Dear Global friends,
We all have our differences, but today, we come together for the good of our children -- Our future generation of leaders. Hello, my name is Sophie, and I’m eleven years old. I’ve come to talk to you today, to give you all guidance on your students' education.
Have you ever been scared? Too scared to try, too scared to want, too scared, to give it a shot? I have. I used to never raise my hand in class. I used to be too scared to stand up to my friends, and stand up for myself. This was because I lacked self-confidence.
When a student lacks self-confidence, it’s not likely they will raise their hand in class. Unfortunately, teachers cannot read their students' minds, and when students choose not to cooperate, it makes their job ten times harder. Not only does it make their job harder, but it does not allow the student to unlock his or her true potential as a learner. Lucky for you, I am here to help you build up your student's self-confidence in a few simple steps.
Here's a list of what you can do
Make your student Identify all their strengths and weaknesses
Let them find their happy place and think about all the things that make them feel bad about themself
Now, tell them to use your imagination, fix them.
For some people this process may not work, that’s ok, it takes time. Here's a little mind trick that will get them started… Tell them to think about themselves, and all their good qualities. Now, they must describe them-self in third person, as if they were describing a friend. That should do the trick!
Here's something you probably didn’t know but should …
Your student's focus span, attention, and stamina, is mostly depending on their nutrition. If your child cannot focus in class, it might be because they are hungry.
When a student is hungry, it’s as if their stomach is sending a message to the brain saying that it’s hungry. When that happens, the only thing the brain can focus on is food. 16,000,000 children in America are food insecure. That means 16,000,000 children are struggling in school. But, all this could go away if only you’d feed your children well ( cafeterias included). That means a nice plate of eggs and some vegetables for breakfast. When we properly nourish our children, we help lower their level of anxiety and stress at school. They will have better attendance, and even better behavior. All because of the good choices you’ve made.
A teacher's first thought is “It’s the student's fault they can’t focus”. As a student myself, I know that it feels bad, you feel guilty, even though you're trying really hard. You can fix that, by nourishing your child well. Research shows that children with a non-consistent nutrition have poor cognitive function, and that's when their future is at stake. Remember...
“If we nourish our children well, we are giving them the chance to thrive” -Sam Kass
Although nutrition matters, their lifestyle does too! When a student's life is stressful, or overwhelming, they go into fight or flight mode. Meaning that since they are stressed, it’s harder to get through a test or an event.
For this problem, there is a very simple solution, keep your child's life a balanced life. If it comes to the point where the child feels like they need an emotional teddy-bear, let them talk to a friend, take them a sport, and remind them to always take deep breaths. You’ll soon find that your child's academic record will look better in no time!
Sometimes, parents wonder why they pay sooo much money on good schools, yet their child isn’t learning anything. This may be the scenario when a student has an education, but the child does not want to learn, so they don’t make the effort.
The first thing you can do is to make sure your students will be learning in a perfect classroom environment. You can’t expect students to even begin thinking about math if their surroundings are distractions. Here are a few essentials your classroom must have/ be like for the perfect learning environment...
Make sure the classroom is full of inspiring example work for the students
Keep the window open, to keep the fresh air coming and the student's minds thinking
Make sure you have the proper lighting, keep it bright to make sure they don't fall asleep, but also so that they can see their own work.
Keep the classroom clean
Make sure the desks and seats are comfortable
NO DISTRACTIONS!
The way the classroom is arranged must allow the students to actively interact during class.
Always have a small open space in the classroom so that if students would like to have a discussion all together they can.
We are now moving on to phase two… the students themselves. There will always be children in a classroom who aren’t willing to make the effort to learn. As teachers/.parents, it is your job to find the motive, and do everything you can to fix it.
There are multiple reasons why some children are not focusing or even trying to learn. Like I said before, it may be their nutrition, but that has already been explained. Although, there are plenty of other motives to why a student doesn’t want to learn. The first and most basic reason is because they are just trying to annoy you for attention, but try to find out what’s wrong before jumping to conclusions. Here's what you can do…
Identify the behavior… make a list of all the serious misbehaviors
Identify the cause… remember, you're not the enemy, the cause of such behavior may be a very delicate subject so remember to be very sensitive and understanding
Remember, the way you react mean EVERYTHING, so you must remain calm and collected
Change the way you speak to him, if you regularly call on him , don’t call on him for awhile, change things up
Hopefully everything I have shared with you today will help you with the future choices you’ll make. I certainly hope that this information will help make your life much easier. I learned from a very wise man that the only way to get the right answers, is by asking the right questions. So I want you to leave this room and ask yourself, are you doing what's best for those children? Are you helping more than you are hurting? But I also want you to leave knowing that you can make a change, it’s never too late to make a difference in those children's lives.
Thank you!
Citing my sources: