By continually providing support to each individual and providing planned success points in the course. This can provide them with a feeling of accomplishment and reinforces their self confidence that they are capable of learning the concepts and mastering the physical skills in the lab environment. It set their mental wheels in motion to project those skills they are learning now in class to use and application in the work force.
Simply by encouraging the student and allowing them to ask questions. Clarify the objectives and send out praises when the student masters the content.
By providing words of encouragement, feedback, and sharing success stories.
Also, I would let students know all of the resources that are available to help with their studies.
Overall make them feel comfortable in the learning environment. They need some positive reinforcement and sharing. If appropriate or possible maybe have a get to know each other session.
Richard,
You do have a unique perspective by being both a student and teacher. By being in both worlds I am sure you are able to more accurately plan your instruction to meet the need of your students because as a student you see what you want to know in the classes you are taking and as an instructor you know how to deliver the needed content.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Tammy,
I agree about sharing examples of cases and real world situations. These stories help the students to connect the content with their futures. The more this can be done the greater their motivation will be.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
Misty,
Good advice for instructors to share with their students. The more success students have the greater their confidence in their ability to be successful will be. It is at times like this their motivation really takes off.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
I feel it begins and ends with the instructor. Clearly outline the expectations of the course, provide relevant and ample materials, be open to questions from students, be approachable for students outside of class, etc.
Being a student as well as a teacher, I have the unique perspective of how both sides of the fence work. The biggest fear of anyone is that they will not understand the material. This is easily overcome by learning how to relate to the student and helping them to understand the material. I sometimes have a hard time separating my school work from my work work, and need to be reminded and supported to get my mind back on track. Focus is the key, the material is a byproduct of good communication.
Richard
Some things that I do is to encourage the student, give them the support that they need, and to be there for them when they need you.
Toni
I beleive that you should discuss real life scenarios. I teach Diagnostic Medical Sonography and I feel that if I engage the students in conversation about experiences of previous students and or myself involving the situations they may encounter when they begin their clinical rotation,greatly helps them relax. It helps them realize the rewards of their career choice and not be as fearful of failure.
Explaining to students that the feelings of inadequacy are a chemical reaction to the fear of the unknown. Recognizing it for what it is, don't give those feelings too much credit as they will grow less and less evident as the student pushes forward through those fears and achieves little victories as they work toward program completion.
As you get to know the new student make sure to help build up their confidence by telling them how well you think they are doing on their assignments. Also as soon as you notice a score start to decrease make sure to get them into tutoring, to catch them before it becomes a bigger issue.
Setting good habits while in school to carry out into the field with them, gives the students a sense of pride and accomplishment.
You can help students overcome their fear of not being successful by giving encouragement and relating to their real world knowledge of the subject matter.
Encourage students that they can be successfull in your course. Explain how in detail how they can become successfull specifically in your course. Be supportive, know your students in order for them to be successfull!
Positive reinforcement almost always creates a positive learning environmet for any age. Everyone, especially adults, need to know that what they are doing is going towards a specific goal and that their time is not wasted. They DO have the ability.
I work on building my students up with positive reinforcement. I look for all successes and opportunities to give praise, especially to those students who question their abilities.
Judy,
This is a great way to use life experiences of your students to reinforce and expand learning opportunities in your course. This really build their self confidence because as you say they learn they know more than they think they do with this method.
Gary
Dr. Gary Meers
In a Practice Management class I used the Students individual experiences as customers to understand the concept client service. All Students realized that they already knew more about the concept then they had ever imagined, thus empowering them to feel they could relate and succeed in the class and field.
