How to Increase Student Success & Ensure Students Have a Positive Educational Experience

Student success isn't just about tests and grades.

As an educator, you are probably interested in increasing student success. This can mean different things for different students. For example, one student might be successful if they are accepted into a top university upon high school graduation, while another student is successful because they made it to high school graduation. Ultimately, success can be measured by whether or not the student has had a positive educational experience, meaning they will take their education further or use it to become a successful adult and member of society.

Instructions

1. Give your students positive feedback. If a student is clearly making an effort, let them know that you can see that and reward them for it with positive feedback. This can be as simple as letting the student know what a great job they're doing. Seeing that you care about their success will give the student a more positive educational experience and may even motivate them to do better.

2. Challenge your students. This can be tricky. While you want to give your students challenging work, you also need to be careful not to give assignments or reading materials that are too difficult for your students. This can lead to feelings of frustration and will not allow a positive educational experience.

3. Give bonus work. Bonus work can help increase student success by challenging exceptional students and rewarding extra effort. Since bonus work is optional, other students will not have their educational experience brought down by work that is too difficult.

4. Teach with enthusiasm. When you are enthusiastic about a subject, it will show in your lessons. Students are more likely to see the worth of learning the material and be excited about it if it's clear that you enjoy what you do and think the subject you're teaching is important to learn.

5. Allow your students to control some of the activities and lessons in the classroom. This control can give them a more positive educational experience and make it more likely that they will succeed when completing the activities. You can allow your students to vote on a set of specific activities, brainstorm activities themselves or have an hour block each week where they can engage in whatever educational activities they want, such as joining a trivia game, learning to play chess or reading on their own.

References

• "University of Hawaii"; Motivating Students; Barbara Gross Davis; 1999
• "Teach Hub"; Ways to Motivate Students; Annie Condron