Allowing the student to come and talk to me about their fear of not being sucessful. We all have been there before in this type of situation. I have told student about the times I was fearful in college, but included how I overcame the fear of failure.
Being an encourager for the student, depending on the student's situation, we may be their only encourager throughout the educational process. Just remind the student that all they need to ask for help if they may be struggling. Because when you don't ask for help when you need it, the student may not succeed and we want our students to succeed.
Also, I use inspirational success quotes daily on the board for the student to read.
Relate some of your own experiences. I may be an adult now but I sat through college courses as an 18 year old and I know what the distractions are for these young students.
I was also an adult learner, in fact I still am. I think they might benefit from my past experience also. I'm sure we would share common fears, concerns and challanges.
I like to let them know that nobody knows what we are learining, or they would not be in school.
By making sure that the lession matterial, hands on work exercises, and test questions all fit together. What they learn in the classroom is now transfered to expierence in the lab, which makes the questions on the test something that they know and have done. Great scores all around lets them know they have applied themselfs and that is success.
by showing support in terms of answering questions, providing feedback on assignments, and encouragement
Hi Stephen,
Being available and supportive to your students is a key component of student success as you well know. Thanks for sharing these comments about how this kind of support needs to be provided.
Gary
I understand this fear; as a 35 year old freshman in college I faced the same one. Confidence follows small successes, which, in turn, slowly build into major patterns of success. Students need to understand how to deal with failure: the failure of an essay, of a test, of a point successfully refuted in a class debate that they had offered in good faith. Once students realize that failures are necessary paths to success, confidence slowly builds.
I do this as well. Every quarter, we start the class but introducing the students to each other and chatting about how and why they ended up at the college in the class that they are in. I feel that this makes them more comfortable with each other and at the college I'm at, there is such a difference in ages, from 17 yoa up to 60+ yoa.
I agree that it is quite important be be readily available. Having access outside of class through telephone, email, or an in-person appointment, I believe, helps students overcome their fears when they realize I'm here to help them.
Frequent feedback is a must to help encourage students and give them confidence. It lets them know I care and they know they're moving in the right direction.
I try to down play the motivation of completing a coarse, or acheiving a grade. The best reason for taking any coarse is to learn the subject and understand the information. If education is truely the pursuit of knowledge, then attaining that knowledge is the measure of success. Each student can be a success each day. Grades are just a by-product of learning.
I would add that a well developed curriculum is important to student success. It is the genesis for what has to be accomplished. If students comprehend the objectives of a lesson, the teacher in most instances is simply a facilitator.
I introduce myself and have the class do the same. We use this to build bridges of support. We also use this to ancore the passion.
I try to let my students know that I am available and that I want to help them. I provide a number of ways for students to get in touch with me outside of my regular office hours. I also make sure that I am providing thoughtful, and useful feedback that covers both what students are doing well, and what they can improve on.
In some cases, I have talked about time management skills or other study tips with my students as well.
One of the things that I do in the first few weeks of class is give "practice tests" a few days before the actual test. The first test is always the one the students are most concerned about. The format, how the questions are worded, etc...Giving a practice test allows them to understand the format which reduces the anxiety of that level, therefore, giving them more of an opportunity to focus and score well on the actual test that is being graded.
I think that normalizing the fear associated with returning to school helps (no matter the age of the student). However, have an open discussion with students to let them relate to each other. I have noticed that the older students who have not been in school relax when they meet other students are in the same situation as them. They continue to relate to each other throughout the session. I also think continuing to encourage them of the learning process in general. I have found that most students respond well when I encourage them to utilize the additional resources the university has to offer.
I beleve as an instructor I need to understand the fear of the student, before helping to overcome it.
be approchable, not to put more fear on the student: fear to talk to you.
Excellent comment, especially for the "new" instructor who can be intimidated by their student population. By giving feedback it sets a good rapport for the instructor/student relationship.
This is something that is really based on the individual. Getting to know your students and understand why they are coming to school as well as the challenges that they face makes it easier to help them be successful at thier ultimate goal, whatever that me be.
You can share with them your experiences when you first started in school. Hower came your fears abd reassure them that they will be okay
Hi Cornel,
I like the way you slowly keep adding different elements to the process as the students work through the problem. They get to see different applications and different ways to approach and solve a problem. This information will help them throughout the course.
Gary
