Success in the Classroom

Your students can’t wait to come to your class!

Seriously!

Yes, Yes, Yes!

A Success Culture in your classroom where the kids give 100%!

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Here’s what’s likely to be happening to you in your classroom:

1-Too much focus on minority groups, such as trouble makers, underachieving kids or over achieving students, aka “Gifted”.

Are Kids not ALL gifted in fact?

2-Lack of communication between parents and teachers, kids and parents and teachers and kids, because everybody is too busy.

You’re a teacher, you know exactly what I am talking about. Classes are getting bigger and bigger, the demands from the Administration are ever increasing and never for the benefits of the kids, you have a million things to do at once. Parents work too hard to give the best for their kids but they have no time for them. Kids think the world is against them and don’t even want to talk about it!

3-Lack of consistence

Expectations are never the same. kids come and go to classes where rules are all different. Rules exist but are not always enforced. Kids are lost or play the system.

We need to rebuild communication, create accountability for everyone and, mostly, bring the best out of the kids who never get attention.

We need to bring motivation back into schools.

As teachers, we can create our own “world” where our kids and their parents understand the rules, where we all speak the same language and share the same culture of excellence and success for all.

The Foundation of a Success Culture

In three simple steps, you can turn your classroom into your own little nation, with your own little government and rules that everybody understands.

#1: Identify your LEADERS

The drive in your classroom is really the kids. You GUIDE them, but they are really in charge. Create a group of LEADERS and they will keep the rest of the class on track and aim for excellence.

Who are your LEADERS?

They are those kids who just do the right thing but not too much, the ones you know have much more potential but that they don't show.

When you give these kids more positive attention, they will shine for you. They will show who they really are AND they will drag everybody along with them.

#2: Communicate

First you want to communicate with your students and established your routines and procedures. (You all know Harry Wong, right?)

And then, you want to communicate with the parents. You want to let them know how they can contact you personally, you want to have their contact details and you want to get this information personally.

There has to be a human touch! Don't wait for the parents to look you up on the school's website. Make yourself known and let the kids know.

You'll be sending a double message here: First: You care. Both the parents and the students will know it. Second: The kids will know that they can't get away with much because you are in close communication with their parents.

You're establishing your authority.

#3: Be consistent

Once all parties know where they stand, once your routines, procedures, rules and understandings are in place, you need to stick to them. No need for a rule if you are not prepared to enforce it. How ever trivial it may seem.

Going back to the message I mentioned above: Be very certain that the kids will pick up on every little mistake. If you don't enforce a rule you agreed on, your message is that you are unlikely to enforce the others. So, if they get away with chewing gum in your class once, no surprise if homework doesn't get done.

No need to be a dictator. Just be a fair ruler and make sure YOU are in charge of your little nation, your own Success Culture.

"Ms. Bernard was that unique type of teacher who was in touch with her students and kept parents informed on a regular basis of our children’s successes as well as their shortcomings. For many years, Ms. Bernard was the only teacher at St. Ignatius who provided parents regular feed-back on tests and assignments through the internet. Because she was also in touch with her students on a personal level, she was able to detect when something was amiss with one of her students and if she considered it sufficiently serious, would contact one of us to share her concerns.
Ms. Bernard saw the potential in her students and provided them with the encouragement and support they required to meet the challenges she placed before them. She was instrumental in providing support, tutorship and encouragement to allow one of our daughters, at the young age of 14, to be examined in the IGCSE (Spanish) and score an A*. She also provided support and liaison between a Private French Tutor and St. Ignatius School to facilitate one of our daughters to be examined in the IGCSE (French) and score an ‘A’ at age 13.
Ms. Bernard impressed upon her students and on us as parents the value of broad and well-rounded education; one that extends well beyond the classrooms and, indeed, beyond the shores of our Islands. It was as a result of Ms. Bernard’s encouragement that one of our daughters travelled to Scotland to attend summer school at Gordonstoun. This experience has contributed significantly to our daughter’s growth and appreciation of world cultures. Ms. Bernard truly understands the concept of ‘education’ and its value in today’s society."

- R. Whittaker-Myles, Cayman Islands

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Success in the Classroom

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