. Of course there are times when more cautionary language is necessary but I am always looking for opportunities to praise. The more I can praise the safer the child will feel to make mistakes. Learning an instrument is a very vulnerable experience. No one likes to get it wrong, and when playing an instrument your mistakes are all audible! The job of the teacher is to create an environment where it is ok, and sometimes even, desirable, to make mistakes. It is all part of the learning process.
My Mum was a teacher and this was always something she believed in- the power of positive language. Next time you find yourself reaching for a 'don't do it like that', or a 'don't forget', try and flip it round and see if it has a more positive effect.
