Positive Peer Pressure (PPP)

Positive Peer Pressure (PPP)

Believe it or not the concept exists! I hear it every once a while and I’m always pleasantly surprised. What is positive peer pressure? It’s when kids encourage their peers to do the right thing instead of the wrong thing. As a teacher, I especially like to see it happen because kids will often listen to other kids before they will listen to an adult. Adults can come across as stuffy authority figures, far removed from what it’s like to be a teenager. The key to effective PPP is in the delivery. Peers need to get the message across without sounding condescending. So often they may mean well, but their message is lost in their tone. Just today I heard a few of my students encouraging another student to refrain from disruptive behavior. So often, society is quick to point out negative peer pressure that we fail to recognize PPP. Ask yourself this question: Are my friends enabling my self-destructive behavior, or do they have the guts to call me out? Do you have the courage to confront your friends when they are messing up their life? What if you don’t say anything and you later find out that they were seriously hurt or died because you failed to act? No one needs that kind of guilt on their conscience. One thing I have learned from teaching kids is that positivity can be just as contagious as negativity if you give it a chance.

Choice Theory

There is a new approach of Choice Theory is spreading accross America. In an article from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinental, teachers are using Choice Theory with their students, which is helping them take on more responsibility. The students and teachers are much more conscious of how they treat each other, and try to use as little external control as possible. The students are making concious efforts to change their behavior, and visits to the principals office are way down. Both the students and teachers reported being much more happier at school, and the faculty have accepted Choice Theory and now know that the learning is up to the students. It is their choice, and all the faculty can do is be fun and supportive. Please red the interesting article! http://www.jsonline.com/story/index.aspx?id=726698