I teach a lot of technical courses, primarily math and physics, and from my perception these tend to be the areas where many students come in feeling the least secure. I run free-tutoring sessions called "Study Groups" several times a week, and I find myself being a cheerleader rather than a tutor in most situations to attempt to combat students' fear and self-doubt.
Since I teach math, most students enter the class with a general feeling of dislike towards the subject. This is either because they hated it in high school or their teachers in the past basically overlooked them and just sort of scooted them by in class.
My main goal in class is to switch their feeling from self doubt and animosity towards math. By the time the class is over I hope to have given them some amount of math confidence. And as long as I get them to stop hating math, I usually feel like I have accomplished my goal.
I reasure the students that they know the information and just to do it. Example when we are going to do blood draws on a real person, we have already discussed it and practiced it but a lot of students second guess themselves and I just remind them that they have the knowledge and skills and I will be right there to guide them. I tell them that I know that they can do it and that also seems to help. Some students do not have a great support system so we are it.
I am a culinary arts instructor and there have been a multitude of situations for which I can reference of students discovering their potential. Most of these eye opening situations take place when the students are coming towards the end of my class. Many of the final practical exams that the students take are on things that they have done once or twice before. It is wonderful to watch them realize, execute and preform a task, that only a few short weeks prior they had self doubt about.
I think failures should be re-phraised as partial successes. There is learning from the experience and and understanding that has brought you closer to your goal than you were before.
Patti, outstanding technique and one that provides positive reinforcement and positive self-talk. Thanks for sharing.
James Jackson
Trinidad, job well done with respect to seeking professional assistance and not trying to "fix" your students. Our role as educators is to deliver the curriculum in a professional and non-threatening environment. When we notice our students need services outside of our skill set, the best practice is to direct students to those services that can provide the appropriate services.
James Jackson
Wilfredo, excellent example of getting to a personal yet professional level with your students. You were able to accomplish a very root level of connection between you as the instructor, the content of your curriculum and indirectly between the student and the institution. Such contentedness is referenced by the works of Vincent Tinto and his research in the 70's and 80's.
James Jackson
Being a culinary instructor, the students are exposed to a lot of new dishes and techniques that can be very scary. It is great to be able to break down what looks like a very big task into little tasks. I see this specifically in the wedding cake class where the students have to complete multiple sugar paste flowers. Having such wonderful instructors break down this task into little miniature tasks allows the students to achieve small milestones which end up leading to a huge accomplishment of a finished wedding cake. This allows the students to get over their doubt of being able to accomplish something that looks hard.
I teach my students to say everything with confidence. "say it like you mean it" if a student responds to an in class question, and they are unsure of their response, I do not tell them rather they are right or wrong, until the "say it like they mean it". Once the student repeats their answer with confidence we then discuss the answer rather they were right or wrong.
Many of my students coming in have alot of self doubt. Whether they do not have adequate self esteem or limited outside support, it is apparent. By showing students that they do have the ability to succeed, it will increase their self view.
I have a number of students who are veterans of the war in the Middle East. Some of these students come back with PTSD and other ailments that make it more difficult for them to learn. I try to get these students to the right resources within our school in order to help them become more successful students. I have noticed that students with these types of disorders sometimes have a hard time with self-doubt, so creating an environment that is safe and inclusive is very helpful to their success.
One enjoy a lot when the students discover their potentiality with the help of the organization of the class and with the help of the way the professor organize the topics since the students realize they cannot only offer but also gain knowledge and skills they will use depending on their experience and the social or work conditions that will allow them to apply their knowledge. Developing the self-confidence of the students is a complex process that begin with how the professor prepare the class, how he end it, and how he respond to the comments the students make after the class is ended.
In my opinion what you’re saying is true because when students realize that they have academic potential for a subject, and personal development, an inner process of change that facilitates their progress in the educational process or the acquisition of knowledge in a particular subject begins within them. It’s impossible to estimate the scope of the process of change taking place in the student as it influences all areas of the student's personality. One process that obviously shows this is the change in student's psychological position within the class group to which it belongs.
For example, last semester there was a student in my class that was characterized for being on task with all her academic duty. She behaved in class, her grades were generally very good, but in class she displayed uncertainty, and struggle to explain her answers or to express her doubts. Her classmates saw her as an average student somewhat shy. Throughout my course I observed this characteristics and I began to work to increase the motivation of the student towards the subject that I was teaching. I observed that she had potential for a change so i began to give the student academic responsibilities such as group work, in which she had to work together with the other members of her group. We encouraged her to improve the way she explained her ideas related to the subjects being taught. We also applied the techniques of reinforcing the positive aspects of her answers and rebuild its negative aspects thus redirecting the course of their thoughts. We also explained her the importance of learning the importance of learning to control her emotions and she was trained in some simple techniques to learn this ability. After a while the first thing I observed was her increased interest for my class, then the increasing visits to the school library in order to obtain additional information about the treated topics, and an increment in her levels of participation in class along with a change in her role in the different groups of study showing a more secure attitude and being more communicative with other students thus exploiting her cumulative knowledge during the assigned tasks to the groups she belongs to. Moreover, at the end of the semester she worked as a voluntary helping other students with difficulties that by that time used to say her how a good professor and an intelligent person she were asking her what was the cause of her change.
Melissa, very well stated. We as educators can find other ways to show them they are missing a concept other than issuing them an assessment tool to prove to them they know nothing about the subject matter. Focus on what concepts they may be missing on the tests but provide the information in such a way that you never present it as a negative. If half the class missed a specific topic on a quiz, us that material as a specific emphasis on your review. Is it really that critical that students even know what they got wrong as long as they are receiving reinforcement of what they need to know? A bit abstract and this in on purpose as I want you to think outside the box a bit here. For anyone reading this post, what are some ways we can review materials students missed on a quiz or major test without using a negative focus on what was missed? How about talking first about where everyone is doing well and the concepts everyone seems to get, then discuss the topics we can see improvement. This still delivers the message there were things wrong on the assessment but this format does it in such a way that you are not putting a negative focus on the missed materials. There are always things that we can improve as no one is perfect so this is less threatening to students and they feel more comfortable talking about the subject matter since no one really knows who in the room missed what concepts. I hope this is making sense, this was a long one so sorry if it got confusing. Let me hear back from anyone reading this post, I am very interested in your ideas.
James Jackson
In my classes I have a handful of adult students that are returning to school after quite some time away from a classroom.
Some do well when presented with a new objective or hands on assignment; while others struggle and begin to doubt why they have chosen to come back to school.
It is during these times I like to give real life examples of how someone else or even myself have had the same feelings and what can be done to keep going. Making things relateable and familar I find helps. Also an encourgaging word never hurts either.
I try to post motivating qoutes or sayings on the board for all students to see through out the class period.
Ashley, YES! You get it and thanks for bringing this forward. Focus on the positive more than the negative. You need to always provide corrective guidance but make sure to really dwell on what the student is doing well and relate that to how they can turn a negative into yet another positive. Great post. : - )
James Jackson
Bobby, thanks for sharing. For some of our students we may be the only positive voice they hear. They get enough about what they cannot accomplish and how unworthy they may be from home, friends, peers and the like. Do not take for granted the power of your support and acceptance as a caring instructor. Caring does not imply you are not rigorous with your educational goals for your students. Challenge them to take their education to a new level but do so with compassion and a true outward desire to see them be successful.
James Jackson
Tom, how did that make you feel? We have another discussion thread on intrinsic and extrinsic motivators for you as a faculty member. You may want to share this one on that discussion thread. : - )
James Jackson
I worked with a student who had failed Composition in the previous month. I made sure to point out everything she had done well in her first draft that she turned in to me before going into what she needed to improve. This positive assesment gave her the confidence to improve her writing skills and the security she needed to be able to speak with me about getting help. By our second tutoring session, she said, "I know I am going to pass this course!." That confidence boost was all she needed to turn her work around.
