Happy Valentines Day Friends! Have anything fun planned for classes today? I am doing this dance and I am thinking of incorporating a few new words of encouragement into my vocabulary while teaching. Are you up for it too? Here are some ideas!
1) Fantastic
2) You are so smart
3) Good for you
4) What a great idea
5) Look how far you have come
6) What a great listener
7) I trust you
8 ) You make me laugh
9) You made my day
10) You are the best
11) You can do it
12) Keep trying
13) I love the way you
14) Magnificent
15) That’s terrific
16) Hurray for you
17) That’s remarkable
18) Neat
19) You are making progress
20) Great discovery
Sometimes I get in the habit of using the same encouraging words over and over to praise. I thought today would be a good day to reflect on that and throw into the mix some new words! Do you use any of the words above to encourage your students? Do you have any to add to the list? I would love to hear!
Maria Hanley is an independent early childhood dance educator in New York City.
Maria serves on the 
Two that I use alot…
You did it!
and
I am so proud of you!
those two phrases get lots of huge smiles in return!!!!
thanks for sharing, Maria! You are amazing!
Candace! Thank you! You are pretty amazing as well! thanks for sharing your favorite words too!
Your blog is BRILLIANT! You SURPRISE me with your topics!
Zan, thank you! You are making me blush! lol
I love positive words and I think that encouragement goes a long, long way in child development. I find in class I often say “what a great friend” or “what a nice friend” when a student does something nice for a fellow classmate such as letting them go in front of them, or offering them their own words of encouragement. I also use applause in place of words (we clap in a big circle and say “a round of applause” or we place our arms in 5th position to make the letter O and stomp our feet for a “standing O vation).
I love the “standing O” idea! so cute.
Just saw this post – LOVE it! I find myself simply shouting “YES!” to my dancers a lot or “I love how ________” (I love how you let Megan go first today” or “I love how you remembered to point your feet without me telling you”).
Thank you Cait! I also say “YES” a lot!