Every teacher wants their students to succeed, and while students are ultimately responsible for accomplishing their goals, a good teacher can pave the way. High school success is often a collaborative effort, and teachers who can master this collaboration end up instilling techniques that not only enable students to triumph academically, but also succeed in life outside of school. All of this begins with quality class preparation, which relies on identifying your students’ individual needs and offering strategies to navigate them.
Create a structure for everyone
Every student is unique with their own set of challenges to face. Yet the structure and schedule of your class have to work for everyone. A good, engaging routine that your class can follow will help them focus and understand what is expected of them. Just as importantly, a good routine can help you attend to tasks swiftly and easily. The foundation of this routine starts with a reliable schedule, which acts as a tool for both you and your students to keep track of the curriculum and their progress.
Power tip: Your schedule is likely to change over the years as class subjects and work schedules adapt to new curriculums. Even if your classes stay the same, new students with unique needs will often necessitate a new routine. Connecting your Google Calendar with Evernote lets you create schedules and lesson plans, and add notes and reminders—all while sharing them with your students.
Bring out everyone’s talent
With a general schedule set and an overall routine established, you can then focus on bringing out the best in each of your students in the ways that work for them. As any teacher can tell you, motivation is key to high school success.
The more you understand your students’ hobbies, skillsets, and interests, the better you’ll be able to convey the material to them. This can often be a matter of note-taking. It can also include being familiar with the popular music, movies, or online videos your students are talking about. You can make note of all of these in real-time and then circle back later after class.
Similarly, look for means of recognizing each student in terms of ways that help them do more. Every student responds to proper acknowledgment; it just looks different for each of them. By finding ways to incorporate that—and having the means to file and organize it all seamlessly—you can draw talent and enthusiasm from your class.
Set the bar (realistically) high
All of the motivation and enthusiasm in the world won’t make much of a difference if you can’t measure your students’ progress. And while high school success is measured in many different ways, you need to set achievable and realistic expectations for your students.
As always, that will depend on the student and their capabilities, but you should set the bar realistically high for each of them. That gives you a way to help in both small and big ways, such as providing encouragement at the right time, looking for ways to offer second chances, and measuring their progress in demonstrable ways to boost their self-confidence.
It also means brainstorming ways to help guide them back on track if they run into trouble. Keeping track of their progress as part of your overall plan is an easy way to monitor their progress.
Power tip: Are you looking to quickly share photo excerpts from textbooks or publications, syllabi, and other resources with students? Evernote’s document scanner can convert anything from paper to digital form to be shared with anyone. It allows you to copy and share documents, and ensure that your students can receive the necessary course materials.
Leverage tech tools and apps
Technology is designed to streamline information while making life easier. This is precisely why teachers have discarded the old chalk and blackboard in favor of more effective digital tools.
The results have been undeniable, and the transformation is far from finished. Indeed, high school success can often be defined by the school and students’ access to the technology that shapes our world—such as computers, tablets, and apps.
Utilizing these technologies in the classroom makes it easier for you to teach and helps your students connect what they learn in the classroom to the real world. This real-world application maximizes their chances of high school success while laying the foundation to transition to bigger and better things following graduation.
Power tip: Use templates in Evernote to set up a note or a document tailored to your specific needs. Create and modify new documents, share them with your students, and even allow them to contribute their own ideas—all in one user-friendly app!
Bring the best out of everyone in the classroom
Technology will never be a substitute for good teaching. But it absolutely can help teachers improve their skills to help their students find high school success in the ways that work for them. Modern digital tools make it easier for you to engage with students and establish a healthy routine in your classroom.
It’s your job to meet your students where they are. It’s Evernote’s to help you get there.
