These days nobody wants to be a teacher because teachers are being looked upon like underrated professionals in the society. Due to the low pay scale, no one is interested to take up this as a career. If everyone wants to be an engineer or a doctor, then who will do the teaching job?

To introduce myself, Myself Kavery, founder of Math Junior, a STEM institute. I am an engineer with 12+ years of corporate experience in Software Industries like Infosys and Wipro. I always liked to teach math; teaching was my passion and had to quit my 9 AM to 11 PM overtime high paying job to take up teaching as my career. I am an NSDC certified Abacus and Vedic Math trainer. I am also a certified Montessori and Primary teacher. I have chosen to discuss on the topic ‘How to support and motivate students’. Motivation is an integral part of learning. With proper motivation and support the students can perform better and is also proven. Motivation is an essential ingredient in effective teaching and learning. It yields to more positive behavior in students and it also contributes to a greater sense of wellbeing.

Since I teach math area, I have come across many students who do not show interest in this area. The reason for the dislike of the subject starts right from home. Parents and the surrounding in which the child grows make the child build this hatred towards the subject. Math is projected as a difficult subject right from the time the kid starts schooling. It’s naturally a human tendency to stay away or avoid something that is difficult to us or something that is complicated. And thus the child shows no interest in this subject. For the child to develop interest on any subject there has to be enough motivation and support from parents and teachers .Stop projecting anything as difficult or non do-able to the child right from their childhood days .Rather than projecting on the problem try to work on the solution , by discussing with the child the issue faced.

Ways to encourage the child at home:

Discipline your child:

Discipline your child right from their childhood days. Make sure and encourage your child to complete their homework’s and tasks the same day itself. With this practice the child can relate to what was done in the class and revise the topics again.

Repetitive learning methodology:

Discuss with your child on the topics that were thought in the class and about their understanding level of the topics thought. (Do not do this soon after the child gets back from  school).If the child has not understood the topic then as a parent extend your helping hand to make sure the child has understood the topic better. If you are unable to deliver, then you may send a note to the respective teacher to re- explain the topic again. Repetitive learning methodology is followed in most of the schools and is the great way of learning and remembering things.

Say No to Tuitions:

Do not overload the students with tuitions once they are back from school, because the child would have spent around 7.5hrs in school and again pressurizing them with tuition classes brings down their confidence level and develops negative thinking towards studies. Sometimes they would rather completely depend only on tuitions and focus less in the school. With Tuition classes the child will never be independent with studies; they will always seek for additional help. Always encourage your child to do self study, with this it will not only boost their confidence level, it will help them to be independent and decision makers in future.

3 important P’s

The 3 important P’s that is important for a child and a parent are:

1. Practice: I am sure everyone would have heard this proverb “Practice makes man perfect”. I am very sure that each one of you reading this content agrees with this proverb.

Encourage your child to practice the difficult areas everyday for 5 to 10 minutes and see the changes this one habit can bring in your child’s life. With this one habit, the child starts performing better. With this, it will improve the confidence level and child starts performing better in all the areas.

• Parental Support: As a parent we play a crucial role in shaping a child’s future. The first schooling start from home and mother is the first teacher. When the child goes to school we as a parent can’t expect 100% learning to happen in school. 30% of the delivery happens in school but the remaining 70% of the delivery has to be done at home. Be a supportive parent to understand the issues and address the issue in a supportive way. Encourage your child to practice every day and complete the homework’s or assignments on time.

• Punctuality: Beingpunctual is again a great quality that the child has to develop. This habit will teach them the value of time.  Punctuality will help them with the time management right from their childhood days. With this habit the child develops self discipline in studies as well as personal life.

As a parent or elder in the family we have to encourage the child to develop this habit.

I also have come across parents who are neither dedicated nor punctual and complain about the child’s progress. If we as a parent are not disciplined and dedicated how we can expect our children to be disciplined, they always follow elders in the family.

 Skill classes for creativity, confidence

Encourage your child in some skill classes to improve their creativity and logical thinking, which is also a great stress buster. It also helps the child to develop social connectivity with other peers off school. And also helps the child to mingle with other peers who are from different schools. They also use this platform to exchange ideas build creativity.

Importance of Play time

Playtime helps children with their emotional development, language, creativity and social skills.  Even a simple walk in the outdoors can help stimulate children’s minds and their self-expression. Play importantly gives children a space in which they relax and/or blow off that stress at school.

I would like to share one of my recent experiences, I recently came across a child who was very lazy and wasn’t showing interest in studies. And I along with my team was very supportive to bring changes in him. Initially we tried being strict at him, thinking that he would do his tasks while being strict. But that did not change him at all. He was still the same. He would get scolded and do nothing. So we decided to change our approach, we were very nice to him even if he did not do his tasks, we started pampering him and rewarding him for the little things he did. Now we see an exponential improvement in him. He has progressed so much that he voluntarily wants to do more than assigned, completes all his homework’s independently. This small change in the approach towards the problem solving has bought so many changes in a child and hence, looking at a problem differently will definitely solve a problem. Every child is different; children develop differently, have different personalities, possess different strengths and require different kinds of support to meet their individual needs.