Posted on May 20, 2008 by Peter Whitcomb in - Practice Motivators
This idea originated one day when a magic wand (it looks very much like a sparkly toilet bowl brush with pastel ribbons flowing out of it) mysteriously appeared in my mail box at work. I have no idea where it came from, I assume it was a gag gift from a colleague.
Later that same afternoon, one of my youngest students was having trouble focusing on anything and everything that I asked her to do. The wand was sitting there, so I picked it up, waved it around, and mumbled an incantation about her remembering to keep her fingers curved. After I bobbed her gently on the head with the wand, she proceeded to sit down and play the whole piece through with curved fingers. It was pure magic.
I feel ridiculous every time I start waving my wand around in the air, but it works, both on little girls and boys.