When we think positive thoughts, positive things happen. Positive affirmations are not a new concept. In fact, when it comes to affirmations some individuals live their life by them while others may think they are the fluffy feel good stuff! What exactly is an Affirmation? They’re simply are a powerful statement aimed to affect the conscious and the subconscious mind. Affirmations can motivate, keep your mind focused, influence, change the way you think or behave, and even alter the way ones physically feels.
Research shows us that positive thinking is about much more than just being happy. Positive thoughts can actually create real value in one’s life and can help build skills. Positive thoughts can lead to positive outcomes.
Integrating positive affirmations in the classroom can help improve your students’ mindset and level of student engagement. They can help create a positive and supportive classroom environment for students, that will lead to positive student behaviors and improved actions.
There are a multitude of ways to integrate positive affirmations into your classroom or student salons. Begin by teaching your students what an affirmation looks like and sounds like. Such as a statement that may begin with “I am….” “I can….” “I have…”
Positive affirmation classroom activities:
- Display a Daily Affirmation – Place a daily affirmation in a prominent place in the classroom that will be visual to students as they enter the classroom.
- Create an Affirmation Wall – Create an affirmation wall with colorful post it and/or paper with hand written affirmations, encourage students to add to the wall throughout the day.
- Affirmation Circle – Form a circle with students and ask for volunteers to take turns standing in the middle of the circle and share a personal affirmation.
- Digital Affirmations: There are many free daily affirmation apps available to download onto your mobile devices. These affirmation apps are a great tool for students and instructors and offer either a daily affirmation or the ability to create your own unique statement.
- Affirmation Discussion – Share an affirmation with students and then hold a group discussion about the meaning of it and how the affirmation might look in action (inside and outside of the classroom).