Home | How It Works | Stats Login | Register         Case: Thumbs Down I was observing a class of first graders a few years back and the teacher had the students all sitting on the floor around her. She had them come up to the board one at a time and answer a math question. She would then ask the class if they thought the answer was right or wrong and they were supposed to be indicate by giving the child a thumbs up or thumbs down signal. I was student teaching then and it just struck a nerve in me that a first grade teacher would have an entire class giving a child thumbs down if they were wrong. This seemed very emotionally disturbing to me. Does anyone do this or find a problem with this with students that are so young? Solution: (Rates are posted for this solution!) It is done within my classroom, but I first help the students build up the trust between the class before I ever do it to any students. If a student has a thumb down and they disagree with a students thinking, they will have the opportunity to share their thinking by saying in a very respectful way that they disagree. They can say "I respectfully disagree and "this is how I think." The student trust each other and know that just because someone disagrees with them it one, doesn't make them right, and two, they are able to learn from making, and correcting, mistakes. Good luck!