How to Motivate Students to Go to School

Schools are greatly concerned about the performance and knowledge acquirement of students since their main and unified goal is to benefit them and give them as much information as possible. In order to deliver such message, there are certain conditions that should be available to guarantee better results from children.

A major and important factor that is required to improve their likelihood of understanding and learning is having a supportive and motivating environment to make them love going to school. It does not only require a building and classrooms to guarantee that students are actually going to learn and love the process of learning; it also requires a suitable atmosphere to encourage kids to learn.

Children are very sensitive and that is a thing we adults do have but with more awareness. That’s why it is the job of the faculty and the teachers to encourage students and motivate them to come to school and actually enjoy what they are learning without feeling forced to do so. Loving school is an important factor that should be followed and taken into consideration because it definitely affects the students’ motivation and dedication to receive and produce information.

The first thing to do to motivate students to come to school is to prepare the setting well for them. The dull and boring typical look of the building is certainly not liked from students that’s why decorating the school with paintings on the walls and cartoon characters, big colorful words, flowers, and numbers on the stairs maybe that are catchy are good ideas to use such that children love entertainment and it can be achieved by bringing them things that they actually love looking at. Adding colors and characters will add to their motivation because they are affected by the appearance and such visual aids show comfort, relaxation, and being friendly thus they will feel comfortable in the environment and they will be happy. They will also be able to see that school is not some place that is separated from reality; it contains cartoons they love and colors and so on.

This is great as a first step because students will be happy and relaxed in an indirect way and they will be excited to see more things. They won’t think about the typical perspective that school is a boring place that consists of stress and hard work only.

Then to make them feel better, students must not feel the pressure of social life in school. As known, school is the place where kids spent most of their time and it is the place where they will meet a lot of new people and form new relationships. To guarantee healthy relationships between students will increase their love for school because they will feel that they are socially active individuals thus they will acquire a sense of self and they will feel successful and valuable. Here it’s the role of the teacher to observe students and make them bond and build closer relationships with each other by making them work in groups or pairs, spotting the students that face communication problems and include them with their friends by maybe shedding the light on their other skills so that other students will desire and love them. Having friends and being accepted socially is definitely a major factor that affects the students’ motivation to come to school. If a child loves the company he/she has and enjoys being around then he/she will be more motivated to attend school because it will become related to fun and acceptance.

Besides being socially accepted, a child will love going to school if his/her academic level is good and satisfying. Thus it is the teacher’s job to secure a good performance by guiding them through tasks and always seeking the feedback of the students. It is also important to use different teaching methods so that they can understand more and don’t get bored in classes.

Another thing that motivates them is to actually do and practice things. Children will feel frustrated of they stay sitting all the time so giving them chores like erasing the board or distributing the papers, they will be active and feel as a part of the class thus their attention and motivation will increase.

Praising students is another way to motivate students. Children feel that they are doing hard and great assignments even if they are simple for us as adults so some praising is worthy for them to know that their work is appreciated and they will become more consistent on doing better and trying to enhance themselves. A teacher can also module the work of the student as material for explanation and this will make that student proud and more active to become better while his/her peers will try to work harder to be in the spotlight. However praising should not be used on regular basis otherwise kids will get used to it and won’t be motivated.

The teacher should also create an environment of fun and excitement for the students. They need to feel that they are enjoying their time and they should be hyper in the classroom not dull and disconnected from the world. The teacher can get the attention of the kids if he/she is always happy, positive, and spreading good vibes.

Another thing that motivates students at different ages is to be able to enjoy some free time in school. They love to have time specified for their talents and expressing themselves without having to worry about rules or grades. By playing games students will entertain themselves, become closer to other, and get the feeling that school is actually a place where they can have a good time.  Activities like painting, playing with clay, toys, and physical challenging games can boost their energy level. They will be happier, more confident, and relaxed because they are expressing themselves and they are having a good time in this environment. They will also be relieving their stress in a schedule full of studying. Having some time to loosen up will make them refresh and start studying again with delight. Having a good time in school will make them motivated to go there again.

Also some extracurricular activities will make them joyful like going on trips and adventures outside the school.

Children love attention so if students are able to get the attention and support of a teacher whenever they have problems, they will love going to school because it will become the shelter where they can be safe and express themselves to feel better. This feeling of safety will motivate them to work hard in such a positive environment.

It is very important as teacher to make children love going to school so that they will grow up with a positive attitude towards learning and they will perform better thus they will provide themselves with brighter futures. A teacher should have a look for the future to know how to behave at school and make students love it as much as possible.

If I Were A Counselor...

Since we were kids, they used to teach us that school is our second home, and teachers are our second family. I guess that when I grew up, I really understood what that meant. The school is the shelter for students that takes care of them and keeps them safe physically and emotionally. That’s why it should be a unified community that cooperates together to provide a secure and appropriate atmosphere for them.

It is very important for the school to take care of the educational program, how to enhance it, and what teaching methods to use in order to make learning a great experiment as possible for students. But it’s also essential for the school to take care of the students’ psychological needs in order to keep them stable, happy, normal in the process of their development, and fruitful in their classes. Such that, the psychological aspects a student has can make him suffer in his academic life thus he will not be able to focus and produce well according to his own potentials or in comparison with his peers’ performance.

Here comes the role of the counselor in a school that makes sure to follow up with students’ problems and guide them as much as needed in order to become better and get back on track. The counselor job is that of great importance because he/she works side by side with the teacher in order to teach and mold the characteristics of a healthy generation according to their emotional, physical, and mental awareness.

If I were a counselor, and one time a student came to me to tell me about his/her problem, first I would be careful with my reaction and feedback that I will deliver. For example, if a student came to me and said that he is so depressed, his friends don’t like him, he can’t communicate with them, he feels like an outsider in school and at his house, and he is thinking that maybe he should end his life to be relieved from his suffering, I will try my best to correct and guide his thoughts. I would say to him/her that it’s okay to have problems, each one of us has them in their life. I would also tell him/her that when I was his/her age I suffered from such kinds of problems, and I was able to defeat them by fighting, having hope, and never giving up, and that everything in life needs time in order for him/her to see that his problem is common and has a solution. I would praise the good qualities that he/she has, I would say that he/she is a great kid; he/she is so lovely and kind hearted. I will assure to him/her that he/she is loved and he/she needs to work on him/herself to let others see what he/she is made of. I would also tell the student that his/her parents love him/her, maybe he/she is facing problems at his house but his/her parents definitely love and wish him/her the best. I will seek his/her feedback to see if he/she is accepting my opinion and I will show him/her good gestures like maybe a tap on his/her back. I will finish by saying to him/her that he/she is special and I’m sure and confident about his/her abilities. Then I will assign him/her a new appointment.

The student didn’t show up the next time, neither after that. It’s my job as a counselor to stay in touch with each student’s case and never neglecting them. That’s why I would go to the administration and explain the case of the student, I would tell them that he/she is facing critical problems in self worth and might be objected to suicide thoughts. After showing the school how urgent the condition of the student is, I would ask them to get his/her contact information in order to speak with his/her parents and inform them about their kid’s situation in order to take the suitable steps. When I will talk to his parents, I would say to them that I need them to come to school in order to talk about their child. When I see them, I would give them a detailed report about their child’s thoughts and intentions and I would ask them for their cooperation after showing how serious the problem is. Then I will propose to them a list of psychiatrics in the area to improve their child’s condition. Since it is a critical problem like suicide, a counselor should advice the parents to make him/her see a psychiatric because it needs more attention from a person that is specialized with such cases. After that, it is my job to keep up with the development of the child’s condition by talking with the psychiatric responsible about him/her. And in school, it is my job to provide him/her with help when needed, observe him/her, ask teachers and friends about his/her behavior in order to avoid further complications and guarantee his/her healing process and enhancement. I should explain his/her situation for the teachers in order to make him/her experience success and positivity in the classroom thus boosting his/her motivation and confidence. I would also ask them to make him/her surrounded by the students in class to feel socially connected and emotionally stable.

The counselor can change a student’s life, be able to save him/her from dangerous situations, and spread light in the darkness he/she is living. A student’s problem might be simple and silly for adults, but for him/her they consider such problems the center of their live that’s why  the job of a counselor is to help him/her overcome them in order to stay on the right path and enjoy a healthy childhood that is the base for a very productive future.

Novel Review

The Red Badge of Courage

                                                By Stephen Crane

          The Red Badge of Courage is a novel that tells the story of the soldier Henry who went to fight during the Civil War and faced a lot of psychological and inner conflicts.

The main focus of the novel is on the development of his character according to situations that Henry faced. It also focuses on showing the events of the American Civil War and reflecting on it.  He also shows the true nature of the war by contrasting Henry Fleming’s expectations about it (exciting, romantic, and full of glory) with the reality that he faces.

The author Crane consulted Battles and Leaders of the Civil War (1884), a collection of Union and Confederate officers' memoirs which included many illustrations based on wartime sketches and photographs to write his story and try to make it portray the civil war in the most credible way. He portrays the American Civil War in many ways throughout the novel by showing the people’s perspective of the war, the soldiers’ state during it, the value of war wounds, and death.

         Crane focuses on showing how the war affected people and environment in America.  Henry’s mother that first was against the idea of him participating and considered him a “fool” for enlisting in the army, then she changed her mind and said good bye after giving him some sensible and realistic advices. However, she didn’t give him that heroic and romantic farewell he dreamt of (Geroge McMichael, et al, 1993). Also the girls they saw during the time of their movement gave them kisses in the air and showed admiration towards them which was a common thing soldiers encountered from young girls that considered them heroes even before they started fighting just because they were going to fight, defend, and protect them. The soldiers are looked up to as the Spartans, the tough men who would bring glory and pride. Even people surrounding them wanted them to fight to attain this heroism.

       It was an undeniable fact that war had great tolls on the soldier’s state of mind and psychological state. First the soldiers were excited, dynamic, and very eager to participate in war to get glory to their country and people and to achieve heroism and  praise from society they aspired to. Before engaging in the fight they faced feelings of fear, hesitation, uncertainty, and desire to flee. They weren’t ready enough to what was going to happen, and that is clearly portrayed by Crane when he described the different phases that Henry went through from his first battle to the time he fled and how much he was affected by his mixed feelings between the desire to become a hero and the instinct of staying alive and preserving himself regardless of what’s happening around him.

       Then there was the most important point that was considered the main theme of the story which was the wounds of war. Crane focused on the significance of the wounds of war which represented a deep meaning in the novel. The wounds represented the courage of the soldiers, the blood projected their sacrifice, participation, and severe fighting for their country. It represented their nobility and their heroic act, thus “the wounds are the physical evidence of the war's spiritual and ideological struggles” (Unknown).  The wounds proved that the soldier actually fought to serve his country and he showed tremendous courage by his act. And that’s why even though Henry was wounded, he was upset because his wound represented coward because he didn’t participate and he got injured while trying to escape.

       The last thing to talk about is how Crane portrayed death which was the most action that took place throughout the novel. Crane talked about death a lot when he described the scenes of the battles, when Henry’s friend died, when the tattered man died, when he saw a dead man with ants all over him, and when he started fighting and killing enemy soldiers. Crane showed the other side of war, where everything involved death, dirty soldiers trying to stay alive, and their state of boredom during the process that was far away from heroic.

     The Red Badge of Courage is a great representer of the American Civil War, it allows the reader to live the events deeply, and even though it faced a lot of criticism, it was able to deliver the feeling that war beholds thus allowing the reader to actually experience all the emotions which makes it represent the Civil War in a clear image.

References:

Crane, Stephen. The Red Badge of Courage. Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Geroge McMichael, et al. 5th ed.Vol. 2. New York: Macmillan, 1993. 707-87.

. http://xroads.virginia.edu/~hyper/crane/images/section3.html

Workshop on Using Technology in the Classrooms

While explaining about using the smart board

Answering the questions of my colleagues and principal

As teachers, it's essential to stay updated with everything related to Education and teaching. The domain of Education is in constant change that's why we should always seek more knowledge and updates to do our job as good as possible. On the third of February, I attended a workshop in IC College in Beirut that featured the usage of technology in classrooms and we made a lot of debates of it. The major application we worked on was the smart board.
After learning from this experience, I did a workshop myself on using the smart board in our classrooms where I explained to my fellow teachers and principals how we can involve the smart board and prepare lessons using it. I also taught them the basics and tricks that I got from the workshop. And finally we made a debate about the extent of using it in our classrooms and how. It was a great experience to be able to transfer my knowledge to my colleagues especially since I'm a new teacher. This experience definitely unleashed my inner strength😁

Story Telling

The Three Bears. Goldilocks is missing😜😚

A project that I'll remember for the rest of my life. Indeed working on it, it's progress, and the result were all unforgettable. So in this course, we had to practice storytelling since it's a major part of teaching. First of all I was like, " How we're supposed to do this?", but with time it everything ran smoothly, ideas came from everywhere, and my with my friends had the time of our lives. It's very cheerful when you enjoy doing a project and that's exactly what we felt. We worked so hard, we got costumes ans sound effects to make it professional as possible, and one thing I can remember was how the students at our university chased us from the bathroom, in the hallways, and peaked inside the class to watch the three bears😂😂😂 It turns out that story telling was a lot of fun, and I actually used the song I wrote for the story to present my self in the exam made by the school I teach in now!! Interesting right??

Women's Conference

With Dr Rasha Halat, ( Head of the Education department at LIU Bekaa campus)
a great presenter of the rights of women in Education .

 

A picture including me in front of the stand that carries the title of the conference, it was one of a kind indeed 

Posing for a picture with my colleagues and dear friends❤❤❤

One thing I'm really grateful for is pursuing my studies at the Lebanese International University. Such that in it, I made the best memories of my life, gained a lot of experience, and got to be a part of a lot of educational and  social experiments that affected my personality in a positive way.

These photos were taken during the Women's Conference which, as the name tells, held the issues of women. It featured a lot of powerful women from around the Arab world that are educated and powerful in their domains, and they talked about their experiences, and participated in different debates. Being in such an environment gave me more awareness about the power of education and I had the pleasure to be a participant in such a successful event. Hopefully, women will gain more power to change the world through education, because no matter what the obstacles are, women can succeed and they will.

Education Day

Receiving my certificate for getting the 1st place for my project in the course "Educational Psychology"

 Next to my project " How to motivate your students"

It was the first time that I ever participate in Education Day, I was hesitated to do so but my instructor insisted. I had no idea about what happens but I was excited. It was a good day, we enjoyed our time and we got a look on our colleagues work. Participating in such an event gave me  a sense of pride, and I really felt the value of our work, and how what we do is important, professional, and up to the level. The judges were happy and impressed with out works, and this made me experience presenting, and my oral communication skills with instructors and doctors. This experience was also a major boost for my confidence. The feeling I got when I received my prize was priceless, because I felt appreciated and capable of anything as long as I have the determination to do so. Best days indeed...

Speech

Delivering the opening speech for the 4th Annual Brunch, May 2016

That was a one of a kind experience!! It was very empowering for me to stand in front of such a huge audience with confidence in an educational ceremony, and it made me realize that I can do anything I want. It all needs a bit of courage and self confidence. We can do whatever we want😃

Everything is possible with knowledge and preparation. To talk more about the brunch, it is an annual ceremony at the Lebanese International University, where students and instructors organize and work together to buy delicious food ( salty and sweet), with games and face painting and serve university students as long as students from nearby schools in order to collect money for social causes. It  requires a lot of hard work, but the result is always amazing, and the hard work pays off. The best times of my life indeed was during these brunches with the best people!!

Webinar

Since the internet connection was very slow, I wasn't able to catch up with everything said by the Dr. and I ended up only watching a small part of the webinar. I signed up for another webinar, but I faced the same problem and the picture kept turning black. I communicated with the team responsible and they said they will send it to me after it finishes but the connection didn't help me to watch it again even though they've sent me a certificate for watching it. The topic was interesting about using rugs in the classrooms for KGS'.
Moving back to the first webinar, Encourage Physical Activity in Preschoolers, it was by Steve Standers, a Professor at the University of South California. After he introduced himself, he said a quote about playing as a warm up for his topic about the importance of play for children. He focused on the loco motor skills which he divided into 2 categories: the uneven rhythm loco motor skills like skip, gallop, and and slide, and the even rhythm loco motor skills like run, jump, hop, bounce...
He also talked about the different stages a child passes through uses his motion, since at the beginning he flips from moving his hands and legs to crawling then taking their first steps. He focused on the nature of moving through children, how it develops, and how important is our job as teachers to protect this movement in schools and invest it in fun activities. I wish that I was able to know more about the topic since I wanted to know about fun physical activities to make for children because I'm a KG 2 teacher but I wasn't lucky enough to hear the full session...

EDU560

So far, this is the second period I attend in this course. I liked this it since I'm very interested in technology and I like to know more about how I can benefit from it.
This course is giving me answers to questions I always had related to technology. It is directing my interests in a positive way and I think it will develop and empower my skills with technology.
I love attending courses where I can apply what I'm learning immediately and I think it will make things easier for me.