Student Attitude - Part I

I've written about attitude before, but February's theme was attitude and I thought I'd share some of my students' thoughts on attitude. (Actually, for testing, each student is required to write at least a one page essay on the theme of the month.)

Abigail

To me, attitude means the feeling with which a person does tings, and it is these feelings that affect every aspect of not only the person's actions, but everything around them as well.

First is the actions themselves. If a person has a negative attitude about what they are doing, chances are they will not be able to accomplish the task as well as if they had a positive attitude. For example, take a board break. If the breaker has an “I can't do this” attitude, or a “this is so stupid” attitude, I firmly believe they will either be unable to break the board, or will do it badly, maybe even to the point of injury. If their attitude is one of “YES! I got this!” or “This is awesome!” the break will be much safer, easier, and more enjoyable.

The second thing impacted by attitude is the experience itself. As I said, the break an be much easier and enjoyable if the person has a good attitude. If they have a bad attitude, they won't enjoy the experience as much and will be less likely to try again, even if they had good results. It's like going to a theme park and falling in the mud, it won't matter how much fun they had throughout the day. The mud will be the only thing they remember.

The third thing attitude influences is the environment around the person. If two people have been fighting, everyone can feel it, even if they weren’t in the same room. Why? Because humans are naturally empathetic, and can pick up on those negative feelings, so they can't help but be influenced. A negative attitude will spread to the people around the originator, and the result will be no one having a good experience, which no one really wants.

Attitude is much more than giving a sassy remark when asked a question or given an order. It influences both the person and their surroundings in many ways, only a few of which have been named in this paper. In a nutshell, however, attitude is, at heart, the feelings a person has and how those feelings impact the world around them, for better or for worse.

Sam

I am four years old, so I had help from my mom writing this essay because we talked about attitude. We have talked about how your attitude can be positive or negative. I try to have a positive attitude so my day is a good day. Having a positive attitude means to listen to others and be kind to them. Knowing others might be having a bad day so they could be mean to you, but if you stay positive and not let others' actions make you negative is having a good attitude. Being happy that you have a loving home and many good things in your life will help you keep a positive attitude. If I do have a negative attitude I am going to try and fix it by looking at why I think things are bad so I can be more positive. Helping others and hearing my mom say how proud she is of my actions will make me have a positive attitude. When I have a good attitude others around me will also have a good attitude. Being active and around fun people help me keep a positive attitude. My mom will continue to help me understand the meaning of a good attitude over a bad attitude because she wants the best life for me and having a positive attitude will bring positive things.