4 Tips for Bringing Out the Best in Your Students

What differentiates a good teacher from one who’s simply competent at their job? How might one take their teaching practice to the next level—and produce next-level results? For many, one mark of a great teacher is the ability to consistently motivate students to exert their best effort and produce their best work. Students who study under such teachers often come away not just with good grades but with a lifelong love for learning that can help them succeed in their adult lives.

If you’re a teacher looking to drive better engagement and performance in your classroom, know that there are many things you can do to bring out the best in your students. The best part is that many of these approaches will work no matter what level you teach or what kind of school you work at. Whether they’re working within a local curriculum or an American curriculum, Singapore teachers will definitely benefit from making use of the following tips:

Set Realistic Expectations

First things first: teachers must accept that it’s not realistic to expect their students to pick up new skills or absorb new information perfectly on the first try. Think of how very young children have to learn to crawl before they can walk—and to walk before they can run. No matter what age your students are, they’ll need to take a similarly gradual approach to any new thing they learn. And as a teacher, it’s part of your job to not only give them plenty of opportunities to practice what they’ve learned, but also to help them deal constructively with any mistakes they might make in the process.

In practice, setting realistic expectations can mean being prepared to review concepts that students don’t immediately understand. Sometimes, you’ll have to supply more examples or explain things in a different way before your students fully comprehend the information. It also helps to go over marked quizzes, tests, or assignments as a class and explain the reasoning behind each “correct” answer. Helping students identify points for improvement in their work and giving them plenty of chances to demonstrate what they learn will help them develop greater mastery of your subject in the long run.

Give Them Real Opportunities to Exercise Agency

Some teachers are content when their students can accurately regurgitate the concepts they’ve been fed during lectures or fulfill assignments perfectly according to teacher-dictated standards and priorities. While such an approach will probably net your students passable and even good grades, bringing out the best in them demands much more than that. If you truly want to maximize your students’ potential, you have to give them chances to use their voices authentically and make their own choices about what they learn.

Consider, for instance, allowing students to choose what they write about for a particular essay or term paper. Let them decide on their own topics for research projects, and coach them on how to develop viable research questions about subjects they’re interested in. Some students, especially those who are used to simply following teachers’ instructions to the letter, may find this freedom confusing and even overwhelming. With your encouragement, however, the ability to make their own choices will enable them to take ownership of their learning experiences and grow in confidence.

Help Them Define Their Own Academic Values

By the same token, academic and personal success will mean more to your students if they’re able to meet standards that they’ve set for themselves, rather than those that have been set for them by others. Your students may not know it, but they probably already have their own ideas of what success looks like in other circumstances, such as during social interaction, practicing their hobbies, or engaging in extracurricular activities. While they may not be as familiar or comfortable with the idea of setting their own standards in the classroom, they can learn to do so with your help.

Encourage your students to contemplate what quality academic work looks like. Ask them what they’d feel good about achieving in the classroom, and see how you can align that with your own standards and teaching goals. Considering these questions will help your students gain a clearer sense of what they value, both academically and in life outside school. They may also be more motivated to work hard at their schoolwork if they feel like they’re doing it for their own sake first and foremost.

Offer Personalized Feedback and Advice

While many traditional schools depend predominantly on standardized methods of teaching, testing, and assessment, more and more teachers are recognizing the value of a more personalized approach to education. It bears remembering, after all, that your students are unique individuals with their own strengths, struggles, and life experiences. Each brings something singular and irreplaceable to the classroom, and this very diversity is often what makes school so rewarding for both teachers and students.

With this in mind, it’s important to get to know your students individually and to have this knowledge in mind when you assess their work. Rather than offering input or advice based on your own idea of what a successful student looks like, take into account what each student does well. Encourage them to leverage these strengths and work with them to address their weaknesses. The more personalized your feedback is, the better its chances of actually improving your students’ work.

Teachers play a huge role in students’ willingness to embrace learning, push their own boundaries, and realize their full potential. When you make a sincere effort to bring out the best in your students, you set them up to succeed both in their academic lives and beyond.