Exert energy and care.

Date: 2015-10-07; view: 515.

Motivate.

To motivate students to achieve their fullest potential and to stay on task, you need to take a multifaceted approach. Here are some quick tips:

ü Have students set long and short term goals and work to achieve them.

ü Use a blend of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation.

ü Use liberal amounts of encouragement as well as praise so that students know exactly what they need to do to succeed.

ü Teach successful collaboration procedures then work with students so that they can successfully complete collaborative assignments.

ü In addition to the independent work mentioned above, students should be encouraged to be active learners. Design activities that encourage student engagement. Games, puzzles, computer-based searches, and other attractive activities will help increase time on task behaviors.

ü Get your students involved in helping others. Have your class recycle, donate to those less fortunate, or even play computer games such as www.freerice.com .

Last, don't forget that your students need an energetic and caring teacher. That means that you need to take care of yourself and not let your stressful job wear you down. Pay attention to your stress levels and do all of those sensible things that you know you should do to cope well with the demands of your career.

Other teachers can also offer you great advice. All readers and members of Teaching are invited to contribute their ideas and suggestions. Together we are a pretty powerful force!

Teaching is listening, and what we've heard is that you need extra support dealing with difficult students and difficult situations you face as a teacher. If you have a question and need the help of a seasoned teacher, here's your chance. Send your question in a message to Dear Julia, acclaimed author, Julia G. Thompson. Julia will answer your question in her column on Teaching. If you want to remain anonymous, please specify when you send Julia your question. Take time to explain your situation so Julia can give you the best answer possible.