One of my students has been having a lot of challenges this semester, and has been getting easily distracted, off-task, and disruptive. None of my usual interventions seemed to be working.

Then, about two weeks ago, as he walked in one day, I put my hands on his shoulders, looked at him straight in the eyes, and asked:

“Are you going to have a good or bad day today?”

He was a bit surprised, but almost immediately looked back at me straight in my eyes and said:

“Good day!”

It was.

Since that time, we’ve had this ten second ritual every morning, and he’s had about ten days of “good” days in a row (with a couple of minor variances).

I think the personal contact and helping him get into the mindset that he can make a choice are two reasons why it’s worked so far, though I’d love to hear other people’s perspectives on why you think it’s working.

I’m going to try the same thing with one or two other students who are facing some similar challenges. I’ll write about how it goes….