Tips for teachers

The impact teachers have in a child’s life is indisputable. The day to day interaction, role modeling and volume of time spent together makes the teacher a critical factor in the development of positive self esteem in children. Teachers enhance a child’s self esteem by valuing self expression and respecting individual preferences for learning, as well as recognizing different skill levels.

Within the school day, teachers have many opportunities to recognize and acknowledge good choices and good efforts put forth by children. For example, as a teacher, you are always celebrating the success of students in your class. This can include recognizing a student for making a good choice to include others on the yard or acknowledging a child for having the courage to try something new in the classroom. Both examples contribute to the building of positive self esteem in children and there are so many examples you can use each day. Children are impressionable in elementary school and rely on the enthusiasm, caring, dedication and role modeling of their teacher to make school a safe and positive place to be.

The following are some strategies that teachers could use to support the development of positive self esteem in their students:

• Seek out students that are following routines in the classroom or helping others. Point out that you like what you see. Recognize students with positive words and gratitude for setting a great example. Send home a little note in the agenda or on fun note paper sharing the good news with the family.
• Have students take the lead on participating and leading a variety of classroom activities. Link Daily Physical Activity (DPA) to different parts of the curriculum and have students take the lead in adapting games to incorporate cooperation, respect and caring for others.
• Work with parents as partners. Communicate regularly about the kinds of activities you are doing in the classroom to support students’ emotional well being. Provide examples for supporting and extending the learning at home.
• Assist students in learning how to deal with frustrations or disappointments at school. Take the time to talk with the students about the disappointment or frustration. See if you can come up with a solution that makes them feel more confident about trying the task again.
• Promote problem solving and looking at situations from different angles. Empathy can be a challenging skill to teach but once students are able to see situations from different points of view, they will be able to show understanding to classmates and peers.
• Focus on the strengths the student has and find a way for them to be successful. If a student excels in math concepts, have them share the steps they took to solve the word problem, pair the child up with another child that is not grasping the concept as quickly and have them walk them through the questions. If a child excels in drama, have them take the lead in a reader’s theatre and be the narrator. To link the activity to At My Best®, choose a script about being active, healthy eating or emotional well being. Engage students in the curriculum!
• Believe in each and every student. Let every student know you believe in them. This could be as simple as stating this to the student. When students feel supported and valued they will attempt to do more independently.
• Accept your students and their individuality. Incorporate an “All Stars” board where students can leave a star for someone who made them feel good about themselves or did something they admire. Monitor the board and write a few stars yourself to ensure each child is being recognized in the week.
• Encourage students to try new things. Lead by example and try teaching in a different way or learn something together such as a dance or a poem.
• Respect all students and foster a safe and positive learning environment. Develop the classroom expectations together and have them posted where all students can access them. Reinforce the fact that all students will be respected and feel safe. Teach children what being safe and respected looks like and sounds like.
• Have one on one meetings with your students to give ongoing feedback about what is going well and teach them how to set goals for the future. This provides a great opportunity to spend some quality time with a student and really get to know them. Go over work they have completed and do a short interview to find out how things are going in the classroom from his or her perspective. This provides the opportunity for ownership to the student and allows them to feel as though they are working together with you.
• Avoid comparing students to other children in the classroom or other children in the school. Celebrate the unique talents of each child. Set goals based on feedback he or she gives you; avoid using another student as a benchmark for success.
• Foster a collaborative, cooperative, socially cohesive atmosphere. Avoid creating competition in the classroom, assign partners and groups dynamically so that everyone has a chance to work with everyone. Create groups in different ways such as choosing names out of hats, have a colour scheme, use clothespins or base it on something like sock colour.
• Focus on the quality of the work students produce. Be amazed at the thought or content that is in the worksheet, the words or ideas that have the “WOW factor” instead of focussing on the student who finishes first.
• Teach students to be intrinsically motivated. Children should be motivated by feeling great about a job well done. Set the expectations high and assist students in doing a little more than the last time they tried.
• Give praise; use positive words. When parents/teachers model positive self-talk, children learn to imitate it. Have the class build onto this list.

Encouraging Words (for school & home)

• “I like the way you…..”
• “I know you can……”
• “I appreciate that you…..”
• “It looks like you worked very hard….”
• “I liked your thinking when…”
• “You made me feel really good when…”
• “I think you are doing a great job at …”
• “Thank you for…”
• “You’re improving…”
• “Well Done!”
• “Congratulations on…”
• “I was proud of you when I …”
• “Thank you for including your sister/brother when you played…”
• “It was very kind of you to…”
• “You demonstrated thoughtfulness when…”
• “You made a difference when…”
• “You amaze me”