Creating a joyful, inspirational classroom atmosphere, where students respect one another to the highest degree, may seem like a fairytale, but if you believe in your ideas, your students, and yourself, anything is possible to accomplish. A positive esteem driven classroom will excel in genuine focus, character, and dynamic productivity.
In order to create inspirational classroom environment, a teacher must be full of passion, faith, and commitment. Without these qualities, the ups and downs of attempting to create such a unique classroom will most likely prove frustrating and unreachable.
The time it takes to create a positive and inspirational classroom depends on the level of acceptance and implementation of the approach. For example, If 80% of your students buy into the inspirational challenge idea, then the reality of a dynamic classroom will be realized much sooner than later. However, if only 20% of the classroom population buy into the idea, the creation of an inspirational atmosphere will take much longer.
Once you have created an ideal classroom room environment, you as well as your students will actually look forward to getting up and coming to school. You mental and emotional investment will certainly not be in vain. You will not be ashamed when the principle visits your classroom or when parents drop in un-expectantly. You will experience comfort in knowing that whoever comes to your classroom will have a dynamic experience.
Creating a classroom in which students prefer to stay inside rather than go to recess is a mark of a teacher with unlimited passion and belief in his or her students’ ability to achieve the impossible. Believe and you will achieve.
Inspirational Challenge: The Process
The Inspirational challenge program will make emotional demands on your students. In other words, students will have to come out of themselves and positively engage other students in ways that might be quite challenging to most.
As for you, teacher, patience is required because very few students will have the initial courage to come out of themselves in order to inspire and motivate their fellow classmates on a daily basis.
To effectively execute the requirements of the Inspirational Challenge Project, a student must compliment other students on a daily basis. 5 compliments a day are required to fulfill the expectations of the project. The compliments can occur throughout the day.
Tools You’ll Need
- Compliment Slips
- Recording Note Book
- Incentives
How the Project Works
Explain to students the goal of The Inspirational Challenge program and the dynamics of participation and the methodology of the activities. Students must have a clear understanding of their power to inspire one another to greatness.
Students should be given slips designed to record at least five compliments along with the names slots for recording those who gave compliments.
Teachers must keep records of every student who gives compliments. The five compliments must be given to five different students.
Students who fulfill the requirement should be rewarded with a small daily incentive. An outstanding character point, sticker or slip will satisfy the daily incentive requirement.
Bigger incentives should be rewarded at the end of a week (extra recess, free time, computer time, a small gift etc.) The greatest incentives should come on a monthly basis and should include only those students who fulfilled the day to day requirements of the inspirational challenge.
Monthly inspirational challenge rewards are the most motivating, which could include pizza parties, half day recesses, movie Fridays, or fun fried trips.
If you think it’s Too Much Work?
Don’t! What is too much work? Too much work happens to be a teacher’s demonstration of commanding and redirecting students who have no intention of changing.
Constant redirecting and yelling, over time, will accumulate huge amounts of stress and frustration and will do very little in terms of building character.
Seeing the Fruits of Your Labor
If you are passionate and committed to the program, you will see the fruits of our labor like so many other teachers, including myself, who take up the challenge. Once reason I received a Teacher of the Year award in my district occurred because of my passion and perseverance in creating a character-driven classroom environment.
Hard work is a part of great accomplishments. But once you have spent a month or two implementing the Inspirational Challenge program in your classroom, you will see the dramatic results and wish you had known about the idea much sooner.
Education vs Character: Character Wins
Contrary to popular opinion, an academic education is not the most important thing students must obtain: Character is. Bad behavior in school rarely leads to a successful life in the outside world. There may be exceptions, but the reality is that prosperity and success in the world largely depend on the content of character.
In fact, a good education cannot be obtained without a certain degree of character at work. Students without the desire to learn and grow will not have the motivation to do those honorable things that contribute to society.
The Magnificence of the IC Program
The power of the Inspiration Challenge Program lies in its capability, not only to transform a single classroom but also transform an entire school. The IC Program doesn’t consist of a complex system of activities, but rather the daily execution of simple activities designed to create exceptional students who understand the rewards of developing great character.
Once mastered, the program will change your style of teaching forever. Your classroom will be an oasis of peace and productivity. You will become more confident and competent in preparing your students for greatest. Parents and students alike will think you are remarkable. You will be greatly honored.
