Brighten Your Day

Third Grade Teacher Says Affirmations With Her Students Every Day To Empower Them

March 26, 2021

An educator in California is teaching her students an important life lesson you won't find in a textbook: to believe in themselves.

Katie Booser

Katie Booser is a third-grade teacher at Franklin Elementary School in Santa Barbara. Every day she says affirmations with her students such as "I believe in myself", "I am strong", and "I am smart".

This is something she has done with every class for the past 10 years.

"I've been doing this same pep talk with my students since I've taught 3rd grade. We start off doing it before every multiplication test, but the best part is that each year, the kids eventually ask to do it at all different times throughout our day," she told SGN.⁣ ⁣

"Words of affirmation matter, and as my friend Jenny likes to say, it's how we change the conversation. And most importantly, when we start them with our children at a young age, that's how our world becomes a much better place," she said.

Booser says she was inspired by the 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 told Fox News. What helped were "I am" statements, she said.

Studies have proven that "I am" statements actually work on "tricking" your brain into believing what you are telling it.

In a recent viral video, a psychology student revealed how to stop being nervous by repeating out loud "I am excited".

@mollietrainor

##stitch with @rachelvanderbilt The first thing you learn in psych is that humans are both more and less complicated than you’d think

♬ original sound - Mollie

At the beginning of each year, Booser says she leads the affirmations. By March, she says it's her students who take the lead.

She also gives her students journals where they write one "I am" and one "I am grateful for" statement every morning.

Watch Booser's daily "pep talk" below.