In order for a student to have confidence the student must feel accepted. Acceptance is the start of their journey towards success.
Everyone has the need to feel accepted. Many students have grown up in environments that did not show acceptance. Many of those students are now in school to gain confidence and acceptance in the attempt to improve their lives. It is extremely important for the instuctor to "accept" all students for who they are and encourage them to be the best that they can be.
It is important for them to feel accepted so that they will feel free to participate. this will help them to grow. If students do not feel accepted they are less likley to ask for help when they need it.
Lee,
Good point and one we instructors need to remember as we start new classes off. Get the students settled in and looking forward to the upcoming course and in the process share complete and accurate information with them about the course requirements.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
From a physiological standpoint, the student who feels welcome, accepted and included in class produces less cortisol, the stress hormone. One of the charachertistics of cortisol is it insulates the neural connections in the brain so less learning can take place. (That's one of the reasons why folks to have really clear memories of a situation that totally stressed them out...)Unfortunately, the brain's ability to shield us from too many stressful memories also prevents learning when we are stressed...
Getting students involved in classroom discussions helps them to learn more from their classmates as well as instructors.
It is extremely crucial for a student to feel accepted and directly relates to their learning process. If the student does not feel accepted, they tend to have a barrier within the learning environment. They can also start to not believe in themselves. Success of the student begins in the classroom!
When my students feel accepted in class it build their confidence level, the feel comfortable, and they are more open to learning and tryining new things. I believe this helps to contribute to their success by feeling comfortable, they are mroe willing to work harder. They then have that 'can do' attitude in the classroom.
It is important for students to feel accepted because it is the foundation for building confidence. Confidence is needed to take risks, ability to cope with failure and try again.
Regina,
Right you are about acceptance and integration. Students need to be brought into the class setting in a way that helps them see that they are respected and accepted. With your group activity you are helping them to integrate themselves into the class setting as a member of a smaller group which in turns help them see how they fit into the class at large.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I think that once a student feels accepted they are less intimidated when it comes time for them to learn. One way that I try to help my students is by putting them in groups the first day of class; they all have to share information about themselves and 1 special point about themselves that they would like the class to know. Once they have completed the introductions the students will introduce their peers to the class and include that one item that they wanted shared with the class. This helps to break the ice in the classroom and it gets the students engaged with one another.
I agree. If you let students build a wall around them it definitely block their ability to fully absorb any information.
Mike,
Simple question with a simple answer that has powerful outcomes. You are right on with your comments. We need to always remember this as we work with our students.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
This is a really simple question. A student that feels accepted will participate more in class. They will answer questions and ask deeper questions which in turn prompts other students to get involved. That is why it is so important for all students to feel accepted regardless of age, sex, orientation or ethnic group.
I'm reminded of a study recently that suggested that smiling actually makes you feel happier. I think the same theory applies here -- when you take the time to welcome and accept students, they feel it, and they respond to it. It makes a difference.
I like my classrooms to be smiling and happy all the time, even if the work is tough and difficult. A little joke or smile here and there can lighten the mood and relieve stress, and lets them know that it's okay that they're struggling.
Melonie,
Thank you so much for sharing this situation and the outcome. Students make serious mistakes as they progress through their educational careers which result in consequences just as you have outlined. It sounds like progress has been made by both the offenders and offendees. Your maintaining your professional demeanor is to be commended and was the way to handle it. You are the class leader and everyone was looking to you to see how the situation would be handled. I am confident that these two students learned a lot about how to handle themselves in relation to public displays of inappropriate wording.
I know this will good information for other instructors if they should encounter such situations in their own classrooms.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I had two students that were experiencing the wrath of their classmates when they were found to have placed some STRONG racial slurrs on their facebook page.
One student in particular was very offended and hurt by these 2 (now ostrocized)students. This "hurt" student was in a previous class of mine and I found to be a very endearing person. However, she acted very harshly and unforgivingly towards these 2 students who now were in my current class. On the other hand, these 2 students however apologetic and mortified that they were--their actions definitely were offensive to me as well.
These students came to me not only to apologize but because they were concerned about what I had heard, my feelings regarding the situation and how this might affect the student/teacher relationship.
My internal feelings were that I was angry and hurt for the student who suffered from their cruelty. However, I felt that from a professional teacher role, I should not deviate to the "personal" realm. I treat everyone equally and strive to do my part to enable every student to achieve success. I could not allow the knowledge of the offending event to affect my professional role and duty towards them as my students. I let them know that I would treat them as I would any other student.
However, In my heart, I did wonder if I was betraying my former student (or at least she would think of me as betraying her)-as she was very angry and unforgiving, and I thought she might be of me too, if I dealt with these students as if nothing ever happened). Allow me to explain in the next paragraph.
Because it is something I love to do and can do in my small clinical groups, I celebrate birthdays that come up during the current term. Of these 2 offending students-there was a birthday. To continue my tradition of treating every student equal, I made sure to bring cup cakes and a card and take a few minutes to celebrate the student's Birthday.
(to speak personally--I also know that it is important to forgive. These students apologized and showed remorse. I believe we all are fallable as human beings and we make stupid mistakes sometimes that have ugly consequences.)Their consequences was hurting a couple of students in their class and having retaliation and rejection from just about everybody in their class.
The one student however I feel was touched with the Birthday recognition, and I hope that it spoke to her a heart of kindess, forgiveness,love (and faith in teacher professionalism). All needed for moving forward in healing after making a major blunder and getting whooped for it!
Just in writing this to you I am realizing that although the school dealt with the issue very thoroughly with the students and the 2 students came to me privately to address their concerns , I also could have briefly addressed the issue briefly with the rest of my little class/ group and used it as an opportunity to talk along the lines of the reality that all make mistakes and all of us need to be able to forgive in our own hearts for our own good.
This also would have been a great time to help them understand my heart and where I am coming from and maybe help the students know and understand my reaction and what to expect from me and what I expected from the class.
This story was a real life example to me of how rejection hurt these students. It was also interesting to see how their not having met the important need "to be accepted by the group".
The outcome was that these particular students were strong and rose above and didn't give up on their goal of achieving success in school and graduated strong. Also, a student in our clinical group (who should have been another hurt and offended victim) showed them forgiveness encouraging them that she didn't take it personally. This made a HUGE immediate difference in the student's comfort level at clinical with this student.
Bonnie,
I think this approach is great. Based upon your student population you are targeting their needs and then providing supports and strategies for them to be successful if they are willing to put forth the effort. You are having a great impact on their success as a result.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Most of our students could be considered non-tradidisional. Because of this fact, they have a huge fear of not being accepted. Our fear as instructors is that good students turn bad when grouped with certain students.
Introductions help students know that they are not alone and that there are others in the room in the same boat they are. This aids in the process of acceptance. I have students exchange phone numbers and setup study groups (that are graded) to aid this process. Working together help form working relationships. Acceptance also helps students help each other work towards success.
Acceptance is extremely important for success in class. If a person does not feel accepted, they will focus on the negativities and not pay full attention to the class content. They may not participate as fully, for fear that others will belittle their comments. When a student does feel accepted and open to the content, learning is shared and students will succeed.
