A third-grade teacher in California has one very important lesson for her students: to be good humans.
Each day, Katie Booser sings affirmations with her students at Franklin Elementary School in Santa Barbara before they take an exam.
“When they believe in themselves, that’s how our world is going to change,” Booser told Fox News.
Booser has done this with every class she has had since starting her career as an educator 10 years ago.
She was inspired by the very teachers who taught her how to believe in herself when she was struggling in school.
“As a student myself, I was that anxious kid … I was nervous, especially before testing or like a big exam,” Booser said.
What helped were “I am” statements, she said.
Now, before each test, she preps her students with the mantra, “I believe in myself. I believe I can. I believe I’ll try my best. I believe I’m awesome. I believe in me.”
At that point, Booser asks her student to pick up their pencils.
She continues: “I am strong, I am smart, I am capable. I’m a mathematician. I will pass this test. Ready, steady, Freddy, go.”
At the beginning of each year, Booser leads the affirmations. By March, she says it’s her students who take the lead, which was precisely her intention all along.
“I can be the leader but the whole point for me is I want them to be the leaders,” she said. “These kids are our future and if we give them the tools to lead, they will.”
Booser also gives her students journals where they write one “I am” and one “I am grateful for” statement every morning.