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Positively Positive

Keeping the Focus You Want

Presentation by Jane Bluestein, Ph.D.

Is your school a negative place? Do you hear more criticism, complaining, or yelling than encouragement or laughter? Want to put the fun back in your work?

Schools can be amazingly negative places! Elementary school kids generally hear 3 negative comments for every positive comment; by high school the ratio can go as high as 17 to 1, and there are surely children who can go for a long, long time without getting even one piece of positive feedback from adults and peers!

This program offers strategies for building a positive social culture, for improving the quality of feedback we give and for building interactions that accomplish positive goals without the usual threats, yelling or criticism. You’ll learn how to change threats to promises, emphasize positive consequences to motivate kids, and improve the quality of relationships and interactions with parents and other staff members. We’ll also look at ways to ward off the exhausting and defeating effects of negativity, both within the school community and from the media and other outside sources.

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