It may be the time for festive holiday parties and celebrations right now, but have you thought about how to celebrate student success at this time of the year? We hope you have! Waiting until the end of the school year can be too long to recognize student growth and accomplishments in your STEM classroom. It’s so important to celebrate student success when it is witnessed!
Creative Ideas to Motivate and Inspire
We have some creative ways to share here that just might inspire you to arrange for and enjoy a STEM Success Party with your students before the new year. Likewise, these ideas will very likely inspire and motivate your students, too, to give even more effort and study in the coming second semester. Hopefully, you will add your own twist to these creative ideas to make them your own and meet the needs of your unique students.
Celebrating student success and building relationships should always go together. As their teacher, your students look to you to invite and bring each of them into the classroom community. This may be more challenging to do for some classrooms, but in the hands-on environment of a STEM classroom, this should actually be easier to achieve. Often, a student who struggles with dyslexia or ADHD in a literature class will excel in the STEM classroom with its opportunities to move about, manipulate STEM equipment and rely on different skill sets not frequently utilized in other classrooms. The STEM classroom is one where inclusion can become a reality sooner than some might expect.
Creative Ways to Celebrate Student Success in Your STEM Classroom
Here is a great list of creative ways to celebrate your STEM students’ successes. When you make them the center of the celebration, more successes will be realized in the weeks and months ahead.
- Celebrate with a visual symbol of success (high-fives, hand raises or other unique symbol).
- Create celebration tunnels (with students’ arms and hands).
- Use a cumulative class reward system (marble jars, class chain, etc.)
- Celebrate positive mindsets and attitudes with verbal praise (or other rewards).
- Recognize individual life skills improvements in your STEM classroom.
Sources
9 Creative Ways to Celebrate Student Success in Your Classroom by Alison Smith, Teach Starter Pty Ltd.
10 Ways Teachers/Principals Can Celebrate Student Success by Erin Lynch, William H. Sadlier, Inc.