The Beauty of Student Work and Why it Matters

 Seeing Success and Student Work

    Success comes in many different ways. Some students crave it, others long for it, and a few have no clue what success looks like to begin with. A common complaint many students have is not seeing the fruits of their labor. I'm sure every teacher is familiar with the outcries of "is this graded?" or "when are you handing it back?" or "how do I do better?". Many students, after working tirelessly, feel they don't see the success and learning they've put in, which can lead to a decrease in motivation or a "why do I care if you don't seem to care?". As a Social Studies teacher, there's nothing more imperative then building up student success and showing why their work does matter through a variety of different strategies including timely feedback, work shown on the wall and hall, and multiple opportunities with different skillsets.

    One of the most critical things I've observed in seeing student success is timely feedback on assignments. There's nothing more important to getting students involved and caring then to show you care with just as much urgency for the hard work they've put in. Not only does this show that you care, but also you give feedback before they move on to the next assessment. This gives the students the ability to see their mistakes and what they did well, what they can improve for next time and where they had their success at. This is imperative to building up confidence with students. Showing that you care enough about their work to give feedback is a huge boost to classroom community, as well as building up your own connection to your students. Timely and consistent feedback shows you are in this together, and can effectively articulate student success and highlight strengths and weakness, creating a different version of "success" for every student involved. 

    Another way to see the beauty of student work is displaying work on the walls and in the hallway. While many students may profess to be shy, students love to see the hard work they've done up for others to see.

    (Japan Research Posters displayed in the hallway)

Being able to see work in the hallway and see the sense of pride in accomplishment does great wonders to the self esteem of students. Seeing that my work matters and my teacher cares enough for people to put it up to see is a great way to further student success and show care.

    Lastly, being able to showcase multiple different skills and opportunities is a huge boon for student success and work. Some students thrive in discussions, others in writing. Some love projects, others love in class assessments. The ability to give students a combination of all these things not only builds up different skillsets, but also allows students to thrive in an area where they feel most comfortable in, all while gaining practice in other areas. As a teacher, there's not a more satisfying feeling then seeing a student do an assignment they feel is really "their own" and watch them come into themselves. Giving students many different chances to show success is a key driver in building confidence and resilience into the future.

    As a teacher, there's nothing more spectacular then seeing students come into their own and have success. Giving students the ability to have feedback, many opportunities, and see their own work are critical in building confidence and encouraging further success and community engagement.