Shanika, great post and I totally agree that students benefit from understanding out own life stories. All instructors were students at some point in their lives yet at times many forget what it was like. Also, they assume all students learn or experience leaning in the same way they did and get confused when their singular tactics do not have a positive impact on their students. We all need to be mindful of what we experienced when we were students and also be mindful that not everyone learns in the same ways. Keep up the great work.
James Jackson
Scott, great job and thanks for what you do and leading by example. The term diligence is so critical in your post as it describes the level of effort that is needed at times to make a real connection and a difference with many of our students. Keep up the great work and thanks for sharing.
James Jackson
Christopher, great topic and regardless of personality types no one knows it all and we all have room for growth. I am reminded of a documentary about Albert Einstein where he talked about the joys of learning. He mentioned that regardless of the contributions to science he had made he still felt he had much to learn. Such a presence of mind is partly what made him so great and a true understanding that learning is life long. Self doubt is actually a good thing if it can drive us to continually learn and to also be willing to teach others what we know.
James Jackson
Scott, what are some of the techniques you use to make students feel special about themselves? Thanks for anything you can share.
James Jackson
Reynaldo, what a powerful story and one that really reflects the power we have as instructors. Dr. Joe Pace from The Pacific Institute reminds us that the teacher will appear when the student is ready and we rarely know when we have made a different for many students as it may occur after our formal sessions with students have come to a close. Your story is evidence that as an instructor you had a major impact on his way of thinking and how he is using what he learned to teach others. Great story and thanks for sharing.
James Jackson
I currently have a student who, at first, I thought was shy. After watching the student interact with others and reviewing assignment and exam grades, I realized that she was not shy but has a learning disorder. I took time outside of class to talk to the student to ask why she never said anything in class but talked ears off with other students on break. She told me that she has a hard time undertanding the lecture because she has a hearing problem and dislexia. Together, we figured out the best way to address her problem which was for her to sit in the front of the class, take notes and ask questions when she can't hear or doesnt understand something. I also take tiem to review her notes to make sure that she has written them correctly.
I find it helpfull that when a student is doughting themself and second guseing themself over a test question,to share to them we all make mistakes and tell them of one of your own tests you oops on .Its not the grade you get it's what you learned from it!
I am a Career Advisor, so my role with students is a bit different. I received an email from a graduate today letting me know that she had earned a promotion at work. I am so excited for her and proud of her! I remember when I assisted her with Externship more than a year ago. She was shy and not confident in her skills. I helped her find a site, contact the business, and mock interviewed with her. I always knew that she had a great work ethic and good skills, but it was her confidence that she needed to improve. I believe that her current job has dramatically assisted her with overcoming her self-doubt as it is a place where learning is encouraged. Last year she was barely getting by and now she is a Lead at her job!
I had this student that had been out of the education system for 30 years. He had to learn everything all over again from study habits, to the basics of microsoft outlook and other computer programs. His first three weeks, I could see the growing concern and fear over taking him. At this point in the semester he was getting overwhelmed with out any grades for him to determine whether or not he was doing well. I ended up grading his homework assignment and writing, a couple extra sentences about how great it was he brought his past professional experince into the answers for the questions, and put a small challenge at the end for him to continue to draw upon his previous experince and build upon it. I guess that challenge really hit home because he seemed to be a more secure student, and started participating a lot more and sharing his opinions a lot more and just came out of his shell, I'm not sure if it was that challenge or that I paid respect to the fact he was a hard worker for 30 years and thats something to be proud of. Either or it was clear he needed the security of knowing everyone was there to help him succeed, and to push him at the same time.
I have noticed two main reasons for self-doubt: general shyness, and unpreparedness. This can be an issue in a classroom exercise such as "role-playing". To tackle the unpreparedness issue, I give a quick review of the material before the exercise, and to counteract the shyness, I give each student a well-explained role in the exercise so that they don't have to wonder what to do. The least-shy student gets the biggest role first. Then we switch roles. I also take a role in the exercise, injecting humor into my role, too.
I agree 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.
When I recognize a student who has self doubt I am reminded that this is their first time in my class and I have been teaching many times over. I have to treat the class so that I am understanding of their reluctance of understanding the content for the first time. Reassurance is something that has to be reiterated so that they feel more self confident that they will do well.
I have a student who is a Navy veteran I was very surprised that in my class even though I fully explained the project complete with a demo, this student called on me for assistance/verification every step of the way. I did not understand why in the early days of the class. As this pattern continued, I showed the student that he had the know how, but the just lacked the confidence in himself that he was doing the project correctly. I just started telling him that he has what he needs to complete the assignment, he just needs to believe in himself. Success after sucess stopped the student from asking for verification that what he was doing was correct.
At the begining of each phase i usually ask the new students if any of them have any type of experiance either work on thier own or with others in this field, this way i can plan my lessons knowing how much they know.
At the begining of the simester I've noticed the Self- Doubt in almost every students eyes. This was their first advance class and was scared that they wouldn't be able to reach my expectations as well as their own goal. That look they had threw me off gaurd because I didn't expect that from this class. For over a week I had mulitple students come to me to express their concerns about not being able to perform. To boost their confidence and show them they did have the ability to achieve their goal and live up to my expectation I have encouraged them to be proactive with preparing for daily projects, I have shown them how to minimize time by combining certain tasks, and how to work together as a team by communication. Today is marks day 27 for my students and I have seen improvement from each individual.
I always find a positive in thier work and let them take chances and try differentb things even though they are making mistakes. we then go over thier work and figure out how to fix the mistakes. This gives them self confidence and will not be afraid of thinking on their feet.
Hello, James.
In our challenging field, students sometimes doubt their ability to move from school challenges to those at work. But I tell them that great work is done under time pressure to a high standard by good people, much like them. The key is to prepare well, then find a job where management takes care in training and development. No super-humsans will be found there, just good people like them, succeeding in a well-managed workplace.-- Gary O. Ackerman
I truly enjoy watching students grow and develop. Especially when their security blossoms and they develop confidence. It is truly rewarding to watch them develop into who they were meant to be.
my favorite example of this is when my students are piping chocolate which is a skill very few of them come into the class knowing how to do, and I will do a basic demo of some designs to pipe making it appear relatively simple. I warn them this will be harder than it looks but how I got here was by practice... As students start most of the piping looks pretty rough and students are quick to claim that they are just not good at it. I assign piping homework and some do and some don't but what students quickly realize is as they continue to pipe in class the ones who have practiced at home are getting better and my favorite moment is when one of the students who wasn't practicing outside of class, started and they got a lot better. You can see the sense of accomplishment on their face.
Self doubt can prevent people from reaching their goals in life. When people overcome their self doubts they can reach the stars and beyond.
