A teacher’s role in pushing her classroom toward achieving academic excellence is highly expected by both administrators and parents. But without the passion to see each student improve over the course of the school years, a teacher will most likely fail to inspire students with the motivation and confidence necessary to excel.
The most effective teachers desire to see every student perform at full potential. The knowledge, abilities, and competence of the instructor must be demonstrated skillfully via each lesson plan and classroom project.
To foster academic excellence in the classroom, a teacher must consider the time, attention and effort each student gives to his or her assignments during the course of the school day. Rewarding students who honor their time and effort and reprimanding those students who don’t must be a continuous strategy for pushing students toward academic excellence.
Rewarding and Reprimanding
Many classroom teachers implement reward systems to help manage student behavior, but I have found few who create reward systems for academic performance. Managing behavior is necessary. But a good reward system that can motivate students to perform at an optimal level is priceless.
For outstanding academic performance, instructors should overwhelm students with a continues stream of motivational rewards
Academic performance rating slips, color cards, achievement tallies, fun gifts and prizes, free time, field trips, classroom parties and outdoor hangouts are pleasurable experience which can contribute to fostering academic excellence.
A good academic reward system goes beyond normal assessment. The emphasis is on honoring and motivating students to see the value in pursing excellence in education. Once students understand the true value of acquiring an exceptional education, he or she will no longer have to be pushed into excellence. Instead, such students will be self-motivated and delighted to perform excellently.
Helping Students to Understand the Importance of Time and Effort in Learning
However, some students must be warned about ignoring the significance of time and effort in becoming a student of excellence. Classrooms, in which students waste time talking and playing instead of completing assignments, has little understanding regarding the power of time and effort needed to become high performing students. Therefore, each day the teacher must remind misinformed students that such critical understanding is necessary to achieve academic greatness.
Creating and maintaining a continuous strategy which places emphasis on the importance of education must be implemented.
I have had the privilege of working with teachers whose entire entrance and exit strategy consist of material emphasizing the importance of spending time and effort in becoming great learners. The culture of such classrooms was exceedingly impressive, resulting in student initiative and creativity throughout the day.
Motivating and Empowering Weak Students
Caring teachers must not give up on weak or slow learners. All children in a classroom don’t learn at the same pace. For whatever reason, some children will lag behind others. Nevertheless, you must be patient with such students. If you grow indifferent toward their inability to grasp an idea or concept right away, you will not be honoring your ability to make a difference in the life of the most unbearable students.
Great teachers don’t leave students behind. They recognize that sooner or later if they don’t give up on the student, the investment of time and commitment will eventually pay off. Maybe they will witness this or maybe not. But something valuable will be released upon the student.
Passionate educators reject the idea of impossibility. They believe in the unique ability of all children under their watch. Such educators attempt to establish confidence within a struggling student and reinforce it throughout a school day.
Use whatever it takes: rewards slips, point charts, words of empowerment, and all types of extras to motivate slow or distracted learners.
The refusal to give up on a student should be the mentality of every worthwhile educator, whether they have been in the industry for one year or 50 years.
Creating a Sense of Academic Urgency
Fostering Academic Excellence in the classroom requires educators to instill in each student a sense of urgency. Each day spent in class must be as productive as possible. Students must understand that each day is a build up for the next and every lesson is a foundation for future lessons.
Providing such understanding for children will establish within a whole new outlook toward their education and future.
Many students goof off in class because they have not yet come to understand why they come to school and the importance of acquiring preparatory knowledge. These ideas and concepts should be instilled in students on an ongoing basis, not just at the beginning of the school year.
The sense of Accomplishment: Ever Expanding Results
When teachers create in students a sense of accomplishment, such students look forward to completing assignments, whether in the classroom or at home. The pleasure of academic achievement will become an addiction. Students will understand the importance of reaching for academic success every day. Now each day becomes a milestone, an indication of continual growth and development toward both academic and personal excellence.
