Self-Doubt
One of the greatest rewards in teaching is helping students discover their potential in spite of their self-doubt. Discuss some particular examples of cases, past or present, where this perception was clearly evident.
I love being able to see students come in at the beginning of a class being afraid and not knowing what's going to happen, and then once something is explained, you can almost immediately start to see them relax. When we go over what is going to happen and ways to achieve that goal, then they start to realize that it is something they will be able to do and succeed at. They start to feel better and more at ease and not doubt themselves.
One of my students had alot of self-doubt at the first of the class. One day after an exam, she stormed out of class to the front office to withdraw from the class stating "I just cannot do this". I beat the student to the front office and talked to her, and refused to allow her to withdraw from the program. I reminded her of what she needed to do in order to be successful and reinforced that if she would do this, she could pass the class. When the next exam came around, the student passed with flying colors. She came up to me and thanked me, saying I was blameing you for me not being successful, when all along it was me just not studying because I did not think I could do it.
For the first time in my teaching experience , I have all male students. Their self doubt was evident from day one. We worked together discovering each of their unique qualities, to build their self-esteem, and confidence.
Jacqueline, for those that are new to peer group coaching could you elaborate a bit on how you structure the groups and how you setup the scenarios that are used to solicit group participation? Thanks for anything you can share.
James Jackson
I had a technical problem, so I hope you had received my initial response to this post.
I wanted to add that I do apply this instructional tool for students preparing their resumes.
The activity is to write a soft skills summary/objective. After they attempt to write this timed exercise they realize how safe or conservative their choice of softs skill words they had chosen to best define their traits.
The peer group moderator then proceeds to direct each classmate to turn over their piece of paper and write down as many softs skill terms that best represent their personality, work ethic, etc, in 1 minute time. The majority of the words that each student chooses to best represent themselves (during this exercise) aren't even the original soft skill words that had chosen while writing their summary/objective.
Their peers also provide constructive feedback and even reassurance. It tends to be a fun exercise and it gets the student one step closer to getting their resume done for future career.
Good afternoon.
Since one of the courses I teach is Career Development, incorporating peer group coaching helps students to connect and socialize from their first class with their classmates. We've observed students who work in peer groups early on tend to study together, seek each other out in future classes and sincerely create bonds of friendship.
I find this instructional tool works great with adult learners since there is a diversity of life, work and academic skill levels. It is a great ice-breaker as well.
I like to use peer group coaching exercises such as scotoma cards, critical thinking/brain teaser exercises and personality assessments. I always want each student to feel secure in their environment and feel confident about what they are bringing to the activity.
Kathy, well stated. I cannot emphasize enough the importance and power of positive energy. This can be directly related to some research by Harvard University and the importance of being happy. When students are filled with positive energy and are happy they simply are capable of learning and retaining more. Students that fall into this category also tend to be those that persist all the way to graduation so the impact on retention is noticeable.
James Jackson
Jacqueline, great post and I am very interested in learning more about your peer coaching initiative. Are you using students that are closer to graduation as peers? Do the peers make use of their time spent in this capacity to enhance their resume? Thanks for any additional information you can share with me and our readers about this exciting experience.
James Jackson
Starting the day with a positive,excited attitude is a motivation to any personality wither it be confident or one of self doubt... But self doubt I've found can be healed slowly by ones encouragement, being shown, in any accomplishment no matter how small in any attempt to master any given assignment.
I am fortunate to teach a course in Career Development which allows me to engage with students enrolled in their first college class. I observe students with a range of emotions from excitement to anxiety to self-doubt. I try to reassure them that all these feelings are normal and healthy.
It can be difficult for students to see their own potential. I provide the class with a selection of resources including self-assessments that help them decide for their learning styles, personality, critical thinking skills as well as their long term academic goals. Since it is their first course, I want to ensure the students are feeling secure in their new environment.
Another tool that continues to be proven effective and beneficial to my students has been the practice of peer coaching. This concept provides the students with the opportunity to collaborate on assignments with their peers by sharing life, career and academic experiences. It establishes better communications with their peers.
Jennifer, I understand what you are saying but just know you are not along and teaching any type of class at a Career College has its fair share of students with self-doubt. I mention this only because the techniques that assist the majority of students will be common for remedial courses as well. Conversation and positive feedback tends to be two major components to positive outcomes. Higher Education can at times take on a survival of the fittest approach and only focus on students that fit the system well. Other institutions however have taken the approach of understanding that ALL students can be successful if each student is treated as an individual and their individual needs are being met. It really comes down to the focus of each institution and each instructor. If your focus is to see positive outcomes for the maximum number of students then students need to be treated and serviced as individuals and not as groups. The more we as instructors know about our students the better we can work towards earning their trust and building their levels of confidence in themselves, in their institution and in their careers.
James Jackson
Teaching remedial courses is difficut because most students come to class with baggage of years of self- doubt. Through group work and activities that help the students feel comfortable, it eases the stress of answering questions in class because there is a level of comfort among their peers.
Robert, great post and so relevant. Regardless of the subject matter students can be apprehensive at first. By taking the time to build bridges to higher levels of learning, critical thinking and creative thinking you can bring a great deal of confidence to students that initially felt they would never be able to figure things out. Everyone starts out knowing little to nothing so the path students are taking has been navigated before and with great success. The more students know you expect them to be confused and have questions the more they will feel comfortable asking questions and learning from their own mistakes.
James Jackson
Jeanette, YES! That is the holy grail of higher education - the ability to witness first hand when the student "gets it". What are some of the techniques you have used to build small and early success as you build the bridges to the more complicated or larger success events within your lesson plans? Thanks for anything you can share.
James Jackson
I teach a Biochemistry Course in a Dental Hygiene program and I have found that self-doubt can be one of the greatest obstacles to success in this course. On the first day of class I have the students discuss their apprehensions of the course, and of chemistry in general. I think when students are able to share their doubts with each other it creates a special dynamic in the class; we are in this together. I let them know that their doubt and fear in the subject matter is something I hear from most students who take this course. I feel that by reassuring them that I understand where they are coming from creates a sense of security for the students, and in some way they begin to build their confidence before I begin the first lecture.
In teaching a hands on course, with the very first lesson, the students are very apprehensive about their ability to learn the corrective procedures. It is such a pleasure to witness that "oh yes" moment when they realize, "I'm doing it right".
Every time that I teach a Pharmacology class at least half of my students consider themselves not capacitated to pass the class due to the math. Students doubt about their math skills and their ability to pass the class even without knowing what are the topics that we will cover in the class.
I always tell them once that we go to that portion of the course we wil go over simple math to see how are we doing. After a while they realize that it was just a fear that they have to math.
Some of the classes I teach require fractions and being able to read a ruler. The students usually are terrified of this, even though they are basic skills learned in elementary school.
I'm always careful to go over both at the beginning of class, and I give a quiz where I let students work in groups. I can see their confidence grow as we go over the correct answers and they can see that they can read a ruler. It helps when they work as a team.
Most of the time students put into practice what they learn in the classroom and they do not even realize it; if they are reminded you see you learned all of this in the classroom now you are using your skills and knowledge-they see the light!!
