Eric Swanson’s math students are working on new calculations in class every other week - adding essential life skills, subtracting negativity and multiplying positive characteristics impacting their lives and the lives of those around them.
Teens tend to be surrounded by negativity most every day, whether through social media or just walking down the halls where they hear negative remarks directed to them, or others.
For example, Swanson said he was standing in the hall before class and heard one student tell another, “You dumb."
When asked how many negative comments they think they hear a day, students in unison said, “A lot.”
The percentage of such negative comments is exponentially greater than positive comments among most teens, who often do not consider the potential weight of offhanded comments, or comments they believe are made in jest and don’t mean anything. The fact is, all negative comments have varying levels of negative impact.
There is no set number of positive comments required to cancel out a negative one, but Swanson told the students clinical research into all types of relationships suggests somewhere around five positive interactions, or more, are required to offset one negative interaction, depending on the severity.
“We spend so much time tearing each other down, we forget the power of that positive comment,” he said.
Some people may have been hit by so many negatives throughout their lives that when they are finally offered a positive compliment, they don’t believe it. Alternatively, he showed students a short video clip that spoke to the fact that one positive comment can change the course of someone's life. One compliment. At the least, Swanson said, a positive comment might help to change someone’s outlook for a couple of hours.
He encouraged students to consider that as they converse with friends and others in school, injecting positive compliments into people’s lives, making a difference.
Swanson explained that he decided to take every other Friday to help his students become leaders in their school and community. That adds up to positives that will be carried over into the future. He is using Sean Covey’s “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Teens” as a guide.
They started out two weeks ago discussing habits and what they are. Friday, his students took action on the first habit: Be proactive.
Each of Swanson’s math classes was instructed to choose an outdoor area around the school that students use, and were asked to create a minimum of five positive messages, and/or positive pictures, in sidewalk chalk. The idea was that students and staff would be exposed to at least five positive affirmations as they enter or exit buildings on campus, helping to cancel out negatives they may have heard along the way
Students praised getting to do hands-on activities instead of sitting in class, and them being positive, beneficial activities.
“I definitely like how it is a break from math,” Krista “Skye” Carson said. “I’m enjoying it, writing positive stuff for my friends”
“I think this is definitely a better way of teaching that is going to benefit everybody,” Jaqcen Reece added.
When students returned to class, Swanson had them brainstorm on what they could do to continue to be proactive in doing positive things at Parsons High School. Swanson then compiled a list of those ideas, which he told students they could pick from, develop and execute throughout the year.
While doing that, he said students will also be working on learning the remaining six habits Covey speaks to: Begin With the End In Mind; Put First Things First; Seek First to Understand, Then Be Understood; Think Win-Win; Synergize; and Sharpen The Saw.
“I’m excited about this and excited to see what the students do with it,” Swanson said.
