Three of factors limiting tenacity in students are: Fatigue, Personal Expectations and Social Media.
How are you seeing a lack of tenacity and optimism impacting your students?
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Three of factors limiting tenacity in students are: Fatigue, Personal Expectations and Social Media.
How are you seeing a lack of tenacity and optimism impacting your students?
Fatigue is a massive implication in the classroom due to unmonitored use of sitting up all night and using social media and gaming and then followed through with no breakfast or sustenance before they come to school. It is a real problem. They also need to switch of during school if any learning is to occur. I totally agree with the phrase “Life isnt meant to be easy”. When I was a Year Advisor i stood by teaching my year group this. I always let them know I wouldnt sugar coast anything and life is hard and your success is not determined by your grades, but by how you deal with the hardships and how you get back up and continue on. Now that they have left school, they always say thankyou for the life lesson.
Yes Michelle, the difficulty for this generation is to have the ability to switch off. Students are now consumed either in the gaming or social media world as their main form of communication with their peers (which never sleeps – with all students connected 24/7 in some form), and as a consequence their education and eagerness to learn has been pushed aside.
With the COVID virus and the relationship between mobile phones and students fatigue we need to work together and prevent the impact of phones in schools ban them. Investigation needs to be taken into the access and usage of mobile phones, gaming etc and the impact on literacy and numeracy standards that have been falling. Maybe its not the teacher. An awareness campaign is needed.
I wholeheartedly agree Barb. The use of phones and gaming is destroying our educational outcomes and student engagement
Social media influencers and influences probably affect personal expectations in some students who need that form of gratification. But I see lots of students showing great tenacity and optimism, especially in planning their transition from school.
Fatigue is another thing, and I see it manifest in “overdoing” things. Outside of school there can be expectations to take on activities and work that is not realistic. Students complain of not working hard enough at school, yet expect to manage 20 hours plus a week in pt work, sport and cultural activities and social life.
Constant accessible electronic distractions hinder concentration as well. If I am a bit bored I will graze on the electronic paddock of social media and internet entertainment, rather than the grind in front of me.
Thanks for that perspective Glen.As I don’t really teach the more senior years I hadn’t had those discussions or understanding.
I still think that phones should be totally banned at schools though.
Social media causes a large number of students to come to school tired and with their minds on other ‘more important things’ rather than learning. Malcolm Frazer’s saying “Life wasn’t meant to be easy” needs to be embrased and reinforced in our students. Things might be bad at the moment, but you can work through it and they will get better.
It would be nice if he spelt the ex PM’s name correctly instead of using US based spell checking. If I remember correctly Mal Fraser was lambasted for that comment, as he was quite a wealthy grazier in regional Victoria and it didn’t go over that well in those mid 70s recessions, but the gist is quite correct.
The Fatigue is linked with their general preparation for school & in some cases life. Often the lack of boundaries that exist outside of school is poor bed times & poor nutrition to get them through the day. When they are hungry, it is often straight out junk food they consume. As in the previous exercise the end result is they give up, without the mental or physical energy to take things on & the lack of Tenacity to possibly change the outcome.
Yes nothing like a all night session on Call of Duty and a Coke slushie on the way to school to enhance a days learning
Or drinking “mother” on the way to school. Parents need to be made aware of the consequences of constant contentedness and introduce guidelines for technology use and reinforce them.
Yes i am concerned when i see a student with a can of red bull for breakfast.
I relate strongly to Malcolm Fraser’s famous saying that “Life wasn”t meant to be easy”. Of course if things aren’t going well you have to suck it up and work through it. Things not going right shouldn’t reflect that there is something wrong with you and potentially lead to mental health problems. This is quite worrying.
I totally agree, as a person’s tenacity increases their mental health and wellbeing should strengthen.
Great points, Bev and Tony! Although we’ve seen a generational shift in thinking, the focus on mental health and wellbeing is very important… focusing on the “clients” now.
Social media is a causing factor for students learning and the fact that so many students are not getting enough sleep because of devices like phones and video games. We see students tired in our classrooms which has a negative impact on students learning through them not being able to concentrate. A lot of students can not accept failure or they are just giving up. Where is their resilience?
I agree, I see too many students (and my own children), who are not getting a decent sleep due to device use. I find that gaming culture is busiest later in the evening and this means tired students the next day. A difficult habit to alter since it involves a pack rather than an individual and it’s hard to regulate after you’ve gone to sleep yourself.
Exactly Jordan. Unfortunately, we are going to be at constant battle with gaming and social media with our students prioritising the online world over their education. Our challenge is to show students the importance of their education for their futures and potentially embrace new technology into our teaching to motivate our students to learn and succeed.
There is unfortunately an obvious lack of tenacity and optimism among many students in today’s contemporary society. I feel that social media has played a significant role in this as students are commonly fatigued from lack of sleep due to social media. However, what I find concerning is the fact that the majority of students are unable to accept failure as a learning opportunity as their personal expectations is in consequence of a culture where failure does not exist.
Social media is a big fact in students learning. Students are glued to their phones. Always checking what is happening on it and how many like or comments on their post. I agree it is very scary that a lot of students are unable to accept failure.
I believe that social media is the cause of a lot of the students’ social and emotional issues at school. Students can get bogged down in the distractions of dramas that are occurring on social media and lose a sense of self and reality. They feel depressed if they don’t get the instant gratification of being ‘liked’ for something that they have said or posted and they use these responses to determine their sense of self worth. Students absorbed in the constantly changing nature of social media find it hard to concentrate on learning activities in class. I also believe that social media contributes to overloading or over stimulating students’ minds encouraging them to feel anxious and flighty.
Yes what the Media used to get blamed for with its Marketing & Advertising, now they are competing against each other & the Influencers’ & their photoshoped glam existences.
I have definitely seen social media impact the students both in and out of the classroom. Students are often detached in the classroom from learning because they are in constant need to be checking their snapchat, facebook messages etc, and their concentration on learning tasks is almost non-existent. Socially, face-to-face interactions of these students are also taking a huge hit from social media platforms. Here students feel it is ‘safer’ and ‘easier’ to communicate via these platforms instead of face-to-face. The lack of tenacity in students will definitely have an impact on their future lives both in the workforce and in their personal lives.
You are completely right Alisha, I am also very concerned about how students social skills will impact their work as an adult. In support of your comment regarding students ability to concentrate on learning tasks, I have found teaching to be an exhausting job as in order to maintain student engagement, they need several short activities and some of these will often require extensive planning to be successful.
I think it was Michael in a previous talk I heard referring to FOMO & FONK, as for the reasons their phones are constantly in vision. For that reason the Yonda bag iniative required planting the seeds, communication & additional counsellors to be on hand in the first couple of days. That accounted for the school hours at least.
Brian I agree this would also reduce the disagreements and abuse of staff when you ask them to put their phones away. preventing the source of conflict and interruption during lesson times. parents need the education also. If we start banning phones as a condition of return to school we may have a chance and more productive classroom.
Completely agree. Communication has taken a bit hit in todays generation as they do feel more confident to speak through a platform rather than face to face. I did an experiment one day. I had a class that would not engage in classroom discussion so I introduced Edmodo (Like educational Facebook) – they didnt shut up on the platform all night! Came to school next day – and they wouldnt talk to each other face to face. Its interesting and I do wonder how it will impact them in the workforce later on.
These devices and platforms are definitely changing the way student learn and communicate.
Fatigue affects students very negatively in that they have no aspiration or inspiration to attempt new work or try learn new skills. They are almost impossible to motivate. I also find it extremely rude when the students have their heads on the table when I’m trying to deliver a lesson, but they don’t see it as being rude. Their own personal expectations are very low which can often manifest in a near enough is good enough attitude.
I can completely relate to you Peter when you say you are frustrated with students disengaging due to being fatigued. In our generation to fall asleep in class was considered highly offensive and disrespectful and in many cases was even punishable by form of detentions etc. However, what you stated is spot on in that the students don’t see it as being rude as their personal expectations are so low. The interesting thing about this is that even their peers don’t see it as being rude which is highly concerning.
The social media aspect is one that encompasses the fatigue and personal expectations. I think that students are maturing and finding their independent selves a lot later into their high school years and this puts them behind in the social and resilient growth they need to participate in the world outside of the 4 walls of the school.
Yep. It would be good if schools could equip students better to become more mature and more resilient at earlier ages. How do you alter a culture of social media though? You can enforce rules around social media at school but how can you change a fad that reaches far beyond the school walls?
I agree Jayson. Being glued to their phones and social media influences their face to face relationships. When I see students on their breaks with their heads down on their phones, rather than speaking with each other I wonder how their social skills are impacted or lacking, and what influence this will have when it’s time to enter the workforce.
Students continually ask themselves “what is the relevance of this learning?” When they see no relevance and no reason why they should be doing this they lose the motivation to continue when things are difficult. Yet, do we actually ( as teachers or as a society) ever spend any time contemplating or discussing why Sisyphus is happy. The lack of tenacity is of course worsened by the rise of social media. A learner in today’s classrooms now has no rest from the “Look”.
Jacob, I agree. Social media has led to a decline in students feeling as though they can stand on their own two feet if they have no validation from others.
Not only am I finding a few students tired from excessive phone, internet and gaming use, but I am finding some students do not see why they have to learn anything because they believe that they can just google all the answers. It seems that they think it will be like calculators, why learn how to add when you can use a calculator; why think when all the information is on my phone anyway. I have made a huge effort to try and stop phone usage in my classes, as they will screen shot the answers to questions to each other and not do the work themselves. Fortunately it seems to have been working and phone use had improved in my classes. I imagine I will be back to square one on the phone usage issues when classes resume.
I have unfortunately seen this trend too as they see their phones as an extension of themselves and believe that it is a source of any information that they need. I find as a result of this, that some students don’t see the value in learning and retaining information thus finding it hard to study for exams.
I agree it is concerning that we having students come to school tired due to not being able to put their phones down or can’t stop their video games. It is addiction that they have towards them which is scary.
You make an interesting point when you talk about why bother because my device will have the answer anyway?… how do we change this because the actual thought process behind it is totally logical. Do we need to flip the way we teach totally on its head?
Exactly. Its frustrating when all content is questioned as being useless. Not all Kids but a lot in my setting of MC do not see how this will improve their lives in any way so will refuse to attempt the work. They have low expectations of their outcomes and it is a daily battle trying to build their confidence and capacity to achieve.
I see my students lacking optimism and tenacity in many class tasks. They do not see the connection between effort and success. They have the belief that if they cannot succeed in a new topic first attempt, they are never are never going to succeed. They have a pessimistic outlook where this minor failure is a permanent mark against their name. This has immense implications fro teaching and learning. This is where many externalising behaviours are seen, work avoidance and disengagement are common place. This migrates to an attitude of non attempt where it is best to not be seen to fail or feel failure instead of bettering their knowledge. Many times I have had to remind myself of the challenges adolescents provided me in order to abate the frustration I feel. It is so obvious what they need to do in order to have that one positive experience of ‘Grit’, it can be very challenging to create that safe space for them to make themselves vulnerable to the risks of learning.
Students give up far too easily. I have been known to deliver boom speeches to my students about resilience, purpose and commitment not only at school but in life in general. Shit happens…it’s the choices you make to deal with it that matters!
BOOM!!!
In your area, tenacity is key, It’s a one in a million musician who is born with the talent. The rest of us mortals have to put thousands of hours in with incremental growth and constant setbacks.
True, bad things will happen to us all at some stage, it is how we deal with it that counts.
I always get students that show signs of tiredness. When asking them what time they got to sleep the answer at times was 2 am. Social media or technology is usually the cause. Getting a good night sleep is definitely an issue. The high level of dependence has also had an effect on personal expectations of students. The constant need for clarity on a question or instruction, the high level of guidance needed in an activity or the lack of resilience when getting a question wrong are all examples that show the impact on personal expectations.
Hi I think social media has a big impact on tenacity .Its hard for some or rather most to survive a lesson without their phones in hand.Hard to teach if you spend your time asking students to put phones away.Students say they are tired as they where either on their phones or up late playing games, often not getting to bed to early hours of morning.Their phones or google can answer their questions,they don’t need to have a conversation as their friends are in their hand.They compare themselves with others through what they see on the internet and so often their personal expectations or self esteem is less.It is rare for students to be optimistic about life as they don’t seem to relate to the fact that by applying effort,being awake/alert, feeling good about life will lead to this.
Totally agree, Noelene. It is always somebody else’s fault – the phone supports work avoidance – the computer game kept them awake. Is it no self control on their behalf? How can we teach them that sleep makes life better and easier. they have so much access to social media that they are actually becoming less social and this is impacting on their ability to be optimistic.
I agree Noeleen. It’s hard seeing how much students are involved with technology and social media or how it dictates their life. It is definitely hard spending even part of the lesson trying to get students away from their phone. It is also hard to see how the toxic comparisons between individuals has consumed their lives with social media as the main reason.
Social Media is a huge factor influencing students. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat are platforms that students are posting, viewing and participating in on a regular basis. From conversations with parents, they are also finding issues with different forms of social media. This affects the learning abilities as many students are coming to school having limited sleep due to social media.
I agree Jay, I have noticed the impact of TikTok on year 7 in particular this year. Regardless of the fact they don’t use their phones in class, it is still a priority for them to practice their TikTok moves rather than actually listen and engage with content.
And how many photos or “takes” of TikTok do they do before they get the “perfect” one their friends see on the social media platforms?? Bet it’s more than one…just saying!
It is so crazy to see how involved students are with social media and I agree this has been a major cause for the lack of sleep. The anxiety of missing something online or not being connected to their friends stops them from getting a good nights sleep.
Limited sleep from both gaming and social media is a problem that results in disengagement and lack of interest in their schoolwork. Their comparing themselves to others on these platforms and their constant daily/nightly use of it can be so harmful to their mental health.
Students of today are definitely impacted by social media with a lot of hours (I’m assuming) devoted to the various forms of online platforms to communicate and to gain feedback from their online friends. Also students are increasingly (more and more) coming to school tired that impacts significantly on their learning.
Absolutely Joel, students are increasingly irritable and hesitant to engage with their studies because of the fact that they’re sleep deprived. This is slowing them down on reaching their potential. It is very interesting observing the social distress that some students face when it comes to confiscating their phone or even asking them to have it in their bags out of sight for the duration of a one hour lesson. It goes to show how addiction, fatigue and dependence on social media is resulting in pessimism and a lack of tenacity in students today.
Students can be very distracted by their online use. When they are ask to put their phone away, students can often react as if you just cut off their hand! If they are not distracted, they are complaining they are tired. They will admit they they didn’t get a lot of sleep as they were talking to friends till 2am. They just don’t seem to get the concept that the world will still go on, if you don’t reply straight away.
Interesting though that we are now relying so heavily on these kids having technology to function in the current climate
Students sleep in class, set very low personal expectations on themselves and are addicted to insta or tik tok, etc. I’ve had students say they went to bed at 4am because they were gaming all night. Parents need to start setting rules and limitations on device time.
Very true Tim some are that tired they do fall asleep in class and some do comment on how late they went to bed the previous night (also due to being up gaming).
I agree that the responsibility lies with the students and the parents! Many students are on social media platforms under recommended age and many parents are turning a “blind eye” or unaware of the amount of time their child is spending on their device.
Agreed. Now if they were on google classroom till 4 am that would be ok .
HAHA you just want to feel important with your notifications!!!
I completely agree. It becomes very hard for us as educators to help students grow as people when they use that time to sleep. It is increasingly hard to get students to complete tasks and even to listen to instructions – which most of the time need to be repeated for those students on their phones, when we are competing with fatigue and devices.
Completely agree Tim – it has to start at home. But teachers have to deal with the ramifications of this…….
I believe that fatigue, personal expectations and increasing levels of mental health issues in young people today are due to increased usage of social media platforms. Sometimes students find it incredibly hard to create something that is authentic and truly their own work because of reliance on social media and the expectations they’ve placed on themselves, as well as fatigue and irritability. The sound of going without social media for even an hour for some students is impossible, which leads to a lack of optimism and tenacity within a classroom setting.
Agree! We discuss alot in PE the impact of technology especially Social Media has on students…. unrealistic ideals and expectations, false and misleading information, stranger danger and online bullying. When discussing these with the students many don’t know their personal settings or privacy on their social media platforms.
I agree, students become very defensive about their social media use and they prefer their online chatter to developing supportive relationships with their peers. I have seen groups of students in the playground all bent over their phones- busy on line but ignoring one another in person. No wonder they get fatigued from all of that screen time and find it hard to be engaged in the classroom. I also agree that they find it hard to create authentic work as they voice beliefs of others from social media.
I keep telling the students that i come in contact with that the most dangerous thing that they have on their person is their mobile phone. They can not disconnect from the idea that they mush have the instant up to date approval of all and sundry to be deemed a success in life. It is making them tired and gives them an unrealistic view on real life. Time to disconnect them for their own good. The problem lies in the fact that their parents are also addicted to the same concepts and values of what success is.
I agree, that students do not see a problem with their device use as their parents do not think it is an issue either. Learned behavior from what they see at home an in the online world. Mobile phones can be a very dangerous thing.
hi I agree .I am amazed to see how many students and how young have expensive phones and plans with data .When asked how can they afford it ,they just say my parent says it necessary so they can contact me whenever.You only have to travel by public transport anywhere or look at a cafe setting(what use to be) to realize how disconnected from real life people are.
Yes, the unrealistic view of life. As the presenter said, life looks to be effortlessly constructed through media and online platforms. Students view no difference between themselves and the people on the big screen.
The lack of tenacity is a roadblock to idea generation. Fatigue and addiction to SM platforms are a major contributor to this limitation in learning. It is often a huge task to motivate students to invent anything unique or original when ‘copying’ is seen as so normal in many contexts.
Fatigue is the big one. Whatever the cause is: be it part time work that has basically turned into 20+ hours a week or device time (games and/or social media). I know personally that when you are tired little things can turn into big things. This was quite well said because when everything becomes a bog thing then being able to cope with each day becomes more and more difficult and time doesn’t stop so the punches just keep on coming. Getting a good nights rest is vital.
Mark, I completely agree with the issue of fatigue. Maybe we need to introduce ‘naptime’ ;-).
Lol nap time would be good. However, it would probably encourage them to stay up later.
The more worrying thing for me is the impact that this fatigue has on brain development.
Fatigue, personal expectations and social media are absolutely contributing to a lack of tenacity and optimism in my students. Many students turn up to school exhausted and irritable. They are anxious if unable to check their social media for an extended period of time. For these students, the classroom is simply an inconvenience and a disruption from social media or gaming time.
Nicole, so true. ‘simply an inconvenience’ sounds applicable for many students.
I think all three have an impact on students learning both in and out of the classroom. However, many students are quite often tired when they get to school. They are staying up playing games or on social media. When in the classroom they are also very worried about what is happening in social media which often distracts from learning and attention in lessons. However, this is what life is like now – technology is paramount in their lives as is social networking.
Social media and all its influences on the person seeking the attention is like a drug that needs to be indulged it at all times. It is a very addictive and destructive medium that needs to be dealt with before it is too late.
I do agree that it is definitely a key thing in the students lives now. Maybe we need to find a way to integrate these platforms more in education, as its what they seem to be paying attention to.
All three factors are evident in the classroom as is the impact on tenacity and optimism. The number of students coming to class tired (quite a few seniors) due to working late, gaming, social media, watching Netflix etc (discovered through questioning/discussions with the students). This means they have limited interest in the lessons. they are very connected to their devices and as educators i feel we need to be entertainers to engage students. Many students will also copy other students answers because they either feel that theirs would not be good enough or cannot be bothered to work it out.
Good points Ruby! Yes seniors for sure are working long shifts after a day at school. It’s a wonder why they are tired. It should be looked into whether employers can give school aged children a shift on a “school night” where the shift finishes at 11pm for example.
You make good points ,and a lot would rather spend lessons chatting ,socialising,and not use their time wisely do the work set for them in class.
Fatigue is a major problem I am seeing in my students. Fatigue is having flow on effects on students drive and determination to learn as well as their ability to focus in class more generally. Students are often to tired to care about classwork and are easily distracted. I also believe that students struggle to separate posts on social media from real life. This causes them to have unrealistic expectations of what is normal and can cause distress that they are as good as other people.
I agree with you but its influences need to be elevated to the status of a drug addiction that is detrimental to the user.
Technological addiction.
All three have implications for students in the classroom. With social media at their fingertips, gaming, part-time jobs, school work etc many students are coming to school tired which has negative flow on to productivity and focus in the classroom. With a lack of energy and self motivation many students just couldn’t be bothered.
I’m amazed how many students actually have job after school. For some of them they seem to be doing long hours. It would be interesting to know just how many are working and to see if it correlates with a better/worse performance in class.
True tenacity is something that is becoming a rare quality in many students ( but not all ). I am finding more students are suffering fatigue and when questioned the answer is – that they had been up on their phone (cause and effect). Personal expectations are probably still built withing students but they lack the confidence to put themselves out there to reach these expectations – most like as a result of fearing failure, so they seek easier options to save face. This is critical as it then breeds self contempt/loathing.
Social media is almost as much a lifestyle now as a distraction and feeds students need for continued social acceptance.
Yes i agree with your comment on lack of confidence preventing students from trying for fear of failure and not reaching their own expectations. Also very true about social media and distraction. Often their minds even if not on their device are on the latest on Facebook etc which is not a true reality.
In particular I can attest to students who have unrealistic personal expectations and this is having such detrimental impacts on their mental health. As Michael suggested, some students operate out out of the understanding that if a life event/choice/situation is hard then it must mean they have set the wrong goal or that something is wrong with them. Some students really do believe that easy = right and hard = wrong. This lack of optimism causes students to become completely directionless. They would rather not have goals so then they cannot fail. So as teachers we need to encourage sleep, realistic views of life being hard and that social media representations are mostly smoke and mirrors.
Where to begin….
Fatigue – if I had a dollar for every time someone said I’m too tired or it’s too early for this, I would be a millionaire. It is like students refuse to not be tired and if they are not tired then they are perceived are nerdy or as losers. It is a shame to see something that can be easily dealt with, completely ignored – and interesting that adolescent psychologist agree with the fact that if kids just got more sleep, their lives would be better.
Personal expectation – it is so low now days. Some student believe coping off the board is them completing work – they struggle to see that they need to apply themselves.
Social media – no surprise that this is negatively impacted on students growth. No need to explain, everyone has seen it and knows how it is impacting on students lives.
Sleep! Sleep! Sleep! Lets keep this message coming thick and fast. Yes Christine its hard to keep expecting so much when it seems like they can’t be bothered.
I agree with sleep, as it helps in so many facets of life. But fatigue can come from so many other sources and these need to also be addressed otherwise sleep will not be so easily sort. Consider that addiction to gaining peer acceptance though social media, you would need to break this cycle to engage with better sleep patterns.
After reading quite a few comments it definitely appears that fatigue is such a crucial issue for our students! It has so many tentacles that reach out into so many areas of their lives.
Social media is having a huge impact, to such a degree that we now have to accept that there is a psychological addiction to phones! Apart from the cyber bullying which is rampant, students receive such unrealistic and distorted images and ideas that children try to live up to. They only see the shiny end products and never any of the hard work and dedication that helps you reach life goals. The fatigue factor is also a huge issue, combined with a poor diet. It means that students come to your lessons and actually fall asleep even though they may have an interest in what is being presented or the modality of the presentation. School seems to be secondary (no it’s not a pun!) to part time jobs and the amount of screen time they accrue. Many of them live for the absolute now and don’t see the point of education. Very frustrating when we are trying to prepare them for a future that gives them lots of options.
100% agree Gail – fatigue is a silent killer.
Fatigue is a big factor impacting the optimism and tenacity of my students. I find my students are lacking sleep or a good breakfast when attending class. It is common to see students before 9am with an energy drink in their hand, a frozen coke or a block of chocolate. It is no wonder they struggle to concentrate or feel optimistic about their learning experience. Social media, online gaming or general screen time is also having a huge impact on my students. The time spent in front of a screen is mind boggling. This time could be spent interacting with friends or family, exercising or doing homework. Staying up all night gaming is what they see as important. I can’t help but feel like parents need to be active in controlling screen time.
I agree totally Jimmy. There is so much wasted opportunities for these students as it’s all being absorbed by mind numbing social media. Where are the real face to face conversations between friends? Do they have any idea how to build a real relationship other than hitting LIKE on a friend request? Parents need to stop pandering to their children’s wants and set some boundaries and become more involved with their children in healthy activities.
I agree with you also Jimmy. The management of their screen time but also other life ventures need to defined.
Well put Jimmy. Totally agree.
This is so true in many students today. They are not willing to consider that they can look at life differently. There are many excuses for their lack of effort or lack of interest, and they refuse to try to change those circumstances. We provide relevance and they refuse to accept it. They believe everything they see on social media, even when it is obviously ‘unreal’. Finding a way to challenge this perception is proving difficult.
Absolutely Jenny. We can’t do it by ourselves, parents have to take some ownership of what they have created in terms of providing devices with unlimited wifi and allowing them to use them for as long as they want. Ground rules? Having to earn a privilege? Being interested and involved in their school work? Otherwise these students are only going to be presented with unrealistic and distorted views of life.
Yes! A lot of these things we can’t fix on our own – I’ve had mothers call me and I’ve mentioned phones to them and then I am asked for advice on how to parent their child regarding phone usage. First of all I’m probably old enough to be their child and secondly I’ve never had kids but how hard is it to realise that devices are sucking up so much of a child’s time and to then place some boundaries on its use.
I see the three factors limiting tenacity in my students daily. I have had students who see staying up all night playing video games as more important than coming to school well slept – why? Because they see achievement in virtual reality as ‘easy’ – where achievement at school is ‘hard’. Yet, this contributes to their fatigue, which limits their tenacity further and compounds the issue of seeing life as ‘hard’. It also relates to the previous segment on self-direction and motivation. No one is motivated to work hard when fatigued.
The expectation that life should be easy also compounds the fixed mindset – when students think life ought to be easy then anything they cannot achieve through natural talent becomes too hard. Yet rarely do they have the natural ability to achieve in their academic pursuits without some effort.
Very much so. How do we break the cycle? It makes sense to us as adults (?), educated(?), experienced(?) but we cannot convince them of the truth.
Hi Zoe, yes we can attest to this – that if we are tired our productivity is low and everything seems overwhelming. Let’s hope they return a lot more rested. Such an interesting discussion and so relevant.
Virtual satisfaction is definitely easier to get than working towards a goal.Effort V reward. Little effort big reward. In reality it doesn’t work that way.
Optimism is the barrier I see mostly in students, where they largely have no trust in their abilities to do the necessary work and so can shut down as soon as they reach a challenge. This then impacts tenacity, as since they ‘can’t’, they don’t. They instead wait for someone who can do it to show them how, and then treat copying the answer as good enough. I think they treat this doing of ~any~ work as a replacement for learning, which then skews their idea of what school/education is about. From this you can see just how the sense of dysphoria, and understanding how to deal with it, plays students against themselves – I can’t do it which makes me feel uneasy, so I won’t do it which also makes me feel uneasy, so if I ‘complete’ the work by copying someone else, then I rectify the unease and my dysphoria is solved. An internal feedback loop is established, creating further issues down the track for our students.
I agree with you Chris. Negativity is the main factor among all groups.
Yeah happy to write notes off the board but don’t want to write a response to a question in case I get it wrong so I’ll wait until someone can do it for me.
When it comes to academic achievement, ability is not merely enough. What is also required is mindsets and strategies for overcoming obstacles and learning and growing over the long-term. I believe that many students who have the capacity to achieve at high levels are unable to do so as they lack these levels of tenacity and optimism. Both factors of personal expectations and social media play a major role in the mindsets and lack of tenacity that our students possess. When students experience difficulty grasping a concept or they get something wrong, many of them take a pessimistic approach and will put it down to a personal failure or flaw. They don’t persevere and take the time to figure out what went wrong, how it went wrong and how they can fix it, yet rather opt to take the easy road out.
If only we could teach everything through video games – they persevere through that! I watched an interesting TED talk years ago about gaming in education. The speaker who was doing a PhD on the topic, suggested that we are our best selves when playing video games because we were more likely to persevere in the face of challenge, think creatively to solve problems, etc. likely because there was not risk involved. If you die in a video game you just start over, get another life.
I agree. These students need to be taught specifically why failing is important and how to learn from it.
Definitely agree that all three lead to a lack of tenacity.
Fatigue is huge – you can’t function effectively due to a lack of sleep and in these students most of the lack of sleep is due to social media and the inability to disengage even for a few minutes is dire.
Due to this lack of tenacity, if the students don’t get something first time, that’s it their out. If this linked to pessimism and students believing this is a permanent setback or personal flaw, it is very hard to get them to reengage or try something that they are not familiar with.
So then the issue becomes re-engaging the students, but how do we do that? Re-establishing optimism is difficult, especially in amongst all of the other personal issues students face let alone the complex environment they interact with teachers in. And you can’t expect students to stretch out into the unknown without having the basics down, so where are we allowed the time and effort to re-tackle the basics, or how do we incorporate them into ongoing content?
I agree totally. How do we break this cycle? We need help from society, the media and parents. This is not something we can achieve by ourselves, however, somehow we must try to engage these students, show relevance to their future to help them overcome this attitude.
Totally agree. I think parents play a massive role in terms of student fatigue. Not to play the blame game, but these students need role models.
When confronted with activities and challenges that involve thought and the need to problem solve, an increasing number of students struggle to understand the importance of perseverance and tenacity. The outcome I see is students limitations in inquiry and application. This is particularly evident in senior students, where the ability to synthesise a response to a question is a prerequisite to optimising their performance.
Students in senior classes cope well with content but, when asked to write an extended response will often comment on one of two things; one, they don’t know how to respond and/or two, they are worrying about getting it wrong. As the presenter mentioned, I feel that this stems from the point about dysphoria, not experiencing or wanting to experience these emotions. Then, I am assuming it is the dealing with the unwanted sense of failure and not having the necessary optimistic skill set to meet the educational demands. It has been apparent to me that focusing on application work has, and will continue to be, an important aspect to building tenacity and nurturing their optimism.
Optimism and tenacity is evident in students who perform highly both in academia and socially. My experience has shown me that MOST (not all) students who perform to a high level, have highly developed levels of tenacity and optimism. My observations highlight to types of ways students develop this; one, students come to high school displaying these predispositions and continue with these behaviours throughout high school (or not), two, students develop these traits the closer they get to stage 6 and as the move through this stage (or not). Our school nurtures these behaviours/characteristics with the use of senior prep classes. This, I believe, is a trampoline to help bounce students towards higher levels of these traits.
As is a theme with this unit of learning, social media is a huge amplifier on maladaptive traits and behaviours, the two discussed were, sleep deprivation on cognition and feelings of inferiority when comparing ‘insta-life’ to real life. We all know the importance of sleep on human beings; there are profound links to lower life expectancy, diseases such as CVD and alzheimers, higher levels of stress hormones and an inability to learn and retain learning, as a result of reductions in non-REM and REM sleep cycles. Anyone who has done their own class surveys will know a significant number of our students have less than 8 hours of sleep per night. This chronic deprivation of sleep reduces a persons ability to take in and retain information (learning) as well as reduces a person’s ability to construct a realistic view on stressors in the environment and apply the appropriate emotional response (social media and failure).
In closing, I see, as with most of you, the effects of the limitations on tenacity every working day. As a teacher I have some degree of control and influence, and it is these areas that I focus on. As a PE teacher I have the added opportunity to discuss these limitations through units of work we teach on Personal Development and Health. As a faculty we focus on shifting mindsets and reaffirming behaviours that promote tenacity. Academically we are committed to facilitating activities that support students to develop their skills in ways they can experience both failure and success, from this we nurture students to build, extend and thrive.
I am seeing a lack of tenacity and optimism in some students, yet in others I see great tenacity and optimism. Those lacking these qualities are difficult to engage in learning. They give up quickly and fail to see that effort can result in achievement. For those students that do achieve, they are benefitting from their efforts. They are outstanding role models to others, and what we can do as educators is utilise the success of some to show others how they also can achieve success through demonstrating a tenacious and optimistic approach to their learning.
Hi Rae,
I agree with your comments. I to feel that there are students who achieve at or above a satisfactory level both academically and socially. I think you have provided a good suggestion to use these students as role models. Maybe, understanding what these students do not just academically but, what they do socially and what they feel and believe is important too. I know I fall into the trap of encouraging their peers to focus on their work rather than looking at all the other parts that make up the whole.
The lack of tenacity and optimism in education relates to resilience. The lack of students ability to bounce back from setbacks and learning opportunities is having a significant impact on their level of expectation. I see Students expecting very little of themselves in an attempt to feel a sense of success. However, these are expectations set by themselves rather than those set by others. It is leaving/creating a gap in the educational context between themselves and their facilitators.
Andrew, I think you are exactly right. Resilience links directly with optimism and tenacity, and without resilience the other two will struggle to be positively present in a student’s approach to learning and life.
Hi Andrew,
I was interested in your statement about students expecting very little of themselves. I wonder if social media’s role has distorted what students view as success. I know the hold theory of goal setting can be lengthy and worthy of eye rolling. However, if young people place less value on the role models around them (mum, dad, others in the community) and would rather idolise insta-shot of celebrities, are young people missing out on crucial life lessons? If I hadn’t had role models around me, that I wanted to talk to and discuss progression and steps in achieving major goals, I think I would feel lossed and overwhelmed.
Fatigue has a major impact on my students and often is linked to a lack of tenacity and optimism. They are very ‘connected’ to their social media world and this impacts in a number of areas of their schooling. They sometimes develop beliefs that they are not as good as others based on social media posts.
Social media affects us all, and students have even less of a capacity to disengage from it – we see this all the time in the classroom with device use. One thing I hadn’t properly realised until now was that students admitting they hadn’t gone to bed until well after midnight was well within well-being territory, and it is most often due to social media (“I was watching youtube videos”, “I was playing games”, “I was on snapchat”).
Aside from the negative affects, should we be looking toward incorporating social media into classroom activities in a sense of trying to engage students in something they are immersed in socially, or should we be one environment in which they get to take a break from social media?
I think video gaming falls into this arena too – I have had students who, due to staying up all night playing video games, where either too tired to do their work or in the extreme too tired to come to school at all. I am on the fence as to whether we should be using these as tools for engagement. If it engages them, then surely that is good for their education BUT is that not just fueling their dependence on devices, gaming, and social media further? What they really need is some perspective. How do we teach that?
Tenacity in teenagers can be a hard concept to develop and certainly limits some students ability to push through hard tasks or topics if they don’t get it first up. When that links to optimism and them not believing that it is a temporary set back it limits their openness to new experiences and accessing harder work.
Erin
100%: too easily students choose the path of least resistance and accept the minimum as an indicator of success rather than seek the extra research, or ask further questions as to how to improve a piece of work for fear of something they may not want to hear. Too often this holds them back from realising their true potential.
Yes! Majority of students do choose the easy path. They see some success as good but failure as ” I shouldn’t have bothered” or “it was a waste of time and I learnt nothing”
Absolutely agree that fatigue and personal expectations limit tenacity in students. They limit my tenacity some days. Perpetual fatigue is a real problem for students not only causing limited tenacity but the clarity required for self direction or motivation.
Social media is anything but social. It solidifies that ‘fixed mindset’ and reinforces competitiveness on so many levels.
I agree that it reinforces competitiveness and compounds feelings of being inadequate.
You are correct that social media creates divides between students and shows increased levels of competitiveness. It also leads some students to a belief that they are lacking in some aspects of life, which may lead to a sense of hopelessness.
In fact, social media I would say is now responsible for our students lacking the soft skills that are required of them today, in school and out in the world of work. Communication, team work, problem solving etc are skills that are highly valued in the present working world and unless (with the shift to new jobs) there is not a need for these skills, there are going to be some significant gaps in the skills of the new workforce.
Social media does reinforce competitiveness. Often students see if they don’t have or feel like others on social media that they are lacking or something is wrong with them leading to more frustration and hopelessness.
I totally agree that social media perpetuates this ‘fixed mindset’, it can be very unhealthy to the perceptions our students hold of themselves, as well as their self-esteem.
I agree with what Michael says about students lack of tenacity, in particular his point about fatigue. I remember a few years ago when I was a teacher at TAFE, one of my colleagues would always tell her class that they needed to get a good nights sleep prior to attending class if they wanted to be able to concentrate and get their class work completed. It was good advice and is still relevant.
I too remind students to get a good nights sleep when things are tough or something big is coming up. Often they brush it off as if it were an off-the-cuff comment and nothing more than that.
I still remind my students to have good sleep patterns and balance in all areas of their lives.
I agree. It is difficult to teach a child who is too tired to concentrate.
Fatigue also has important impacts on environments outside of the classroom. such as in driving and at work also.
I see a lack of tenacity and optimism impacting students, in one particular case the student obviously experiences fatigue- this is because he is a gamer and is addicted to his phone. He has said many times that he has only had a couple of hours sleep. He has told me he doesn’t trust his mother to give her his phone overnight. As a result he is often so tired and if something at school is a little bit hard or boring he chooses to go home. He doesn’t persist with things and his personal expectations are that everything should be easy. A lot of my students also don’t have role models in their family that have showed them that things can be hard in life and that you need to persevere and that when things are hard it is ok, that it is a normal part of life and you can become stronger because of the hardships you endure.
Leeanne, your comments just reminded me of a something I heard once from an Administration Assistant at a School, she told us about a student who came to her for first aid assistance because she had burnt her finger due to holding onto her phone (plugged in) during the night.
Modelling tenacity and resilience is such a big teaching opportunity. We as adults often want to have things polished or perfected before we show anyone including our students. As a result of this, they do not see the attempts, failures, shifted strategies. It is about the journey more than the destination right? Because we are sharing only our ‘perfected performance’ for our students/kids, they only see the achievement.
Jess, I love this. The modelling of these things is a massive teaching opportunity. Not only for students but also our colleagues.
Most definitely Jess. As a school executive, it is vital that I model to both my staff and my students that a tenacious and optimistic approach is an important part of my job. After all, if we, as leaders, can not model what we expect our students to do, how can we expect our students to do it?
If they don’t understand something quickly, they tend to give up without persisting with trying to learn something new
Hi Peter, yes i agree. I think as Michael discussed, it is pop culture and advertisers that have created the message that life should be easy and convenient. They automatically think that if they are struggling in their learning that they are doing the wrong course or the wrong subject and then it leads to students thinking there is something wrong with them.What they need to realise is that it is completely normal to find some things hard or uncomfortable and these feelings are all part of how you learn something new.
I definitely agree with you here Peter. This notion of “life is easy” that stems from advertisers, pop culture and social media has a lot to answer for in regards to the attitudes and lack of tenacity that students possess. As Michael mentioned during the session, this factor of personal expectations is going to severely impact our students moving into the future and dealing with societal changes as they will be required to innovate, to keep up, take risks and persist in the face of hardships and failure. Therefore, this “life is easy” attitude will not hold them in good stead moving into the future.
I agree. I have often seen students quit far too quickly only to be shocked when I show them how easy it would have been to complete.
And this will have major impacts on their decision-making and social skills after their schooling years