How to Boost My Students’ Confidence? 5 Best Ways

Timid smiles. Graceful hesitations. Diffident. Unsure. These are manifestations of a child who is doubtful of his capacities. When students are in doubt and don’t feel better about themselves their performance is highly affected. This leads me to ask, “How to boost my students’ confidence”.

building a student's confidence

Photo by juan mendez

Boosting our students’ self-esteem should be one of our priorities because students who are unconvinced tend to be disconnected and not interested to join in the different learning tasks. They are bashful and anxious.

_______________

<<What does it take to boost your student’s confidence? Read our inspiring ways you can do to improve a child’s self-esteem.

Click Here to Learn More--->

_______________

Building our students’ self-esteem can help them feel good about themselves and do better. But how can we help our students to feel confident and feel glad about what they do?

Let’s get started.

How to Boost My Students’ Confidence?

In the early years of life, a person’s sense of self-worth can be developed. Though, it takes time for it to grow.  When a child is protected, valued, and given a sense of belonging, the seeds of confidence are planted.

As teachers, we are most capable of helping our students build their self-esteem. It’s an important factor in increasing student engagement. If you adopt the following intelligent ideas, I am almost certain that you’re assisting your students to achieve success with all your might.

1. Give them positive attention and genuine care

A classroom is an enriching place for the students to grow. Therefore, as teachers, we should create opportunities to help our students excel and love what they do. One of the best ways to do it is to give our students positive attention and genuine care. A pat on the shoulder, for example, can make them feel better.

By asking our students how they are and by giving them assistance in challenging tasks they feel our ultimate concern that they do their best to complete the desired activities.

Our words of encouragement serve as meaningful tunes that inspire students to perform better. “You are doing great my dear” “I love your ways of doing it” “I love your idea, that’s pretty convincing”. “Can we have a minute? I will help you explore the challenging part once again.”  This is positive attention and there’s no reason why we can’t give this to our students.

Surprisingly, when students feel our utmost concerns through our motivating dialogues and friendly approaches, they excel and are motivated to actively participate in the different learning activities. It boosts their confidence and makes them excited about learning.

2. Praise but don’t over-praise

Praises can build a student’s confidence but it should be done sensibly. Words of praise are words of encouragement that make children feel proud of their work. It should illuminate attitude, effort, and achievement.

Giving praises in the classroom should be an act of sincerity and candor. Praise but just don’t overpraise. Hence, we have to make sure that it is well-deserved. A cheerful comment does wonders in a student’s perception.

Overpraising is a dishonest act and the child can feel it. When we say “Wow, you’re doing good. That’s excellent work”, but even the child can tell that he’s not doing good. It’s ineffective.

Telling the child that he did well when he knows he didn’t is overpraise. It rings something negative on his part. Hence, we should be careful in giving praises.

Saying, rather than doing so, “I’m sorry you had a bad day, but you’re not the only one and I congratulate you on your perseverance”. This is a good means to boost confidence. It is a perfect course of action rather than telling the child he’s doing good when he knows he doesn’t.

3. Assign roles

Tasks and extra roles are means of showing trust and confidence. Assigning a child to be the class monitor, for example, can elevate his feelings that he’s being trusted and that his honesty truly is appreciated.

Boost students’ confidence by assigning roles and tasks. When students perceive that they’re being trusted with the different roles in the classroom, they can feel that they’re being appreciated and this builds up their self-confidence.

Their self-esteem soars when they have our confidence. One way of doing this is by giving them opportunities to help their classmates. It can positively impact their confidence and draw positive emotions.

4. Set high expectations

Believing in our students’ capacities can lift their thoughts about themselves. When they know that we are expecting them to do better, they’ll persevere.

The key to this growth mindset among students is to set high expectations.  Moreover, the learning process becomes engaging when having high expectations for students. The students will display a positive attitude amid challenging tasks in the classroom.

As we provide high expectations for our students, their self-confidence increases which ultimately increases their academic performance.

Many scholars have identified the meaningful connections between setting expectations for students and increasing motivation. When students know what we expect from them, they act and behave accordingly. Hence, we should set high expectations for students right from the start.

5. Avoid stern criticisms

All have imperfections which are ought to be corrected but not criticized.  Negative criticisms can make one feel low and less effective. It deteriorates one’s competence. Thus, it should be avoided.

Instead, let’s focus on the students’ strengths. As we initiate interactions in the classroom, we should make our students feel comfortable by providing constructive feedback rather than negative criticisms.

Our positive feedback is an engine of motivation for students. They find these encouraging words so valuable and they need them to boost their esteem.

Expressing admiration and assent to students’ efforts can make a big difference in their perceptions. It greatly influences their abilities and academic performance. On the other hand, negative statements corrode students’ convictions and have a negative impact on students’ behavior. Thus, harsh feedback should be dodged.

Conclusion

Reinforcing students’ behavior by building up their confidence can increase students’ academic achievement. Our positive attitude towards our students can help them instill the confidence they need to thrive and become successful.

We should make them feel that they are worth our time and effort so, in turn, they will do their best not to waste it. As we spark an environment of fairness and full of trust, we can make the students feel safe so they are more optimistic about expressing themselves.

When students feel more confident, they are more likely to succeed. Let’s build their self-worth and make them feel good about themselves.  It can make them more competent to try harder.