Teachers play many roles in the classroom apart from just teaching. They listen, offer advice, discipline, make peace, manage, plan, organize, and do a lot of other impactful things for their students including motivating them.
As a teacher, making your students know that you believe in them gives them a great sense of confidence and desire to do better.
A significant way of motivating your students is by celebrating their classroom success. Positive feedback shows them that they are doing a good job and makes them want to do it again. It builds confidence, reinforces an effort-success attitude, and provides a positive classroom culture.
Here are ways to celebrate your students:
1. Verbal Praise
Verbal praise is an easy way of celebrating success in the classroom and motivating your students. You can verbally recognize students who are putting in the effort, those who have improved in a certain subject, and those who have accomplished a big milestone. Remember to encourage struggling students by assuring them that they can get there too.
Verbal praise can be done individually or it can do it with the whole class. Make your praise sincere and be specific with the actions that led them to achieve their success. This will motivate the students and encourage the same amount of effort to succeed.
2. Write A Note
A personal note makes you consider each student's strengths. When you take the time to write a note, you will be able to speak to one student at a time and address them directly in a personal, heartfelt way. You can praise them for their hard work and kindness towards other students, or simply tell them how blessed you are to be their teacher. A dedicated note will be a wonderful gift for your students and will allow each one of them to feel recognized, included, appreciated, loved, and encouraged.
3. Call Home
Calling home can be a great way to celebrate your student’s successes. Parents love it when you talk about their kids' successes, and it gives them validation when the praise comes from their kid's teacher. They will appreciate your effort and be happy about their kid's hard work results. It will also form a good parent-teacher relationship and you can discuss more ways to help your student. Having a student get home and be celebrated because you called home to talk about their good work is a wonderful surprise for them too. They will not only feel good but also strive to keep making you proud enough to call home again.
4. Class Reward System
A class reward system is a fun way of celebrating in the classroom. You can sit down with your students to set goals and agree on a reward when the goals are accomplished. A reward system motivates students to work hard on the set goal because they know there is a reward awaiting them at the end.
You can make it as fun as possible while still being challenging. It can be a simple reward system like a marble jar. Each time a student does something well or makes a step towards the set target, you put a marble in the jar. When the jar is full, you can give prizes or have a class party to celebrate the achievement. This is another way of encouraging the effort-success mentality.
5. Peer Recognition Activity
Students, no matter their age, love being recognized by their peers. Peer recognition activities can motivate your students and help them to feel good about themselves. You can do this with an activity like the peer circle. In the peer circle, all students settle down in a circle. You then hand each student an envelope with blank paper inside.
Each student starts by writing their name on the envelope. Have the students pass on the envelope to the person on their right. This person should take out the piece of paper and proceed to write a strength of the owner of the envelope. The students return the piece of paper to the envelope and keep passing it to the person on the right and writing the strength of their peer until it goes back to the owner.
6. Displaying Student Work
Displaying the work of your students on a success wall Is a way of celebrating them. Seeing their work on display for others to admire, gives them a sense of pride. This will inspire them to achieve more and encourage other students to work harder to have their work displayed as well. Make sure that you display diverse achievements to promote diversity in the classroom because there is not only one form of success.
7. A Coveted Trophy
Bring a trophy to the classroom and reserve it for the student who reaches a particular goal or does something remarkable. Let it go beyond grades and focus on other aspects of their lives. You can choose to reward commendable behaviors like the student who picks up trash in the cafeteria or the kind student who offers to sit with the new kid. Give them the trophy when they do something worth noticing and watch as they all begin doing better to get the coveted trophy. Praise and rewards motivate them, encouraging them to keep doing the things that get them rewarded.
8. Plan A Principal Visit
Talk to your principal and schedule a time for them to pass by to help celebrate student success. Inform your class that they have a special guest that day and have the principal come to offer them gifts or badges. Walk the principal around the class genuinely praising your students for their achievements and giving them recognition. This huge gesture will remain in your student's minds and motivate them.
Recap
Celebrating student success is a simple activity with huge rewards. It motivates your students to become better, work harder, and improve in various aspects of their lives. You can practice these activities to celebrate your students regularly for more success.
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