Help Students Create a Unique High School Experience
Students today have many options available to personalize their high school experience. Gone are the days when only female students took home economics and only boys played football. Now classes, activities, and sports are available to all. Metal shop classes have females mixed in with male students, home economics has some male students mixed in, and why not, they may be future chefs. Students sometimes need encouragement to make their high school years what they need them to be. So give them a pep talk and remind them to participate in classes and activities
that will make them happy and help them build the skills they want for their future career.
Encourage Leadership
Talk to students about starting clubs and activities at the school. Too often schools have just a set roster of traditional clubs available to students. However if students show leadership and try to start a new club often the idea will be approved. Remind students that on college applications it looks great to be the president of a club or activity.
Suggest New Class Ideas to the Principal
Stay in touch with trends of high school students and try to suggest new classes to add to the curriculum that would be of high interest to students. For example, certainly this recent election shows that political interest is very high among young people. So a new class about Politics in America might be very interesting. The environment is a hot issue now so classes about green living and the environment may be a big hit. Listen to what the kids are talking about and create a list of new class ideas to cover those topics. Broadening the curriculum to include timely topics helps students build a high school experience that will be truly memorable.
Do Group Projects
Use teamwork for projects in class. This helps students build teamwork skills and also to make new friends. High school is a very social place; the more friends students make, typically the more enjoyable their high school years will be. So mix it up in class. Have the class sit in groups frequently and sometimes assign students to sit together who don’t really interact normally. Help students socialize and make friends with teamwork projects.
Give Extra Credit for Attending and Writing about an Event
Sometimes students avoid school events out of shyness. Encourage participation by offering extra credit if students attend a sports event or an activity. Tell them you will be in the audience and that they may sit near you if they wish. Sometimes the whole class will arrive and it helps kids mix and mingle. It is also always helpful to provide a fun extra credit assignment to help boost grades. Inform the class they will just have to write 3-4 paragraphs describing the game or event to obtain the extra credit grade.
Bring in Guest Speakers
Try to get notable speakers to come to your class to provide a memorable experience for students. Many writers, business leaders, and other notable people will come to speak to high school classes. Have a class project where students write a letter to someone they admire asking them to come speak to the class. This gives students a chance to think about who they most admire and also gives them experience writing a letter.
Submit to the Literary Magazine and Try out for Plays
Encourage students to nurture their creative side. Tell them they should try submitting writing to the school literary magazine and they should try to audition for school plays. Participating in the creative activities in high school builds wonderful memories and helps one
also make new friends.
Participate in Clubs and Sports
Encourage students to be “well rounded” and participate in a variety of activities. Sometimes you may not even know if you will like an activity but it is always fun to try something new. Extracurricular activities add a lot of fun to high school.