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It's 7:30 a.m. on a cold morning in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The sun is barely over the horizon and students haven't yet arrived at the Crossroads Preparatory Academy charter school, but Crystalle Green is already setting up coffee, orange juice, and an array of LaMar's doughnuts, a local favorite.

It's all part of the job for Green, a former teacher turned site coordinator for Communities in Schools, a nationwide nonprofit "integrated student support" organization. Crossroads, which operates three charter schools in Kansas City, partners with Communities in Schools of Mid-America to provide social services to its students, either directly or by connecting them with existing programs in the local community. Green works onsite in a wide-ranging role, from giving out toiletries to counseling students with behavioral challenges. Today, that partnership takes the form of "Motivation Monday," in which the Crossroads teenage students will be greeted by a group of young professional men from the community recruited to mingle and inspire at the start of the day.

After the students, who are in grades 7 through 11, have passed the gauntlet of fist bumps, high-fives, and snacks, they walk past Green. She greets them:

"I love your coat!"

"I need to see you before the end of the day!"

"Oh, so just because you got a new haircut you think that you don't need to say good morning to me?"

Many come up and hug her.

Green does not stop moving during an hours-long visit. After she makes sure someone takes a picture of the Motivational Monday festivities, she pokes her head into a dedicated "restorative space" the school has set aside for students with behavior issues to see if anyone on her caseload is in there. Then her cell phone buzzes with a text: a student is having a rough morning, so she makes a note to let the girl's teacher know they'll be meeting for the first few minutes of second period. She even pops into the last few minutes of a music class to join students in singing the final chorus of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." And that's all in addition to meeting individually with the six students on that day's counseling schedule.

This is the nitty-gritty of integrated student supports, which aim to address barriers to learning from students' lives outside of school, such as homelessness, mental health issues, or food insecurity. In such programs, an onsite coordinator like Green serves as hallway cheerleader, listening ear, and point of connection to social services and other community resources, in addition to implementing schoolwide programming targeted at boosting attendance, persistence, and academic success.

While these interventions are not new, their profile is on the rise since the 2015 passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), which for the first time specifically encouraged districts to provide integrated student supports and allowed more federal dollars to pay for them. But a close look at the research on their effectiveness reveals an open question: while integrated supports may help meet students' physical and emotional needs, their ability to improve student learning remains unproven.
A Holistic Approach
Communities in Schools is one of the nation's oldest and largest providers of integrated student supports, also known as "wraparound services." Started in New York City in the 1970s, the agency now works with more than 2,300 schools in 25 states and the District of Columbia. Its board of directors is led by casino magnate Elaine Wynn and includes former federal education secretary Arne Duncan.

The model is straightforward: Communities in Schools recruits, trains, and places "site coordinators" in schools (typically high-poverty campuses where student performance is low), who usually work full time at the school and connect students to community resources available to them. This could include medical and dental care, mental health services, basic needs like food or shelter, academic enrichment programs, tutoring, and mentoring. Its services typically cost around $200 per student per school year.

Communities in Schools also relies on site coordinators like Green as a way to connect local schools with the overall organization, which functions as a federation of 131 "affiliate" nonprofits implementing the model. The national organization will occasionally bring in supports or programs that don't already exist in needy communities, and also works to evaluate interventions and inform local partners about better practices. Its revenue comes from a combination of sources: about 60 percent comes from public dollars, such as district budgets and federal funding from the Education and Health and Human Services departments, and about 40 percent comes from fundraising, including from supporters like the Wallace Foundation and corporate gifts such as a $30 million grant by pharmaceutical firm AbbVie.

At Crossroads, Green works with 65 students, meeting with each at least once a month; setting goals with that student for either behavioral, academic, or attendance improvement; and tracking his or her progress toward those goals. She also does small-group sessions with multiple students in her caseload who might have similar needs.

Her efforts target student needs throughout the school: she has a spreadsheet of local community-service providers and connects students to mental health counseling, food banks, crisis intervention, or a host of other supports. Onsite, she maintains a stash of hygiene products, school supplies, shoes, and extra uniform pants. And because the school has set improving student behavior as its overall goal, Green has implemented a schoolwide rewards system that includes letting students earn a respite from their uniforms on "dress down" days; a lunch buddies program to encourage students to socialize; "just because" days, when students get rewards "just because"; and social events like dances to help students connect with their school in positive ways.

Similar types of programs are being implemented across the country. A major expansion of wraparound services is underway in New York City, the nation's largest school district, where Mayor Bill de Blasio has established 239 "community schools" to offer health and social services that will cost $198.6 million and serve more than 100,000 students this school year. Philanthropies have supported similar efforts on a smaller scale, including grants by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which last year gave $150,000 to 10 coordinators of wraparound services across the country as part of its Together for Students initiative. The Ballmer Group, founded by former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, has given broadly to such initiatives, including $15 million to Communities in Schools to target dropout-prevention efforts.

The growth is no surprise to Heather Clawson, executive vice president for research, learning, and accreditation of Communities in Schools.

"Student supports have been a 'nice to have,'" she says. However, "it is no longer a nice to have. It is an essential part of educating our children for the future."
Disappointing Research
The impact of integrated student supports is often obvious when it comes to meeting students' immediate needs for food or medical care. But the larger-scale goal of such programs is to improve students' long-term academic and personal success, and in those terms, their effectiveness is less clear. Large-scale evaluations of wraparound programs to date have shown only small benefits to student achievement, at best.

Surveys of research findings by Child Trends in 2014 and 2017 reported "a growing evidence base" for such interventions and noted researchers' optimism about their effectiveness; however, researchers concluded that "the evidence is not yet complete" and noted the need for more detailed study. The updated 2017 report also looked in-depth at eight programs, including Communities in Schools and City Connects, and noted the importance of high-quality implementation and lack of measures for non-academic goals like improved grit and social skills. In addition, because integrated student-support programs comprise five distinct elements-needs assessment, community partnerships, coordinated student support, integration within school, and data tracking-determining the nature of high-quality implementation is complex. Such study, the researchers noted, is "the critical frontier for research and practice."

Communities in Schools has invested in multiple third-party evaluations of its programs. The most recent, published by MDRC in 2017, evaluated both of its models: Tier 1 "whole school" intervention and Tier 2 "case management" services for specific high-risk students. The quasi-experimental study of the whole-school model compared 53 schools in Texas and North Carolina with similar schools not implementing the model and found some modest effects: elementary-school attendance rates improved more than in comparable schools, for example. However, although high-school graduation rates increased, they did not improve more than at the comparison schools. The researchers found no impact on middle-school attendance, and were unable to calculate the program's impact on behavior due to data limitations.

The other evaluation was a random-assignment study of the Tier 2 case-management intervention in 24 mostly urban, low-income secondary schools in two unnamed states. It found that students who had a Communities in Schools case manager used support services more and showed improved attitudes about school and better relationships with adults and peers. Researchers did not, however, find evidence of improved student achievement, attendance, or behavior.

This lines up with most of the research on integrated student-support programs. "There are a lot of null findings," says Kristin Anderson Moore, a senior scholar and past president at Child Trends who co-authored the "Making the Grade" reports. Results are "neutral to positive when the methods are strong" and there are "almost no negative effects," but many advocates are still disappointed with findings that are far from a slam dunk. That vexes practitioners, advocates, and researchers alike because, as Anderson Moore puts it, such programs are "aligned with everything we know about child development."

In addition, researchers and practitioners have made "critical correlations" between key elements of integrated student supports, such as student engagement and student learning, for example, and between self-regulation and academic success, says Brooke Stafford-Brizard, a director at the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. And yet when everything comes together, the result underwhelms.

Some impacts simply must be true. If a student has poor eyesight and cannot see her teacher or the words on the page of her book, eyeglasses will improve her ability to learn. Others are quite plausible. For example, it is likely that students who feel that they have trusted adults in their lives, people who will support them in their times of need, will learn better. And yet the findings of large-scale evaluations have not shown significant improvements to student achievement as a result of these programs. There is still a huge gap in understanding which interventions affect which outcomes and how those outcomes are related to each other.

There is at least one exception: City Connects, which began in Boston in 1999 and now serves students in more than 100 schools in six states. In 2018, a Boston College study found that students enrolled at City Connects elementary schools had about half the odds of dropping out of high school as teenagers. Researchers tracked 894 students who entered kindergarten between 2000 and 2004 at City Connects schools, where local site coordinators monitor every student's progress and challenges, in conjunction with their teachers, every year. Based on those data, students are individually connected to community services and enrichment opportunities to boost their academics, mental and physical health, social development, and family well-being.

One likely source of the model's impact on dropouts is its early start, according to Mary E. Walsh, a study co-author and executive director of City Connects.

"A comprehensive intervention in elementary school that addresses a wide range of out-of-school factors can disrupt those pathways, supporting strengths and building resilience," she wrote in a summary published by the American Educational Research Association.
Plumbing the Evidence Base
Still, the overall research base is far from conclusive. There are several potential explanations for the persistent lack of demonstrable success.

First, neither the research community nor practitioners know the right "mix" of services to provide to students. As Anderson Moore puts it: "Is what's really important stable housing or health insurance? What makes it click?"

Some interventions are more expensive than others. Some are more intense. While many have been studied in isolation, how do they work together? In addition, students have multiple needs that might prevent them from being successful in the classroom. Is meeting just some of those needs enough? Which needs are the highest priority? These are the questions that remain unanswered. It could be that integrated student-support providers are not prioritizing the right interventions, or that they are undercutting their success by promoting multiple interventions at once.

Second, there are local capacity issues. Large organizations like Communities in Schools have the resources to gather and analyze data, and organizations with outside support, such as those subsidized by the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, are trying to build capacity around data analytics and coordination. But many communities lack these partners.

Coordinating dozens of service providers helping hundreds of students is challenging. Trying to coordinate these services while evaluating their performance and adjusting behavior based on that information is even harder. Can local site coordinators do this type of analysis and evaluation? How do they know that the partners they choose are the best potential assets in the community? Local coordinators may not have the time or resources to do the type of research needed to weigh one intervention against another. They have to do their best to find partners and then make judgments, often based on limited information, about how well those partners are performing.

This presents a vulnerability. If site coordinators are overwhelmed by the vast array of potential social-service organizations or lack useful data or the ability to analyze which providers might be more effective than others, they can struggle to identify good groups in the community with whom to partner.

Ohio's Strive Partnership is trying to solve that problem. Described by executive director Byron White as "a backbone organization," Strive provides data analytics, capacity building, and community strategy support for the web of organizations that provide services for school-age children in Cincinnati and northern Kentucky and the schools and districts looking to partner with them. "To the student," he argues, "there is not a line of demarcation," between home, school, and community. Thus, to address student learning, organizations have to look at the whole picture.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative has invested in support networks like these around the country. The Together for Students challenge project awarded grants to organizations that are coordinating and building capacity in local communities around six domains; academic, cognitive, socio-emotional learning, identity, physical well-being, and mental health.

A third challenge is the classic problem of implementation. Part of the Communities in Schools model is to try to promote "research-based" whole-school interventions. This would not be the first time that interventions with a promising research base failed to pan out at scale. Such prepackaged efforts often look different when they are delivered by a diffuse set of local actors throughout an entire school than they do in the settings where the original research on them took place. Do school leaders believe in and value these programs? What about teachers? Are the adults in the school supporting these programs? Or, is the local site coordinator swimming against the tide and fighting organizational culture in order to deliver services?

Fourth, and perhaps most troubling, evaluations of these programs might not be measuring the right things. While there are ways to gauge reading and writing, good measurements of speaking and listening are lacking-and those are key to assessing students' socio-emotional learning. "There is a tremendous amount we have to learn in this space," says Stafford-Brizard. Without good measures of the constructs that these interventions are trying to change, it's hard to know whether or not they have changed them.

What's more, many of these interventions are long term in scope. They aim to make serious changes in students' attitudes and behaviors, which take time to take root and even longer to fully shape their actions both inside and outside the classroom. Short-term gains in test scores, in other words, might not be the best evaluation of the impact of these programs.
Defining and Measuring Success
There may be larger, worthy questions regarding the best avenue for needed supports. Why don't schools provide these services directly? Why don't government approaches use tax programs like the Earned Income Tax Credit to put financial resources directly into parents' hands? Regardless, integrated student supports are not going away. In communities where children struggle to get their basic needs met, organizations will continue to try to provide for their material well-being as well as their physical and mental health. Schools are a natural location for coordination of these services, even if they rely on outside nonprofits to provide them. Given that, how can such initiatives meet with more demonstrable success? Here are three potential positive steps.

First, if existing measures are not fully capturing the impact of these programs, researchers, in partnership with practitioners, need to work to develop new and better measures. Improved indicators of physical and mental health and of community connections could give a better idea of what programs are actually doing in the lives of children. This is not to say that these measures need to be incorporated into accountability systems or used to reward or sanction schools or teachers; rather, they simply need to help on-the-ground practitioners better understand what programs are doing and how they are doing it.

Second, researchers also need to work to better understand both the relative and combined effect of interventions. What are the major impediments to student success and how can they be removed? Which barriers are less important and can be dealt with later? Similarly, how do interventions work in tandem? Can there be combinations of interventions that act as force multipliers? Do some interventions in tandem actually decrease the effectiveness of others by spreading teachers or coordinators too thin? Is it a small number of higher-intensity interventions or a larger number of lower-touch programs? Which student supports get the most bang for the buck? These are serious questions that will take researchers some time to parse.

Third, advocates and philanthropies that support these types of interventions need to continue to invest in building capacity for local decisionmakers. Can they, like in Cincinnati, provide data analytics that make it easier for overstretched school administrators and site coordinators to weigh the various options available and choose the one with the highest likelihood of success? This is not to say that supporters should push top-down commands of what to track and what interventions to use, but that they should invest in the skill development and infrastructure that local actors can utilize.

Anyone who cares about boosting student success inside the classroom should not necessarily discount serious improvements to students' quality of life outside the classroom. Getting mental health care that helps students deal with anger issues or process trauma can change their lives. It might not make them better students, but it can certainly make them better people.

Many of our nation's poorest students have needs that, for whatever reason, are not being met by their families or their schools. Luckily, we have a robust network of civil-society institutions and businesses that work to try to meet these needs. Rather than reinventing the wheel and providing these services in-house, schools and school districts can partner with these organizations for the betterment of their students. Comparing the different options is still a work in progress, but one with the potential to seriously improve disadvantaged students' lives.
Michael Q. McShane is director of national research at EdChoice, an adjunct fellow in education policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute, and a senior fellow at the Show-Me Institute.

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Supporting Students Outside the Classroom: Can Wraparound Services Improve Academic Performance? - Education Next

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It's 7:30 a.m. on a cold morning in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. The sun is barely over the horizon and students haven't yet arrived at the Crossroads Preparatory Academy charter school, but Crystalle Green is already setting up coffee, orange juice, and an array of LaMar's doughnuts, a local favorite.

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By Indeed Editorial Team

Updated May 19, 2022

Published June 29, 2021

Classroom games can help instructors create well-rounded lesson plans, form better relationships with their students and help them succeed at school. Many activities have multiple purposes and are adapted based on your curriculum or your students' level of learning.

In this article, we define what classroom games are, describe their benefits and list 20 classroom games to consider. By learning about different classroom games, you can decide which option appeals to you and which may work best for your students.

What are classroom games?

Classroom games are activities teachers use to supplement academic assignments or encourage students to practice new skills. Depending on your preferences and your students' needs, you can play classroom games using technical equipment, physical exercise or an art-based medium. Some teachers use classroom games to encourage teamwork and provide opportunities for personal development.

Benefits of classroom games

Here are some benefits of using classroom games in your lesson plans:

Encourages creative expression: Many classroom games involve an artistic component, allowing students to develop their original ideas and express themselves creatively.

Allows varied learning styles: You can use classroom games to incorporate different learning styles into your curriculum. For instance, some students learn skills more effectively by participating in an activity rather than reading or writing text.

Helps students adjust to school: Games can become a strategy for helping students adapt after they spend time away from the classroom.

Creates a welcoming environment: You can use games to bond with your students, create classroom guidelines and promote a welcoming atmosphere for learning new skills.

20 ideas for classroom games

Consider these 20 ideas for classroom games:

1. Charades

In the game of charades, students can study vocabulary words and learn public speaking skills by doing physical exercise. One student performs actions or movements associated with a word while their classmates guess it out loud. The person who guesses the correct option receives the next word to perform.

For instance, if the word is "debate," then a student might simulate an exchange with another person. You can add a teamwork element by dividing the class into groups and directing them to only guess the words for other members of their team.

2. Studying contest

This game can help students study lesson content and quickly analyze information, making it beneficial for reviewing test material. You draw two circles on a board or projector screen and label one "Yes" and the other "No." Separate students into two teams and call one representative from each to listen to a statement and decide if it's true or false. The first student who taps the circle with the correct answer wins the round for their team.

3. Secret investigator

You can use this game to teach deductive reasoning skills between academic lessons. You write a word on the board and select one student to be the investigator and leave the room while you select another to be the secret leader. This student coordinates the others in an action like clapping or chanting words, which they change every 30 seconds. When the investigator returns to the room, their task is to determine who the secret leader is.

4. Stacking competition

In this contest, students can learn teamwork and practice problem-solving. Separate students into groups and give them plastic cups, a rubber band and string. The students tie pieces of string to the rubber band, one for each team member, then wrap the rubber band around the first cup. Their goal is to figure out a way to lift the cups using the strings as a team and stack them in a specific shape like a pyramid.

5. Find the clues

During this timed game, students can practice their concentration and communication skills while studying lesson material. You provide several terms or names on small pieces of paper and assign a certain amount of points to each one. Working in teams, one student picks a word and gives their teammates clues without saying it. Their goal is to identify as many words as they can. The team that has the most after 60 seconds wins the round.

6. Jeopardy

In this contest, students can learn teamwork and review lesson content by earning points. You write questions or mathematical equations on index cards and list points on the other side of the card based on content difficulty. Separate the cards into categories and place them on a screen or board for teams to select and attempt to answer. For instance, one category might be quadratic equations and its 500-point card has multiple steps while a 100-point card has very few.

7. Find the object or image

In this physical activity, students can learn research skills while learning the components of a classroom. You provide a list of objects or images in the classroom and set a timer for three minutes while students search for them. You can also hide mathematical equations around the room and instruct students to solve them within the timeframe. It may be helpful to provide additional guidelines for finding objects to encourage teamwork and constructive exploration.

8. Category contest

During this game, students use their base of knowledge to learn how to connect separate concepts. You provide topics and related categories, then direct student teams to think of words associated with it that begin with a randomly selected letter. For instance, one topic could be "outer space" and a related category could be "planets." If the assigned letter is "M," the planet might be Mars. It might be helpful to design a point system based on different parameters like the complexity of the word.

9. Bingo

You can use this game to review lesson content and help students study for exams, particularly when teaching complicated vocabulary words or multiplication tables. You prepare a grid for each student with different questions or mathematical expressions. Then, they read items from a corresponding list and students listen for their options, marking the grid when they hear an answer. The student who marks their entire grid with the most correct answers wins the round.

10. Pass the object

In this game, students can exercise while reviewing important terms and numerical expressions. You separate students into groups and give them each a soft object or small ball to toss a few feet. Then, you reveal a question, which the student has to answer before tossing the ball to someone else, who answers the next question. When each student in a group finishes passing the object, they win the round.

11. Invent a solution

Students can play this game during breaks to practice problem-solving in teams and learn how to create original ideas. You announce a problem students can solve using only three provided objects. You can use creative examples like saving the world from an imaginary creature or a situation from everyday life like how to help a friend make an important decision. After a certain timeframe, each group presents the solution to the class, then answers questions about it.

12. Guess a classmate

You can use this game to help students restore their concentration and practice their deduction skills after a break. Students close their eyes and place their hands on a table in front of them. You select some students to walk around the classroom and gently tap other students' hands. Afterward, these students guess which classmate tapped their hand and switch roles if their answer is correct.

13. Walk to four corners

If you have a bigger classroom, you can try this game to help students work off some energy. Instructors assign names to four corners of the room and direct students to pick a corner to stand in during a certain timeframe. Afterward, you announce one of the four corners and the students standing there must step out of the game until the next round. The last student standing in a corner is the winner.

14. Word definition

In this game, students can deepen their understanding of relevant vocabulary words, particularly high-level options. You choose a word and direct students to write what they think the meaning is on a piece of paper. You read the definitions out loud and have students vote on which option is most likely correct. It may be helpful to give students tips during this game like how to identify familiar words within the vocabulary that's more complex.

15. Finish the sentence

You can use this game to teach students memorization and concentration skills, particularly if they're at a middle school grade level. You write half of a sentence on a board like "I'm leaving on a vacation and bringing," followed by a blank space for the second half. The first student adds an item to a list such as "I'm leaving on a vacation and bringing my dog." Afterward, each student repeats all previous additions before including their own.

16. Collaborative drawing

In this activity, students can learn teamwork skills and express their creativity. You provide each student with a sheet of paper and writing implement, then direct them to draw a picture within a set timeframe. Afterward, the student passes their drawing to another classmate and continues the drawing of someone else. This continues until the student receives their original artwork, which they describe to the rest of the class.

17. Replace the number

During this game, students can practice concentration skills and learn important number sets. You pick one number and replace it with a sound or word like "zing" or "buzz." Then, students read the numbers out loud and use the replacement instead of the selected number. If the student says the number instead of the replacement, they step out of the game until the next round starts.

18. Memorize objects

This game can be an engaging way to introduce a new subject with a lot of relevant tools and materials like chemistry. You place at least 15 different objects on a classroom table and students study them within a certain timeframe. Afterward, you cover the objects and ask students to recall certain details about them and explain what purpose they might fulfill. You can also have the students view images on a projector screen instead.

19. Connect through stories

You can use this game to encourage students to bond with each other and reflect on their conduct, particularly if they're in high school. You can pick up a ball of yarn and share a personal anecdote of a situation where you solved an issue and learned something new. Then, you hold the end of the yarn string and give the ball to a student, who shares a situation of their own. When they're finished, they hold on to the yarn string and pass the ball again, creating a physical representation of connecting with other people.

20. Freeze-dance

You can use this game to help students get ready for an academic lesson after recess or to end the school day on a positive note. The students move all tables and chairs to one side of the room while you set up a speaker to play fun music. You direct the students to stop moving their bodies when you pause the music at random moments. If a student continues to move, they step out of the game for the current round.

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20 Fun Games for Classrooms (Plus Benefits and Examples)

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By Indeed Editorial Team Updated May 19, 2022 Published June 29, 2021 Classroom games can help instructors create well-rounded lesson plans, form better relationships with their students and help them succeed at school. Many activities have multiple purposes and are adapted based on your curriculum or your students' level of learning.

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When you know a student is struggling with coursework and staying motivated, will words of encouragement help motivate and inspire them? You bet they will!

In fact, research studies investigating the power of verbal encouragement found that college students receiving encouragement from counselors reported they felt more empowered to earn their degree and make better decisions regarding their career choices.

In addition, the evidence is overwhelming that teachers and parents consistently offering words of encouragement to K-12 students contribute profoundly to the their academic success.

So in this article, you will discover 55 words of encouragement you can give to a student in your life.

But first, let's start by answering a quick question:

What are Words of Encouragement for Students?

Words of encouragement are statements that help students know that they are capable of doing anything that they put their mind do. These words are better than throwing out generic statements like "You can do it" or "You'll be fine".

Students who typically do well in school but seem to be experiencing unusual difficulty with schoolwork may be dealing with family or relationship issues.

Gently asking the student how things are going in their life before offering words of encouragement can also give you further insight into how to optimize your encouragement. Discussing a struggling student with their teacher is another way to determine exactly what kind of encouragement the student would most benefit from hearing.

55 Powerful Words of Encouragement for Students

1. Believe it or not, tough times often quickly dissolve into easier times. You've got what it takes to get past a tough time.

2. You know why people make mistakes? Because they are willing to see just how far they can push themselves. You don't know what you're capable of achieving until you try to achieve it.

3. If you fall 10 times, know that you are perfectly capable of standing up 11 times.

4. Getting a C or D on a test does not describe you as a person. A test score is simply a happening, not a person.

5. You are the only one who can decide how to end your story. Endings aren't written by circumstances. They are written by people like you.

6. Feeling motivated doesn't always make you feel like you've got Superman's powers. Sometimes, motivation and determination is that quiet but clear voice that tells you tomorrow is another day to try, try and keep trying.

7. What's the hardest assignment you've got to finish? Always do that one first because you've already completed the easy ones.

8. The easiest way to cope with not achieving a goal is to simply accept it. But, tell yourself that you cannot accept it unless you've tried to do the best you can do.

9. Succeeding at school does not mean never making mistakes. Everybody makes mistakes. That's how we learn and grow. It's avoiding making the same mistake that gets you closer to your goals.

10. Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that you don't have to see all the steps of a big staircase. You just have to take that first step to start climbing them.

11. If you wait for just the right time to do something, well, that time may never come. In fact, the right time may be right now.

1. Have you ever struggled to follow a path in the woods covered with fallen branches and muddy holes and, after working hard to keep following it for a long time, you eventually come to the most beautiful lake you've ever seen?

2. You know you can do this, right? I know you can. YOU know you can. Well, that means you're already halfway there. And the last part of anything-a movie, a level in a video game, the last inning of a baseball game-is always the best.

3. There are always doors of opportunity opening for you but you've got to be the one to decide to go through those doors to see what's on the other side

4. It may seem like some problems don't have solutions but remember, every solution found was once somebody's problem

5. Opportunities and chances are two entirely different things. Never let chance decide how you are going to achieve your goals.

6. What you are capable of doing right now is much more important than thinking of what you are capable of doing

7. So you made a mistake-so what? That means you tried to do something nobody else ever tried to do. That makes you

8. Have you ever played baseball with your friends and felt a little scared when it came time for you to bat because you were afraid you might strike out? But, you stepped up to the plate, anyway, didn't you?

9. How do you know something is impossible to achieve until you try achieving it?

1. Nobody is perfect. Nobody! If everybody was perfect, we wouldn't be motivated to do anything except sit and think about how perfect we are. Wouldn't that be boring? You wouldn't want to show your friends that new bicycle trick you taught yourself if you thought you were perfect.

2. Writing the first sentence of that essay is the best way to show yourself you are fully capable of writing the second sentence, and the third sentence, and the fourth sentence.

3. Nobody can do everything they want to do but right now, in this moment, you can do anything you want to do.

4. Do you know what Kermit the Frog meant when he said "time is fun when you are eating flies"? He was saying that no matter what a frog is doing, they always find fun in doing it.

5. You know why they put "delete" keys on a keyboard? Because nobody is perfect. If you don't like something you've done, delete it and move on.

6. If you can dream about getting a good grade on a project, you have the ability to make it happen.

7. Right now something may seem impossible but once you've accomplished that impossible task, it's now a reality.

8. How can you learn to get back on your own two feet if you don't fall over and over again? Falling teaches you how to get up as fast and capably as possible

9. What are the 10 things in your life right now that make you happy? Think about those 10 things. Then start tackling your school work. I guarantee you'll be smiling.

10. You have an endless supply of creativity. The more you use it, the more you'll have.

11. What do you want to be doing 10 years from now? Whatever it is depends on your ability to get things done.

1. You can't beat somebody who never gives up.

2. Finishing an assignment is like learning to walk as a baby. One step at a time eventually got you to that toy you really wanted lying on the other side of the room.

3. Take advantage of the opportunities you have right now. You can't depend on chances. They're not dependable.

4. No difficulty is without its own, unique reward. But you won't find out what that reward is until you take on that difficulty.

5. You might be on the right track but if you just sit down on that track, you might get run over.

6. Blow right by a failure and don't stop. It's the only way to get to your ultimate destination-success.

7. Your professor (or teacher) might be an expert on something but he didn't start out an expert.

8. Have you made a mistake yet? If not, then you're not really trying to be the best you can be

9. OK, let's get this done. But first, tell yourself loudly "No negative thoughts are allowed in my brain"!

10. Nobody accomplishes anything without feeling motivated. So, what motivates you?

1. If you believe you can do something and try to do it, then you were right.

2. Attitudes are like tires. If they're flat, you gotta change them or you're stuck in the middle of nowhere.

3. Don't think about why something may not work. Think about it working.

4. We are always much, much more than what we think we are. Think big and bold when it comes to your strengths and skills. They are just waiting for you to discover them.

5. Comfort zones are meant to be breached.

6. Don't just imagine finishing your work or getting a good grade. When you only dream, you are only sleeping.

7. Limitations on what you can achieve are set by one person only-yourself.

8. Your future needs you to make it. Right now, it's waiting for instructions.

9. You don't need anybody's approval or anybody's opinion. All you need to do is focus on doing the best you can do.

1. You might not feel motivated or inspired right now but know that thousands of people have made it to the top of the tallest mountains in the world. If they can do that, you can do this.

2. That wall you don't think can be climbed only exists in your mind. So knock down that wall with an imaginary wrecking ball and don't stop to look at what remains. It no longer matters.

3. It is entirely possible to live your dreams. But you can't live them when you simply think about them. Life is all about action, motivation and doing.

4. You won't know what "coulda" been if you don't dive into a lake of "shouldas".

5. There are no victims of circumstances beyond their control. There are only victims of their own inaction. Decisions have benefits or consequences. It's your choice.

Final Thoughts on Words of Encouragement for Students

Students today are especially struggling with academic studies due to lockdowns and uncertainty over whether their school will open.

So these words of encouragement are especially important right now. Hopefully when you say them to an important student in your life, this will help them stay motivated to finish their work and by having in-depth discussions about their fears, their hopes and their dreams.

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55 Powerful Words of Encouragement for Students - Happier Human

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When you know a student is struggling with coursework and staying motivated, will words of encouragement help motivate and inspire them? You bet they will! In fact, research studies investigating the power of verbal encouragement found that college students receiving encouragement from counselors reported they felt more empowered to earn their degree and make better decisions regarding their career choices.

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Classroom meetings are a great way to build community, and greeting each other may be the most important part. Class meeting greetings allow each of your students to hear their name said in a positive way and to feel welcomed. Studies have even shown that people's brains are more active at the mention of their own names compared with someone else's name!

For your meeting, students should sit in a circle. Typically each student greets the person next to them, who greets them back and then passes the greeting until it goes all the way around. But doing the same "Hello" or "Good Morning" can get boring for 2nd graders. So here are some fun ways to jazz up your daily greeting.

Quick greetings

Start with these greetings at the beginning of the year. These are the easiest greetings to use at the beginning of the year because they don't take a lot of explaining. Use these greetings while you're phasing in other parts of your morning meeting that you would like to give more time to.

Wave/hello greeting

High five / Handshake / Hug

Different language

Silly Class Meeting Greetings

Silly greetings are a fun way to mix it up. These are second graders favorite type of class meeting greetings. They get to have fun and act just a tad bit silly!

Robot Voice: Pass the greeting in a robot voice and mimic robot movements.

Formal: Greet each other with a title (Mr., Mrs., Mx.) and last name.

Silly voice: Choose a silly voice to pass the greeting. Some popular ones are squeaky or extra deep voices. * Be mindful of students pretending with accents as it can become insensitive to other cultures or ethnicities.

Wigglies Greetings

These greetings encourage students to move around.

Good Morning to You: First, choose a student that will start the first move. While the rest of the class chants, the designated student moves to the middle of the circle while pantomiming something they enjoy. For example, playing basketball, reading a book, taking a nap, or running in place. Last, they move back into the circle. In this greeting the greeting is not returned to the passer but rather continues to move around the circle.

"Good morning <insert student name>, good morning to you.
I like to do this <student pantomimes something they like to do>, how about you?"

Hit the Floor!: The whole class chants and claps as the student being greeted comes to the middle of the circle and does his/her best move. Although this might seem similiar to Good Morning to You, this greeting is only dance moves!

"1,2,3,4! Come on <insert student name> hit the floor! We're so glad you're here today, Hurray, Hurray, Hurray!"

Choosies Greeties

Build your classroom community by giving your students agency and choice with class meeting greetings.

Handshake, High Five, or Hug: Say "hello" and pass a handshake, high five or hug. The student receiving the greeting chooses which one they would like. (An alternative could be a wave, air five, or fist/elbow bump.)

Different Language: Pass the greeting with a wave but say "hello" in a different language. Have some suggestions ready for students who have difficulty choosing. The student receiving the greeting repeats it in the same language they heard, then changes it as they pass the greeting. As a follow-up, ask students to share which language they chose.

Student Choice: Work together to develop more unique class greetings. After a few weeks, your students will definitely have suggestions for class greetings. You're practically guaranteed excitement if they get to pass a greeting they created.

In conclusion, setting up a solid meeting routine will help give your students a sense of belonging and community in your class each day. Hopefully, these class meeting greetings are an easy way to get started with class meetings.

Class Meeting Greetings FREEBIE

You can use these greetings easily in your class with these printable and digital greeting cards. They're available for FREE!

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Class Meetings Greetings Your Students Will Love

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Classroom meetings are a great way to build community, and greeting each other may be the most important part. Class meeting greetings allow each of your students to hear their name said in a positive way and to feel welcomed.

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Make lessons fun and collaborative with students!

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Make lessons fun and collaborative with students!

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Encouraging students when they mess up that it is okay! Also, rewarding students with positive feedback when they do well!

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Encouraging students when they mess up that it is okay! Also, rewarding students with positive feedback when they do well!

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Staying after class/before to help students who need it and supporting them outside of classroom time.

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Staying after class/before to help students who need it and supporting them outside of classroom time.

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Having a greeting! A warm personality and rememberable presence. 

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Having a greeting! A warm personality and rememberable presence. 