next »

[rikki]

I would like to hear from other teachers what is being done in their classes to motivate students to daven properly, looking inside... I would like to do something new for next year and would love to hear all your ideas.

[rroth]

When students appreciate what davening is, then they are motivated on their own to daven well. From the beginning of the year pump inspiration into the kids by telling them davening stories, having discussions on davening and teaching the meaning of the tefillos, either word by word or about the tefillah's general content.
Something fun that you can do (I think I actually got this idea from this site), is to choose one word from the davening that they have to look for while they are davening and whenever they find it, they put a sticky note on that page. This motivates the children to look in, in order to find "the mystery word". I do this every Friday after Pesach and call is "Siddur Find". Good luck!

[ellisjs]

What I do in my class for the last 2 yrs is: I give out an index card with their name on it (I print them out from the computer, Avery index cards) and I go around with a stamper during davening. Anyone who has the place and is davening nicely, gets a stamp. depending on the grade and on the point of the year, I give out anywhere between 6-10 stamps daily. When a child receives about 40-50 stamps, he gets a new card. (Each card is numbered) At the end of the week, anyone who finished their card that week, receives a cerificate which states that this boy followed nicely in his siddur this week. The certificates usually have to do with the parasha of the week. They are colorful and laminated weekly. The boys love these certificates and still keep them from year to year. The feedback from them is great.
Should you want to see a sample of them, you can email me at ejsafdeye@thejnet.com

Ellis Safdeye