Vance, great topic and I love that you point out to your students the power of self-talk. How we perceive of ourselves is as important as any class we take or any level of effort we put into the learning process. The more we know the further we go is so true but the better we feel about ourselves also plays a role in how much we feel we CAN know. Building small wins into the curriculum is key towards building confidence within our students and with the course materials. If your course is designed to weed students out then most likely that design will perform its designed task. However if maximum success is the goal then you need to look at what steps have been taken within the lesson plan to build in the critical small learning steps that build confidence. James Jackson