The Condition of Belonging means being a valued member of a community while still maintaining your uniqueness. It is manifested in relationships between two or more persons and is characterised by a sense of connection and support.
A sense of Belonging is an important Condition for an overall sense of well-being, social engagement, competence, and a strong collegial working environment. The Condition of Belonging can enhance intrinsic motivation, for it fosters self-confidence and an investment in the community.
Fostering a sense of belonging
- Find the time to acknowledge all students
- Learn names and how to pronounce them properly
- Find out about the personal interests of each child
- Thresholds – meet and greet every student with a smile and warm welcome
- Reinforce expectations and values
- Body language – smile, relax and make eye contact
- Notice those who have been absent from previous lessons
- Celebrate achievements
- Purposeful start to the lesson
- Connect before you correct
Self-worth heroes
Heroes are the individuals students and teachers connect with, who have a positive influence on them, and who listen to and value their ideas. Heroes build trust in others and belief in oneself. Educators are, by definition, Heroes to their students who look up to them as people to learn from and communicate with about many things.
Students are often Heroes to teachers, and everyone can be a Hero to their peers.
Building positive relationships through support, guidance, and encouragement enables students and teachers to become more confident in their academic, personal, social, and collegial growth.
Being the hero in the room
- Lead by example
- Live your values
- Create opportunities to listen to your students
- Use other students to model the behaviours you want to see
- Use break/lunch duty as a further opportunity to connect
- Make your own club or support another club
- Use your students as role models
- Invite former students back to share their success stories
- Build trust through consistency and compassion
- Attend school events
- Student-led activities
Self-worth and sense of accomplishment
The Condition of Sense of Accomplishment recognises effort, perseverance, collegiality and citizenship as signs of success. Schools have traditionally used a narrow view of accomplishment as it refers to academic achievement, innate ability, who is “best in the class”, a snapshot performance evaluation, or a checklist for participation in professional development.
Sense of Accomplishment, however, is viewed in terms of personal and professional growth and effort and is not strictly assessed through measurable outcomes and countable successes.
Schools can celebrate a wide variety of accomplishments in visible ways. Taking time to recognize and support students’ and teachers’ efforts can help motivate them to persevere through difficult tasks, creating an appreciation for hard work and dedication.
Positive. Positive. More positive
- Make a big deal of those who get it right
- Acknowledge those students who have tried really hard on a task
- Embrace mistakes and show them that failing is part of the learning process
- Praise and reward effort
- Set individual targets
- Find time to contact parents with positive news
- Star of the Week/Student of the Week
- Range of rewards for effort, achievement, demonstrating values
- Work with your students, not against them
- Create opportunities for teamwork and collaboration
- Celebrate success publicly (with student consent)
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