· Be supportive when students take risks in a discussion
· Notice and comment when students come to daily academic assistance without prompting
· Give quiet reflective time at the onset of class
· Allow warm-up time | get into the space
· Have one-on-one conversations
· Foster leadership roles
· Explain what initiative is and show examples of how to display it
· Prior to assessments, state in class that, if you will be away, you will need to demonstrate initiative to re-organize or submit early
· Provide opportunities in HPE for set-up or take-down of equipment
· Use the learning skills terms and language within your lessons
· Support out-of-class enrichment work “if you’re interested in pushing yourself, try this.”
· Use language in class to identify initiative
· Highlight the “advocate for self” point, this will help others to follow
· Encourage proper process for catching up on missed work
· *** Ask open-ended questions to generate dialogue and insight
· Do not respond to students lacking initiative
· Being self-conscious may be the underlying root of initiative; could small group conversations be a more welcoming environment for students who appear to lack initiative?
· Allow for small groups where furniture allows
· Make it clear where to be found for academic assistance, including alternative locations
· Make clear what academic assistance is and how to best use it
· Train students how to ask specific questions
· DLP – Describe, Label and Praise | help students recognize the behavior
· Support: acknowledge that showing initiative isn’t always easy and praise when it occurs
· There is an element of ‘you can lead a horse….”
· On assignments, allow students to choose how to present the final product
· Front-load success criteria and allow student choice into how learning will be demonstrated
· Shares and pairs | offering opportunities for different sharing formats
· Keep students curious | take outside, relate to real world, relate to student experience
· Scaffold ‘offering ideas in class’ by having students prepare questions and notes before a discussion
· Support students ‘asking for clarification and assistance’ – prompt students and remind them when/how to do this
· Teaching students how to seek help – help students understand the importance of coming for extra help with specific questions
· Student-centered approach to learning
· Pin/remind students when you are on evening duty to allow them to seek help
· Try to partner one who shows initiative with one who does not
· Give choice – allow choice of research topics that students are interested in
· Give more student input into ISP’s – type, rubric, topics
· Hold conversations with students at the beginning of class to prompt participation
· Chunk assignments so students have a place to start
· Give time in class to start assignments and circulate the room (kids more likely to ask question if you are walking by)
· Provide opportunities for student self-reflection (Google Form)
· Promote explicit celebration of initiative taking | “I applaud your initiative” | “I appreciate your initiative” | “Way to take initiative!”
· Scaffold lessons/assignments to offer opportunities to show initiative
· Have students estimate how long it will take for them to start a task – is this accurate? How long did it take?
· Don’t use laptops in the classroom | or at least close all tabs
· Think-Pair-Share
· Reminders to come to academic assistance (advocate for self)
· Ask and give time
· Allow different methods for answering
· Don’t fill the void after a question is asked to the class, allow time to answer
· If a student knows they are missing a class, encourage coming to academic assistance/asking teacher for notes ahead of time
· Make academic assistance/you as approachable as possible
· Help students plan ahead when they are missing class