Parentella

This is part of a series of posts regarding building student confidence. Click on the links to read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4 and Part 5.

Students who have high self-esteem are more willing keep trying to succeed even when a subject is difficult for them.  Their persistent effort and willingness to take chances in school are two traits which will help them in their studies.

What follows are some suggestions for parents that may help to motivate and build self-esteeem.

1. Know your child’s strengths and weaknesses.  Chances are you have a good idea where they are strong or week based on your own observations and those of their teachers.  Challenge your student in their areas of strength and support them in areas of weakness.

2. Praise your child’s efforts as well as their accomplishments.  Praising the processes necessary to do well in school (studying, reading, etc.), instead of just the results (grades), helps a child who is struggling feel better about themselves.

3. Find time for one on one conversations with your child each week so they feel comfortable about discussing their successes and challenges with you.

4.  Discuss your family’s heritage so that your child has an appreciation of who they are and where they come from.  Read books about your culture, find out about famous people with a similar background, and have your child talk with older relatives to gather even more family memories.

5. Teach your child about other cultures and celebrate the diversity of others.

6. Teach your child how to set goals that are challenging and realistic.  They need to be short term (“I want a B on tomorrow’s test), medium term (“I will study 2 hours each night this year”), and long term (“I want to become a doctor one day.”).  Post these goals around the house so they become real for the student and discuss their progress in attaining these goals each week. I have heard that we are 75% more likely to achieve goals we have written down. A countdown calendar may be useful tool for goal setting.

7. When a child feels frustrated, encourage them that sometimes falling short of their goal is the best way to learn.

8. Children are often influenced by their friends in both positive and negative ways.  See who your child’s friends are and also discuss with them the traits that a good friend should have and ones that a bad one would have.  Good friends will have a positive impact on their self-esteem, and bad ones will likely drag your child down.

9. Encourage extracurricular activities.

Click here for Part 7: Voulnteering

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Mr. Franklin is a teacher for the Los Angeles Unified School District. He is an eleven year veteran and has won District and County Teacher of the Year awards. He was also a recipient of the prestigious Bank of America Community Hero award. Before teaching, he spent five years at Learning Forum, which runs summer camps designed to increase student academic potential. It is a world-wide program.

Related posts:

1. How Do Parents Use Technology With Their Children?
2. Using Online Tools in Boarding Schools to Promote Connections
3. Getting Parents Involved at Disadvantaged Schools
4. Building Student Confidence: Part 3
5. Getting Parents Involved at Disadvantaged Schools: II

Tags: encouragement, self-esteem, Steve Franklin, success

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 at 12:01 am and is filed under Steve Franklin, Teacher Perspectives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.