3. Make class a “can’t-miss” experience. If you engage your students through dynamic lectures, interactive activities, and lively class discussions, they’ll be less likely to assume that they can get what they need solely from the readings or their study buddies’ class notes.

4. Teach with purpose. Clearly communicate the value of what you’re teaching and ensure that you’re reinforcing the relevance of course material to their lives.

5. Let them know you believe they can succeed. Help your students see and believe that the power and ability to adapt, change, and improve their learning strategies is within their grasp.

6. Promote revision as an opportunity to master both topic knowledge and writing skills. While the projects are still in these draft stages, use written feedback (rather than grades) as a means of supporting mastery. You could also consider establishing peer-review groups to facilitate the revision process; this also has the benefit of eliminating the need for you to read and evaluate each draft of every student’s paper yourself.

7. Use a criterion-referenced approach to grading, rather than grading “on the curve.” If your expectations, criteria (and point values) for assignments, and desired learning outcomes are clear to students from the start of the course, they will know exactly what leads to success and can thus feel more confident about the possibility of succeeding.

8. Eliminate some of the “guesswork” from tests. Keep the format and structure of your exams consistent from test to test, so that students can become more familiar with (and thus less anxious about) your approach to testing. Other strategies, such as providing one (or several) of the essay questions ahead of time, can help students feel more confident and in greater control of their experience at test time.

9. If most students miss a question on a test, don’t be afraid to “drop” it. Instead of accounting for that question in the overall grade on the exam, use the occurrence as an opportunity to re-address the topic and confirm that your students understand the material. By doing so, students can recognize that you are concerned not only about their performance, but their mastery of what you’re covering in class.

10. Keep your feedback constructive and informative. Provide criticism in a manner that frames problems as something that can be addressed and resolved, rather than as something that’s intrinsically wrong with the student. ”