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Here are some tips to help meet the needs of every student you interact with! The ones who need to build up their self-confidence will thank you and the others will appreciate it just because you’re valuing them for who they are and treating students with love and respect.
Undivided Attention
When you talk to students, give them your undivided attention. Make sure you are using your tracking and listening skills. There should be no looking around the room or shuffling papers at this time. Actively listening and making eye contact with the student will let them know you value them and want to listen to what they have to say. It builds a connection that says โIโm here for youโ.
Strengths First
Always start with positives first. When working with a student try to start with their strengths then you can work into something they can improve. Also, make sure to have useable feedback that students can take with them and apply to their day. The last thing we want is for students to learn about their weak areas and have no way of improving or changing them. Instead, we want to equip students with the tools they need to go into their classroom and tackle their goals.
Set Attainable Goals
Encourage students to set realistic goals. Work on one small step at a time and build on to the student’s accomplishments. For example, if a student has a goal of saying hello to a new friend. They can build on that by inviting that person to play with them at recess the next week.
Teach Self-Assessment
Encourage monitoring and assessing. Even if this means you do it together at first, then hand the responsibility over to the student. You could have a rating system of how they felt last week and compare it to this week. Or have kids assess how well they did on their counseling goals for the week. Being able to see growth will help students build their confidence that they can make progress and they can accomplish hard things.
One way to help students self-assess their counseling goals is to have a rating scale where kids can tell you how well they carried out their goal for the week. Keep the data in an interactive notebook or folder for them to reflect on each week.
Check out mine below…
Have a Positive Attitude
Having a positive attitude toward all students will help you build rapport school-wide. Students will begin to associate you with someone that they can count on. They will begin to realize that you are there for each and every one of them.
In the Classroomโฆ
- Allow Students to Take Breaks – Students need to practice different coping skills in the classroom. Work with teachers to allow a system where students can take a break when they are feeling overwhelmed. It doesnโt have to be anything bigโฆ just a few minutes to get a drink, go to a calm corner, or work through task cards such as my Calm Down Lanyard.
- No More Singling Out Students – When timid students are singled out in the classroom it created a huge rush of anxiety. Encourage participation in other ways and be patient.
- Pair Shy Students with an Easy-Going Confident Student – Have you ever heard the term โopposites attractโ… This is the same concept! This may be the perfect opportunity for students to build confidence and make new friends.
Lesson Idea
If you are looking for a lesson to help foster self-confidence in studentsโฆ try out the one below!
This is Timmy the Timid Turtle and he has a really hard time breaking out of his โShy Shellโ! Students who are a bit shy can relate to Timmy and understand ways to overcome his shyness. Help students break out of their shells with role-playing prompts and a cute turtle activity!
Let me know what you do to help kids overcome the fear of making new friends. How do you foster self-confidence?
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