As any teacher will know, a huge amount of student achievement stems not just from knowledge and understanding, but from having confidence in themselves and their own abilities. Countless times, a student who has all the tools they need, but just has doubts about their own ability, will fail to achieve the level they actually have the potential to reach, while students with confidence in themselves fall behind despite hard work and potential. Building student confidence is vital outside the classroom too – it helps make sure that students are happy, motivated and secure in their school environment more widely and is likely to contribute to a healthy work-life balance.
But how can you instill confidence in a student who is unsure of themselves? Extra help and practice is one answer – some students need a little extra time to use the skills they have learned before they feel comfortable that they have grasped them fully. For others, reassurance is key – using the knowledge they’ve learned in a non-pressured environment like a game, will help to reassure them that they have the tools they need to succeed in a given subject, and receiving praise and congratulations for their achievements will help to cement their confidence. And for some students, achieving success in tests and quizzes is the best way to build confidence with clear positive results. Luckily, there are a host of brilliant edtech resources on the web that students can use for exactly these purposes, and teachers can integrate them into either the classroom or home learning environment to make sure their students feel supported and confident in their abilities as they move through the curriculum. Here are a few of the best…
Tools for extra practice and information
SchoolTube
Like Youtube but for students, this great free resource contains handy videos to explain and reinforce concepts across a wide range of subjects, and students can click through until they find the one that’s most useful for them (a search for ‘periodic table’ brings up 15 different video choices).
Fact Monster
With a simple, fun layout, this site provides easily understood information on a vast range of topics, perfect for helping students to feel completely confident with any given subject.
Tools for reassurance and praise
Math Playground
Perfect for reinforcing new maths knowledge, this site offers a treasure chest of games to cover a whole variety of different maths topics and grade levels. When they lose themselves in the games, students are likely to relax and use their knowledge without worrying so much about it thanks to the distracting elements of gameplay. Great for fun practice to build maths confidence.
Certificate Street
They might look a little cheesy, but for students, receiving certificates and awards to mark their success is an important way to build confidence in their academic progress and ability. With this simple web tool certificates are easy to create, download and print off in moments!
Tools for practice tests and quizzes
That Quiz
For quick quizzes to check knowledge and boost confidence, That Quiz is still one of the best sites around. It’s user interface might not be the most modern or attractive but it’s simple, easy-to-use and does the job of helping students realise their own abilities.
Which tools do you use to build your students’ confidence? Share them with us in the comments below!
Image courtesy of Filckr, tom@hk | 湯米tomhk.