Over my 7 years of teaching, I have always had a mix of student abilities. From Advanced Placement to co-taught with a special education teacher, there are habits that successful students possess, no matter their ability. When students develop these habits and use them consistently, not only are they more prone to do well in class, but they also enjoy school more and create better relationships with their peers and teachers!
1. Attendance
One of the first and, I would argue, most important habits of successful students is to simply show up on time. You aren’t able to learn and understand what is happening in class if you don’t know what’s going on! Making sure that you arrive to class on time is important as typically, the first 5 to 10 minutes of class are when teachers have bell work, reminders for late work or tests, provide much needed information to complete assignments, or explain the assignment overall during this time.
While this one is extremely important, we are finding that there is a growing chronic absenteeism problem at our schools, which is resulting in a lower graduation rate. So show up on time and you’re already setting yourself up for success within your classes.
2. Participation
Along with showing up to class, another key habit of successful students is participating in class. There is more to learning than simply showing up to class and tuning out everything going on. While you are physically present in class, be mentally present as well. Listen to what is being discussed, talk with your peers when tasked to do so, and work with your teacher and peers to complete work.
3. Digital Responsibility
Cell phones and chromebooks are the bane of my existence as a teacher. There is a time and place for them. Learning how to be responsible with your electronic device usage is imperative to your success as a student. When being given work time in class or at home, use it! I get it, I enjoy going on my phone too – but I don’t do that while I’m at work because that isn’t the time or place to do so. So know when you should and shouldn’t. Class time is NOT the time to do so!
4. Work Ethic
Participation looks like doing the work. But having a strong work ethic – where you have the drive to complete the work is one of the habits of successful students. In class, there are students that come to me and ask how to increase their grade and I explain that they just simply need to do their work. Even with that motivation, oftentimes, they still do not complete the work. But if you have a personal drive to get the work done, that will lead to success in the classroom.
5. Goal Oriented
On the flip side, being able to focus and just get your work done is great, but being goal oriented results in more success and consistency in work completion. This habit leads to more success for students as you are wanting to achieve a personal goal that relates to your education and work.
Some examples would be:
- I want to have a 3.5 GPA for this year.
- I want to be the first person in my family to graduate high school.
- I want to get an A on this project.
- I want to finish my essay.
The best part about creating goals is that YOU create them and you can have short-term goals, as well as long-term goals! Whatever inspires you to work and focus is what you should create your goals around.
6. Understand the Value of Learning
One thing to keep in mind about being goal-oriented is understanding the value of learning. The end goal for any lesson is that you learn. To be successful as a student, you need to recognize that learning is important and that you shouldn’t just focus on the end result. I have told my classes that it is okay to learn something, even if it isn’t related to the assignment! To be a successful student, you learn to learn new things and apply that knowledge. That is a key habit to have.
7. Time Management
Another key habit of successful students is understanding how to manage your time. This is a habit and skill that can be applied throughout life. Managing your time to get your assignments and projects done is important to being successful. Add in being a student that is doing things outside of school – work, sports, having a social life. It is imperative to be successful in life to know how to manage your time and keep up with work.
Some methods for time management:
- Creating a to-do list.
- The Pomodoro method.
- Breaking down large tasks.
- Creating a schedule – daily, weekly, monthly.
- I do this with cleaning my house!
8. Organization
On top of organizing your time, being able to organize your work and work space is also important as well. When it comes to developing this habit, it takes some trial and error of trying different methods and finding what works for you. When I was in high school, I liked having a binder with sections for each class. In college, that transitioned to a notebook with different sections. Now, as a teacher, I have binders with the information for each topic within each to keep myself organized! Then my Google Drive has folders in folders in folders – the class > the unit > projects, etc. It’s a lot of clicks, but helps me stay organized and manage the online chaos!
9. Ask Questions
Being curious and asking questions is one of the most important habits of successful students. Genuinely wondering about things and wanting to learn for the sake of learning is what teachers love to see from their students. But on top of asking questions out of wondering, there is also being willing to ask questions to your teacher to clarify directions or to help understand the assignment at hand. One thing as a teacher that I’ve found is that if you have a question about an assignment, I guarantee there is someone else that has a similar question about that!
10. Growth Mindset
Having a growth mindset leads to learning and growing through learning from your mistakes. When you have a growth mindset, you recognize that mistakes are learning opportunities and that you may not understand something… yet! When you are willing to grow, you actively search out feedback and are focused on bettering yourself.
11. Positive Attitude
Along with having a growth mindset, having a positive attitude is a habit of successful students. When you arrive at class, saying hi, smiling, and building relationships with your teachers and peers leads to school being more enjoyable and manageable overall. Of course, everyone has days where they are not feeling like going to school – but if you have more positive days than negative, it will lead to you being more successful in learning.
12. Reading
Another key habit of successful students is reading. Students that genuinely want to learn, read. There are several benefits to spending time reading as well – such as reducing stress levels, increasing vocabulary, higher creativity and concentration as well.
13. School Involvement
When it comes to enjoying school – which is important to being successful at school – being involved within your school is a habit that highly effective students have. Being involved in school doesn’t just mean being part of a sports team. This can look like joining a club, being a part of leadership, making an effort to build relationships within classes, even just simply participating in classes if the flexibility of schedule or transportation isn’t feasible.
14. Sleep
Sleep is incredibly important to be successful in anything you want to accomplish in life – school, work, being present. An exhausted person is not their best self. So establishing a bedtime and sticking to it, rather than staying up through the middle of the night is a basic habit that successful students establish.
Becoming a successful student is more than just showing up and doing your work, but those are great ways to get started! Maybe you do some of these habits already or maybe you need to work on adopting some of the more basic habits of successful students. Whichever habits you have or don’t – adopting even some of these will lead to you being a better student overall.
