teacher: love your students

There are a lot of things that make a great teacher, like a good education, integrity, respecting the kids you teach, and more. But the true success of a teacher is how you get your students to pay attention and love to learn. Most of these traits are not the things you learn in university. Instead, they have more to do with your personality and interactions. You can learn some great tips to become the teacher kids love. Method 1 Helping Individual Students 1 Say hello to as many students as possible, by name. Whether it’s the morning or the start of class, take the opportunity to greet your students as they arrive. Use their names when saying hello and use the moment to ask about something personal (e.g. how their sports game went, how they did on a homework assignment in another class, etc.), if there’s time. 2 Provide your students with individual attention. Even if you’re only able to spare a few short minutes for a student, give them your undivided attention during that time. Have private conversations with your students. Giving a student one-on-one attention can go a long way to showing that student you do care about them and their future. If you notice something may be wrong with a student, take the time to speak to them alone to ask if they’re okay. The fact that you noticed shows them you care and may give that student the courage to speak-up about whatever is wrong. Be aware of how you approach a student for a one-on-one conversation. Many students may automatically assume such a talk is required because they did something wrong. Approach the student with a smile and start by complimenting them (e.g. "nice shirt!", "great question in class today!", etc.) and then ask if they have some time for a chat. You are also likely to be approached by a student who may want to talk to you in private. Try to work these requested conversations into your schedule the best you can. If you don’t have time immediately, admit that and tell the student you’ll follow-up with them very shortly to let them know when you do have time. And then, of course, follow up. 3 Allow your students to have time to process what they learn. Not everything is going to come easily to every student. Sometimes students need to think something over for a while, or just ‘sleep on it,’ in order for a topic to make sense. Give the students who need this the time. Try not to rush them. Not everyone learns the same way, so you can't teach everyone the same way and expect the same results. When you teach something brand new in class, there are going to be students who get it right away, and students who need some time to grasp the new concept. Students who need more time to grasp new concepts may feel embarrassed if they’re asked a question they cannot answer. Try to assess which students in your class are quick learners and which students are more thoughtful. Try not to put students who need time to think about a concept on the spot in the first few classes that you teach a new topic. It’s also important to avoid rushing through a topic without ensuring the students understand it. While you may not be able to go slow enough for the slowest student (just like you can’t go fast enough for the fastest student), you should at least go slow enough for a decent majority of the class. You may be able to tell if the class needs more time on a certain topic by asking open-ended questions about what parts they think make sense, and what parts they think are confusing. Get them to discuss the topic to see where you may need to expand your lesson. 4 Speak to the students you know can do better. As a teacher you’ll probably come across one or more students whom you know can do a better job. When you see this, don’t put them down and shame them because they could do better, instead, challenge them to do better. Let them know you believe in them and you know they’re capable of so much more. Encourage them to try harder. There could be a number of underlying reasons why a student isn’t trying as hard as they can. Take the time to find out why a specific student isn’t performing up to par. Don’t automatically assume they’re being lazy. When you come across a student like this, approach them respectfully in private (don’t have this discussion in front of the other students). Tell them your concerns, but also tell them that you think they’re really smart and could do so much better if they did something specific (and provide a very specific action item). Work with that student by challenging them to perform increasingly complex tasks until they reach a point where they’ve gained enough confidence to continue performing at a high level on their own. 5 Trust your students from the get-go. Instead of having your students earn your trust over time, start off the year by giving them 100% of your trust. As they progress through the year, trust them to do the right thing. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Believe your students when they make a promise. Only start to remove that high level of trust if they let you down — but let them know they’ve let you down.