I consider myself to be a pretty encouraging person in the classroom most of the time. I also know this is an area that even the most positive and encouraging teacher can improve in. At least all the human ones! Sometimes everybody is just tired or hungry, or tired AND hungry! And then other times, kids are having a such a tough time academically, socially, or otherwise that even the most patient teacher in the world feels like he/she is not going to make it through the day.
So I thought that since I’m off for the summer, it would be a good time to focus on a few ways to make this area of classroom life even better. I came up with a few of the things I contemplated and looked into. I cannot conquer the whole subject in this post. So for more info, this is a really good book on the subject. I hope you find this all helpful!
Table of Contents
How to be Encouraging When Everybody’s Tired
We all experience these days, and not just in the classroom. After a long weekend or vacation, everybody comes back to school. But while they are there physically, their minds are just not ready to be done with the long weekend or vacation.
Sometimes I felt like these days were insurmountable to get through. I also knew the kids and I were there for the day and we needed to get through it. For a long time, I just gritted my teeth and plodded through. And I know the kids were doing the same. But then I started thinking about it differently.
The Solution
I started realizing that if they were having a hard time getting through the day because they just weren’t ready to be thrown back into academics, maybe we could all just help each other ease into it.
We have all experienced that struggle where we kept on pushing through, often making things worse. Then we took a break because we just couldn’t do another thing. After that break, the thing we had tried to to do for so long suddenly resolves right after being back at the task. If only we had taken the break to start with and not pushed through so stubbornly, thinking we could get through it with brute force.
So how does this relate to how to be encouraging in the classroom? It means not pushing the kids too far because we need to get through that lesson plan. It doesn’t mean fooling around all day and doing nothing productive either. Although that would be such a fun day!
Maybe starting the day with a conversation about their time away from class would be a great transition. Focusing some of the day’s activities on the vacation or weekend they just had could be helpful too. Making their creative writing about something they did or felt or experienced over the weekend would be a perfect way to keep them engaged. And they won’t be struggling to figure out what to do with the content of an assignment related to their life because it is still fresh in their mind.
How to be Encouraging When Everybody’s Hungry
If they’re hungry–here is one super fun idea. Have some simple, school-approved snacks in a hiding spot so you can pull them out for a quick diversion. Just make sure that you get back to the subject at hand quickly. Then they won’t realize they are off the track and decide not to get back on!
The best part of this is that you can do it if you are starving and the kids won’t even know the difference. They will be grateful that you thought of them in that way.
Be sure not to communicate this as a reward. They may expect you to do this regularly upon them giving you some aspect of work. No teacher wants to end up being prisoner of a reward program.
That being said, I DO believe that rewards are appropriate for a job well done.
Motivational Posters that Show How to Encourage
I discovered this totally by mistake because I bought some posters for my own kids to display in my home. It worked! I admit, they thought the posters were “lame.” But it didn’t stop the conversation from happening.
Most of the time I didn’t specifically connect the conversation to the posters. I kept them in prominent places around the house. The whole classroom is pretty prominent so that shouldn’t be a problem for teachers. The fact that they had to look at them every day as they passed by worked for me. Then as opportunity knocked, I would bring up the points without beating them over the head with it. I doubt they even made the connection most of the time. But the reinforcement was definitely there.
Keep a Conscious Reminder of Encouragement on Your Desk
You can literally choose anything to use as a personal reminder. You can make it a decoration or something functional. And you can choose to keep its purpose secret or you can tell your class what it is for. Keeping it secret allows you to do it with them having no clue. But letting them know also shows them the importance of making encouragement a conscious decision.
Oh, and you don’t even have to keep it on your desk. Put it anywhere that you would see it frequently during the day. But honestly, the more you do this, the more it will come naturally. By the end of the year, you probably won’t even need it!
Hurry up!
This is probably one of the biggest struggles for any teacher, regardless of the type of school he/she teaches in. I made a list of some polite ways to tell students to hurry up:
- Please try to finish in the next few minutes.
- Please try to finish in the next _ minute(s).
- It seems like you need some help.
- Would you like some help?
- How can I help you?
Let’s see if we can finish this by (specify time).
I’m sure there are tons more ways to say it nicely, but this is a good start.
Conclusion
There are so many ways that we can be more encouraging in the classroom. But hopefully this was enough to get us thinking as we start to plan for the next school year. Let’s make it a wonderful year for each other and especially our students!
For more tips on classroom life and teaching literature, check out my home page here.
These are some great ideas. I can’t imagine how hard is to deal with hungry or tired kids.
I can imagine it can be very difficult to handle a class of tired or hungry children. Your tips and advice is very welcomed.
Oh man these are all great ideas. I know how annoying I am when I’m tired or hungry. Thanks so much for sharing this with all of us!
Fab information. My sister is a teacher so I’ll have to pass this on to her.
Ah I used to teach English in Japan and it was definitely a challenge whenever the children are tired. Great tips!
Encouraging someone to do is such a hard task of that person has mo initiative to even lift a finger. I am often disappointed when people do not have the initiative beacause no matter how motivating your words and purpose are, but when they are just too lazy to act, nothing will still happen.
Encouragement is key! In my experience, encouragement leads to motivation!
I like the concept of easing into the classroom again. Great way to keep them encouragement.
I know that I am useless when I am tired or hungry or both. So, that moment when I realise that I have the potential to hurt someone’s feelings I go to bed when I am tired and I get something to eat when I am hungry. In some situations I just try and avoid human contact until I’m sorted.
I need someone to motivate me when I’m hungry! I love your ideas and approach, I’m sure kids are happy to have you.
These are some nice ideas. A good teacher works on the points that you have mentioned here and it needs hard work and patience to encourage hungry and a tired pupil.
thank you so much for sharing this. i love seeing posts who are lifting each other up especially in this world who have lots of things that let people down…. it pays to be kind. 🙂
Cha at Little MisadvenCHA
Awesome post. It can be difficult to be encouraging all the time but your tips are a great start.
Hurrying up the little ones can be tough. Everyone works at their own pace.
Very true, Fatima. And if they know they’re being hurried, they will not respond well.
It can definitely be tough to do but you’ve got some great advice here. I’ll have to keep this in mind for the future.
Thank you, Adaleta!
Great information and advice I will share with my daughter. She is a teacher and encouragement is very important
Thank you, Cindy! Blessings to your daughter!
Encouragement goes such a long way in the classroom. I still fondly remember those teachers who inspired me and those that didn’t make me feel very good about myself or my classmates.
I also remember those teachers that cared enough to invest in me. I was very fortunate to have almost all excellent teachers throughout my school years.
Snacks are always a winner for my kids. I need to send some healthy snacks to the teachers
My kids are lucky and have had pretty good teachers. There were some cranky ones that weren’t as encouraging, but mostly they were!
I am glad their experience has been mostly good. I had the same experience growing up. The vast majority of my teachers were amazing and inspirational to us.
This is the good school. I would have some politicians here in Italy read your blog and perhaps they would understand the really important things in the field of education to do!
That would be awesome, Cristina!
Being a teacher myself, I love the pointers you have shared. I use these in my classroom too. We need more teachers who can implement this in schools.
I agree Suman. Thank you for your hard work!
This is soooo cool!!! I wish my school did half of these stuff back in the day. I mean they did there best but it was far from what I just read now. Great post.
I had a couple of teachers that did some of these. They have no idea how far their inspirational activities have gone over time.
Nice tips. I came back here again to re read this post. Teaching is an art to educate children without putting pressure and finding creative ways to develop interest in bored pupil.
Yes Sarah! As long as you can capture their attention and passion, the rest of the teaching job is much easier!
I give teachers SO MUCH CREDIT. I would NOT have the patience what so ever to handle a bunch of kids – especially HUNGRY ONES!! These are some great tips though!!! 🙂
That’s why you always have to be feeding them (and ourselves, lol)!
This is such a lovely topic! Some of my favourite teachers were the ones who were most encouraging. It’s such an important quality to have.
I agree, Lisa. Thank you for the kind comment.
Vow this is amazing. I often get so tired and exhausted with my daughter. This is so encouraging. Thanks.
I agree with what you say. I am a preschool and sometimes we need positive encouragement for those times when we are so tired or not emotionally ready for something.
I agree with you. Sometimes teaching is very wearing and we need to concentrate even more to be able to do these things.
Reaching kids is so hard. I like all of the ideas that you have to engage them!
They can indeed be hard to reach. But I have found that they are much easier to reach once they realize we are in their corner and we see, hear, and value them. 🙂
Just love how the idea goes encouraging especially when kids are hungry. It’s a step up being in charge and taking a lead to just stay positive and spreading it towards the room. Let’s just encourage each other so that we can spread positivity.
I love these ideas. When I was a kid, I always loved the posters that some of my teachers had on the walls. Some of them were really good!
This is SO important. Especially the hunger before it’s lunch!
This is awesome! Definitely helpful for parents too. Something we can reinforce at home.
Those are all awesome ideas on how to be encouraging in the classroom. My favorite idea is snack time! haha 🙂
These are such great ideas! Dealing with tired and hungry kids can be very challenging! These tips will help me be encouraging in the future!
Kileen
cute & little
I can’t imagine being a teacher. I would lose patience on day 2, I’m sure. Teachers deserve so much credit!
another great post. with so many struggles due to Covid, encouragement is needed even more.
These are great ideas to to keep a positive culture in the classroom. Really look up to teachers cause I don’t think I can be as patient.
“Would you like some help?”…..this question always gets people opening up to me. I highly recommend trying it out, with learners in the classroom.
These are awesome ideas! I will share this to my friends they will surely love it.
Very nice tips dear ! will be sharing it with my friend who is a teacher, am sure she will appreciate it
There are some really important points here and I like the information at the end of polite ways on how to hurry up a student x
These are all wonderful tips to also improve the bonding with your students! Thanks for sharing these with us, they’re really helpful for teachers.
Such a great article! It’s so important to encourage young minds in the classroom so that they feel inspired to do their absolute best (and enjoy the learning process)!
I totally agree kids can be grumpy and not willing to learn if they are hungry- I love the hiding a snack idea
glad you shared an amazing and valuable blog post with us..great blog post indeed..and these tips and ideas are truly very helpful one…
Managing children, first of all, is a great job and then motivating encouraging inspiring them is the hardest part. Nice tips shared.
I think being flexible with the lesson plan is so important. Transitioning back into school should be a slow process.
These are all great tips and information for teachers!
Super interesting. I really enjoyed reading this for sure!
I’m not a teacher but these tips are helpful and applicable for homeschooling to. Thanks for sharing!
I think interactive games and activities really help. Also, it’s also a way of support to students. Schedule a mini talk with them.
Wow! Those are great alternatives to hurry up!
Great post..encouraging people in their hard times very important
I love that you have encouraging ways for different difficult scenarios. It’s hard and frustrating when you’re in a negative state but the way you tackled it helps.
I agree, Kathy! Thank you for sharing.
Great article! So many people need encouragement today. I will put these tips into use.
I like the snack idea. i think any age can appreciate a good snack and food can change your mood.
As teachers, our first job is to encourage all our kids to succeed. When children fail, it is because teachers have also failed.