Encouragement and connecting with students

Last year I did something that I really feel was very successful and so I'm trying it again on Monday.

What I did was print out gradesheets for all of my students (well at my last school with classes of 40, I did a class or two at a time). Then I sat down at home one night and wrote comments on all of them. I started with some positive comments of encouragement. I pointed out their successes. Then I continued with one or two things that I felt they could work on. And ended by asking them a specific question, asking them what I could do to help, or telling them to keep up the great work.

Then I handed out all of these grade sheets and asked that all students respond to my comments. I told them that they could answer questions I had asked them or tell me anything they thought I should know about them or the class.

I got the best responses ever from different students. Some of them had excellent suggestions. Some of them told me that X and Y really helped them and that I should do more of X and Y. Some of them admitted their responsibility. And some even seriously made a plan to improve. The activity was probably one of the best things I could do in such large of classes to truly connect with each student.

Well, as we finish the semester (only 11 class periods left before finals), I want to give my students this year that encouragement and make sure that they know that I am there for them. I want to point out their successes and push them a little on what they need to improve. I'm really hoping for another excellent response to doing this.

I'll update when I start getting responses back.

Failure

I was just reading a post on teachers.net (click title for actual post) that really made me stop and think about students who don't study. One of this poster's students made the following comment when encouraged to study:

"You don't understand; if you don't study and fail,
it's because you didn't study. "But if you study and fail, it's
because you're stupid. "How would you rather feel?"


I've always had a hard time with the concept that students seem content to fail. Maybe it has nothing to do with being OK with an F but instead a fear of not being successful at something you try at.