Open your child’s school notebook! What will you notice first? The huge amount of red colour corrections highlighting errors. No wonder that kids don’t like the given subject and you might need to force them keep up interest.
Child psychologist Tatiana Ivanko has introduced an ingenious method to solve this seemingly unimportant but actually serious issue. One day, when her little daughter stayed at home, they started practising writing together. Instead of using a red pen to mark errors, the mother used a green pen to point out the correct letters and hooks. The little girl was amazed at this new method, and after each row she wanted to know which letter turned out to be better than others, which one was going to be circled in green.
Instead of highlighting errors and storing incorrect solutions in children’s memory, the ‘green pen method’ focuses on parts of a task which have been done properly. It promotes positive emotions and provides positive feedback which can greatly enhance learning and encourages children to seek achievement on their own free will. See the huge difference between the approaches?
Tatiana noticed that this new perception helped her daughter significantly change her learning routines. The little girl, from her own will and without any external pressure to improve, started to have the desire to just make everything the best she can. Not to mention that the number of her writing mistakes drastically reduced.
The ‘green pen method’ is not about ignoring errors but about helping develop more positive attitudes towards learning by adopting a much better approach that focuses on student achievement. Try it with your children to be able to guide them along the road to school success by increasing their confidence level!
We can but hope that teachers will also be informed about this revolutionary technique. Share this article (without any obligation) so that it can reach them.
