The unintended results of the Self-Esteem Movement are: Apathy/Passivity, Desensitisation and Dependence.
How are you seeing the impact of the Self-Esteem Movement expressed in the students you are engaging with?
Shopping Cart
The Self-Esteem movement is evident in children from a young age but I believe this can be used in a positive manner. I teach practical subjects and it is pretty clear when students “fail”. The use of evaluation, challenges and “stretch” thinking is used daily and engages students to be inquiry based learners. This gives self esteem that the students have to earn while also learning that we are not all good at everything.
The young children i am teaching are the product of parents of this mindset. Some of the parents are vey quick to insist all children are praised equally, that they are not held to be responsible for their actions. The students are keen to try everything and have a go, however, I think the older hey get, the more fixed they can become through peer pressure. I teach that we all learn through our mistakes and if you are not making mistakes you are not stretching. We all praise mistakes and discussion is often around what we can learn from these.
It certainly is teaching the parents and the kids, and this is a generational change which will take time and care. Certain student tasks lend themselves to making mistakes and growing, for example learning a musical instrument or art. There’s a great hands-on picture book called “beautiful oops”, embracing mistakes and moving forward.
The self-esteem movement is evident from a very young age, whether it’s nature or nurture students are able to express themselves and their needs. Whilst there are some students that need support and guidance in assisting them to develop some skills to fully develop their potential, other students are challenging themselves by embracing opportunities and learning from failure. There are still some students who need to be rewarded and told they are doing a good job, students are developing and managing their performance to better themselves. As a teacher, we need to tap into these moments and explicitly demonstrate how they can deal with success and failure.
Even allowing for the effect of the self-esteem movement and fixed growth mindset many people are born fundamentally competitive (nature). You see it in sport and school. Sometimes too competitive. Therefore it is really important that the desire to be better is acknowledged and celebrated.
Alex, its not just students who need to be told they are doing well but adults as well. It just shouldn’t be expected or overdone. Like all compliments they lose their value if expressed too often. Failure for anyone is so difficult to handle. The consequences of these failures can be devastating but I agree that we have to help our students manage these failures and the resulting challenges and move forward as part of the learning process.
The difference in academic and social abilities between students with a growth mindset to students with a fixed mindset is evident in each classroom. Call it good parenting, maturity or resilience, the benefits are positive to the individual and those in their social circles. It is challenging to stretch those students who resist to participate outside their comfort zone. However they challenge my quality teaching practice that makes myself constantly reflect and adapt to engage to their learning and capacity to grow.
I agree that the impact of the parenting is very evident in my classroom. Student with predominately fixed mindset are quick to give up when challenged or required to think outside the box. It does challenge us as teachers to get our children to be motivated internally.
yes I agree – it is hard for students to feel brave enough to extend and challenge themselves
With a changing self-efficacy amongst our learners our tasks as teachers has also changed from delivering scripted content to resilience building and ensuring all our students are known and valued. With an increase in self esteem their learning flourishes, as long as were extending their personal progression with challenge and guidance.
Your comment really resonates with me, yet how challenging is it when a students environment outside of school is filled with fixed mindset individuals. So important to create a community and places where youth can go outside of school, which teaches this kind of resilience as well. This would be so valuable in our local area.
I agree Nigel, it’s about building a positive learning environment where students can learn to think critically and grow as individuals.
I teach a subject and the majority of my students have a set mindset. Recently teaching coding to a group of students the majority gave up saying it was too hard and about 10% of the class embraced the concept and thrived even when they failed. The failure made these 10 % try even harder which was interesting.
The resilience these students have to embrace the challenged “failure” brings is awesome, Mick!
It is a concern that so many of our students now cannot cope with failure and simply ‘give up’. We so often see the majority of students simply wanting to do the bare minimum and are only interested in getting through the courses as easily as they can rather than delving deeper and accepting the challenges that redoing/rethinking problems to find alternate successful solutions can bring.
I have had discussions with staff over the years about the students becoming less interested and motivated. This video answers some of the questions in other ways of thinking about why some students feel entitled.
I agree Steve. I think we are lucky in our subject area (TAS) that we are continually encouraging a growth mindset.
I too am TAS, and I think that the output of the learning can be the reward as well as recognition. The success at coding or food prep give a reward that is fairly immediate. And failure encourages a try again mindset due to the active teaching of the design process.
I agree and I also find that students need to be entertained constantly, rather that some level of self direction or boredom creates imagination.
It certainly explains some of the motivational issues we see with our students! And definitely leads me to feel a bit more empathetic for what they’re thinking…
The clearest examples of the impact in my opinion is that most students’ fear of failure means they don’t even try in the first place. Like an old quote from Homer Simpson along the lines of: ‘the first step to failure is trying’
The need for praise is very apparent, and usually I save my praise for when I mean it, people are usually able to tell if you’re genuine or not, but I always give them support, I guess it is all within reason. Like give them support and a casual ‘well done’ when they do the basic, but save the real compliments for when they actually deserve it. Just doing my best to keep everyone happy, and I see it only in a few students, who take note of the higher praise once they get it, and start to strive for it again. (differentiating praise???)
I think its definitely easy to see a lot of these detrimental qualities in students today, particularly in terms of their constant need for praise and often their inability to take critical feedback for what it is instead of a personal attack. I feel, however, that its unfair to blame students for this as so many of the factors that have led to it are out of their control. Schools (at least in Australia) are essentially impossible to fail, so students never have to extend themselves to get through (although thankfully a lot of them do). i also feel that it was unfair for the presenter to blame millenials for their social media addiction as social media is deliberately designed to foster addictive behaviours and an unhealthy fixation on number of likes/shares etc. by triggering the reward centres of the brain. Instead of baming the consumer for the product we need to hold tech companies accountable for their predatory and unethical business models and ask whether the positives outweigh the negatives and if not, how could they be set up differently. Removing the number of likes from facebook posts was a good step in this direction.
That’s a really good ethical and sociology debate, Barton, and one I would encourage you to have in your classroom… welcome to THS!
I actually LOVE that he he quoted Plato, because anytime someone starts a conversation with “Kids these days_____________” I tend to tune out. I often spend time questioning how people who started their lives with an iPhone in their hands (or their parents constantly posting their lives on social media) deal with rejection and praise differently than those of us who didn’t. For instance, I never had to deal with the idea that I only had a dozen friends on Facebook or Snapchat, whereas I can SEE how many friends and likes and how much more popular everyone else is. Of course, people project their best selves on social media, and so it’s impossible to know what their true lives are really like, but I don’t think the teenage brain (or anyone’s, for that matter), is able to see beyond.
I loved that too, also reminded me that today’s problems aren’t so different from yesterday’s.
Nothing new under the sun, history just keeps repeating, we just dress it up in different clothing.
I found myself agreeing with the comments that reflected my upbringing.
I know that students do respond well to praise (so I tend to give it to them. ;/ ) I also know how difficult it is to get them to take risks in activities which are self directed. They would rather be given the answer than risk getting it wrong. I guess I’ve tended to feel partly responsible for their lack of willingness to get it wrong, because I haven’t provided an environment which encourages talking risks. I feel good now. It’s not me, it’s them 🙂
I actually praise students who have a go and get it wrong – praise them for having a go themselves and not trying to find the answer on google or in another student’s work – which is common practice with the young adults I teach. Actually I don’t use the word wrong, just take the time to problem solve answers with them till they find themselves on track.
At the beginning of every school year I supply (from my own personal monetary funds) my Stage 4/5 students with a ‘go to ‘ exercise book and some equipment – my faculty colleagues and faculty budget also spends some funds on this. This equipment is kept in the classroom – many of my kids are between Mum / Dad / Carers’ houses some nights which adds another layer of complexity to children being ready for school each day. In classroom discussion, I try to phrase my student’s feedback in positive terms as much as I can.
I am a Gen Xer so the kids I work with in 2020 are very different in how they perceive feedback from what I received as a student in the 80s. It wasn’t bad feedback, but it certainly was to quote my Maths Teacher, “Lass, blind Freddie could see that!” I turned out okay and took that advice as to try harder, which I did.
The students I teach have never experienced failure in the school system. Because they are promoted to the next year at school regardless of their level of achievement. That’s why we have so many kids in high school without basic literacy skills.
Steve, I completely agree with your view as well. This issue is what we are all grappling with – how do we prepare young people for a successful future when they’ve never experienced failure? Failure can be positive to spur kids on to try harder and ask for more teacher advice.
Especially when they get to year 11 and suddenly have some accountability via the N-Warning process. Even then, though, the minimum amount of effort is usually enough to get through. As much as I disagree with the HSC Minimum Standard in Literacy and Numeracy, it is extremely concerning to see how many students are failing to achieve it even after multiple attempts.
I totally agree Steven, i worked at a school which had 2 to 3 hour merit assemblies and it rendered the merits worthless in my opinion and was a very boring process.
I agree Steve with the Merit system fails. I worked at a school that gave the teachers awards when they gave the most merits out to students. Again making the system worthless. Merit where it’s due I say!!
I agree with your comments
yes I often think we need to go to the American system of pass fail or repeat
I agree Steven and the notion of giving every student an award across the year has fed this too. It also devalues the awards when everyone is given one eventually.
I feel that the students I am working with, the majority like to receive reassurance whilst working. They love to show you how they are going before they continue on with their activity.
Many (not all) are usually proud of their work if asked to show others.
Personally, I am very against ‘every child gets a prize’. As a PDHPE teacher and volunteer club sports coach I have witnesses the negative impact on this movement.
I have never agreed with the every child gets a prize but I’ve come up against a lot of support for this practice. I could see in my own children their complete lack of enthusiasm as a result of it. Soccer trophies that are not valued at all etc. The parents get more from the trophies than the kids.
Yes! In English, they’ll often stop me and say, “It this good?” And it’s a question I actually refuse to answer, because ALL THEY WANT is for me to say gush over how great it is. Instead, I tell them, “What specifically do you want me to look at?” and eventually they get used to this, and instead of looking for praise, they’ll actually look for feedback. For instance they might say, “Can you look at my transitions on this page?” and them I’m able to give them feeback.
I agree Kerrie,
All children have strengths and can be praised but not all are deserving praise at the one time. Praise is a reward not a right.
Hi Kerrie, I have experienced the constant checking too and found that I had to build in processes to help students become more self-motivated and directed such as letting them know before a task when the check in points would be. It is certainly not an easy task to build the self-confidence in children without the validation from others.
Students in classes I teach often seek approval for minor successes, and give up easily when they experience failure the first time they do something. “I can’t do it”, “i don’t know how” and “i’m no good at this” are fixed mindset statements I hear often from students. “Why should I?” (as in, “what’s in it for me?”) is another classic example.
I agree with Jenny, I too often hear students experiencing failure and voicing their emotions in a negative fixed mindset. In those moments, some students who have a better growth mindset intervene to give them support or instruction so they can better their performance. Absolutely golden!
Students I have engaged with in my class this year often expect gratitude for minor things that should be done without appraisal. Children are faced with all sorts of things each day that desensitise them – the media is a prime example.
Children are also use to accessing pretty much anything they want at a touch of a button or a flick of a switch. Their independence is then compromised and it deters them from building their problem solving and decision-making skills.
Jazmin, I very much agree on your media point. The media has a lot to answer to I feel!
Hi Jazmin! I totally agree. I’m not used to the prize tokens that are given out here for good behaviour, and I couldn’t understand why when I asked students to do something minor (like run something to the office, or go get something for me), they wanted a reward. And as far as the cell phones go, I totally agree. It’s all about instand gratification, and the problem solving goes out the window. I was trying to get them to figure out their Chinese animal based on their birth years, and they were actually ANGRY with me that I wouldn’t let them Google it!
Agree, I just tell them, ‘thats just what I expect from you now show me what you can’t do!’ Re second paragraph, What have you looked at on the second or third page of a google search to critically analyse you research?
I agree Jazmin,
Often students are given whatever they want at a time as I think it is an easy option for some parents. They often don’t need to work towards something for a reward. Parents say they cannot find a positive reward to give to their child as they have everything. This is not teaching the children to strive.
I feel we are trying to address the “every child wins a prize” attitude towards our millennials. Through the provision of explicit/meaningful feedback of performance and giving licence for students to have a voice and choice in their learning, they are feeling more comfortable to take a risk…or stretch themselves. I agree that students do not need constant warm and fuzzy comments as this can lead to a false sense of their performance…so if they fail, they are less likely to try in the future.
I agree with your ‘false sense of performance’ entirely. I think a prime example of that are all those talent show auditions, of people who have been fed the idea that they are special and talented in all that they do… which is simply not the case for everyone.
Our students don’t know the taste of failure. Even senior students only have to maintain breathing and have a pulse to sit the exams and will get a HSC.
Everyone still gets the prize.
Students are often not willing to stretch if they do not get constant feedback and constant reassurance. However ‘gen y’ or millennial is not quite right- some millenniasl are 35 years old now- they are some of our school leaders! Regardless the main issue is dependence
Yes, I completely agree that there is so much more ‘spoon feeding’ to students rather than them being independent and researching / studying and submitting their own work. I am not saying this is their fault but a result of their nurturing.
I think young people, older people, and everyone in between are a combination of fixed and growth mindsets depending on the circumstances at the time. I don’t think we can say a student – or any person – is one or the other. It fluctuates constantly. I do, however, think that an understanding of the brain as a muscle, an understanding of these concepts, and regular explicit teaching in this area, can build a more self-directed, confident, resilient learner – whatever their age!
Totally agree Fi! We are ALL a mix of these things and all we can and should do is increase creativity, good risk taking with work and developing self direction are key 🙂
Also totally agree. I identified with traits of a fixed mindset as well as growth mindset depending on the topic or my stage of life.
Agree completely! Our mindset will often change based on all kinds of factors like our mood, the kind of day we’re having, whether we enjoy a particular activity etc., which is why it is so important to teach students how to motivate themselves to learn even when they’re not ‘feeling’ it.
Students need constant reassurance and praise. They receive it constantly at home and the expectation is that we too will provide this, even when it is not warranted. The helicopter parent who then has to monitor that their child is receiving nothing but positives can be frustrating. Realistic feedback and ways to improve has to be key.
I agree Lisa…our parents who will not allow their kids to fail or blame others…including teachers for their child’s performance…do their kids a disservice…we have to change the idea that everything we do will be successful….
Agree Lisa. Fixed mindset behaviour is reinforced by parents’ over-involvement and out-of-proportion concern for minor issues experienced by their child, which they then communicate immediately to the school with the expectation that their child will be reaffirmed and validated. This is a common concern for teachers – particularly affluent schools where children do not want for anything and have not had to make compromises.
I agree Lisa. My mother was a teacher (from the 80’s 90’s era) and she was the queen of unrealistic non specific praise. It was a very rude awakening for me to discover, when I left home, that I wasn’t brilliant and talented in every way. Thankful I did have some resilience which this next generation don’t seem to have.
I agree Lisa
I agree with Lisa, these are the challenges as a teacher of not only supporting the child but the parents. Establishing a working relationship with the student and family can have mixed results and make our job more challenging. How do you teach a growth mindset to parents who may be modelling a fixed mindset to their own children?
A fixed mindset is definitely a predominate characteristic in the students I teach. It is not uncommon for students to go out of their way, both in the classroom and on the playground, to point out the small task they have completed, all the while expecting some form of reward for their ‘efforts’.
Yeah – the fixed mindset is evident in the classroom. When I was watching the video, I saw a reflection of myself when a student. This makes me wonder whether it is generational or is something more?
To be honest it is probably mine too. I can’t do math (yet I do it all the time, allocating staff, household finances etc) I am more interested in taking something on if I have a pretty good chance at success 🙂
I think there is a fear of failure in many students – especially in high school students who are much more influenced by friends and social media than what their teacher is asking of them. Challenging themselves and thinking creatively can mean they will stand out and potentially fail. Fear of failure makes them apathetic and they don’t bother trying or just do the bare minimum required. I’m really interested in how we change this fixed mindset in our students. I’d love Australian kids to realise the resources they have at their disposal and embrace them!
Hear, hear Carla! Aussie kids need to realize that they can NEVER FAIL IF THEY DON’T GIVE UP!!
Parents and teachers can foster this. Ask students to put in 200% and they will find themselves getting 100%!! Effort and focus (one task completed at a time) will start to foster a growth mindset I feel.
Performance is identity is definitely an issue. Children will give up easily, or even be destructive, when they believe their work isn’t going to be a high enough standard. Low threat relationships can also be seen when a child is having a challenge in a friendship and calling ‘bully’ when it is really ‘conflict’.
I agree. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, however, often students who are given a task that is within their ‘weakness’ category, they are very reluctant to even begin the task. They end up requiring consistent praise and affirmation that they can do it, rather than utilising their intrinsic motivation.
I agree, Liz, The idea that if you can’t get it the first time, that you are no good and therefore should just give up is destructive. The idea of constructive feedback and ways in which to improve is vital and students need to learn that it constructive, not negative.
Fear is the key! Shaping generations of students who have the intrinsic motivation and the ability to understand their own self efficacy will lead to students who are not afraid to fail and can shift from the fixed mindset. Encouragement of this to our students can facilitate that shift from the fixed to the growth mindset as well as showing the students that we who come from a different generations to them are trying to enhance our own mindsets as well.
I believe that a student’s mindset changes throughout the years of schooling. When students are younger, they rely on teacher praise rather than feedback. However, they also are likely to embrace challenges and work on future goals. Whereas, when students get older they often avoid pushing themselves or attempting new challenges as it is seen ‘too much of a risk’ or ‘a set up to fail’. This impacts these students self-esteem.
I know what you mean, and it seems as if students, and people in general, identify with the results, rarely do they look at the progress and gauge their self worth from the process rather than the result.
Low self-esteem can create a huge impact on learning for younger students. I strongly believe that successful learning promotes further learning. As a result, students will see the value of the content they are covering a develop a stronger growth mindset towards future learning and content. An intrinsic level of motivation will reduce the desensitisation and dependence within students.
Good point Ben! linking self worth at younger age to create a mindset shift to last a lifetime.
I totally agree with these points Ben. I find a lot of students in my class have low self-esteem and this does impact negative on their learning.
True Ben. Many kids sadly are just motivated by extrinsic reward. What can I get out of doing this?I wish my son wouldn’t get a trophy just for playing soccer games all season. When I was younger it was only the winner and runner up. Sadly society does not see it this way and hence more kids rely on that external source and validation.
Over the years of teaching I have seen more and more students in the fixed mindset when it comes to learning. It is a challenge as a teacher to work with them and work towards growth as a learner. This is critical for future life in an ever and rapidly changing world, made doubling challenging when not always supported at home in the same way.
I strongly agree with you Felicity. More and more students fall in the fixed mindset bracket. It is important as teachers to ensure that we promoting and encouraging the idea of a growth mindset as well as the importance of a growth mindset.
I agree. We have seen a huge increase in the occurrence of the fixed mindset. It is challenging as you say, Felicity. We need to alter things for the students to grow and be ready for the future.
I believe that students rely on teacher praise rather than their own goals or ambitions. In the classroom they often seek praise for every task they undertake rather than how to better their work or learn from their mistakes. Students need to be encouraged to develop a growth mindset and learn the skills to be able to extend themselves.
Great points, Georgia. There doesn’t appear to be enough intrinsic motivation.
I totally agree with you Georgia. It is quite concerning that students are lacking intrinsic motivation. As teachers, we need to encourage students to want to do their best and push to do their best truly because they aspire to do so.
Students are certainly showing dependence throughout many different aspects of their schooling and even at home life. They are definitely used to receiving praise and in younger students, at school entry level, they struggle with hearing the word “no”. Many, not all, don’t seem to display ambition in wanting to do their best, rather the work that they complete is the bare minimum. With external validation, better results can occur. With older students, they seek for instant praise, especially with the influence of social media and the amount of ‘likes’ they get on a post.
I agree Sky, often parents are scared to say the word no and see their kids as their friends. Also, often kids see that if they are not great at something then what is the point in trying at all. Learners vs non learners!
I agree with your comment about dependence. I agree with your comment about students self validation coming from the validation of others.
I believe there is often an expectation for a reward/ praise/ recognition even for completing the smallest of tasks. With many students, I notice that they need to be provided with something physical, whether it be a sticker or prize, to feel that they have achieved success in their work. I think it is very important to emphasis that mistakes are part of the learning process and that, with added effort, anyone can improve.
Totally agree Laura, I love the idea that failure is just a learning opportunity, a chance to grow.
Absolutely. And we need to model this as teachers. It helps when we fail and acknowledge it and learn from it in front of our students’ eyes.
Completely agree. Children need gratification for small tasks, which they should be doing without appraisal!
I agree with this wholeheartedly..if there is no prize, why would you try?? we need to ensure our students know we support them to stretch themselves and accept challenges
Perhaps we can get rid of the assembly spy? Sitting well and listening should be expected.
I agree, I come from the old school of learning from mistakes, point them out, explain how to solve the problem and have them try again
I find students are more extrinsically motivated than intrinsically. Students are more likely to work hard to gain rewards such as Dojo points rather than gaining the satisfaction of persevering and succeeding in a challenging task. Many students require lots of praise and encouragement to complete challenging task and many are afraid to take risks in their learning. I sometimes find that the more capable students are sometimes quite competitive, though they often don’t like challenging themselves.
I agree, I have a problem with Dojo points (although I use them). People should just do the right thing, and the reward intrinsic rather than getting something. It’s a bit like pocket money for chores around the house – nah, everyone does chores as part of belonging to a supportive household.
Totally agree. I think we as teachers need to actively talk about this with students otherwise they are going to meet with some serious disappoint in their lives. We might need to teach them to do things out of a sense of achievement and wellbeing 🙂
In my students I have seen an increase in a dependence on external validation and parents who push for me as the teacher to provide more of this validation. There are certainly many students who express disinterest when they “fail” at a task.
I agree that some of the pressure comes from parents. Their is definitely the expectation that rewards should be provided if the student is doing the right thing or performing well!
Great points Fiona. I totally agree. I believe it is a partnership between the child, parents and the teacher to develop a growth mindset.
Yes it is across all school ages – parents in primary school in particular seek validation for t heir child’s work, rather than accepting crucial feedback that can assist in their child’s education.
I think the mindset of the parents is often a stumbling block when dealing with issues of dependence.
I find that students sometimes have difficulty in starting tasks as they have a fear of making mistakes. I notice that most students find working on their own a challenge. They are not risk takers. They want you to essentially ‘spoon feed them’ with each step and often want praise for getting it correct. They can often switch off if they don’t get it or get it wrong, feeling defeated. I think this comes from the fear of failing. They would rather give up and not do work if you are unable to assist them. However when these students get it right and are successful in completing the task they want their classmates, teacher and even the principal to know about their achievement.
Yes Kathy, there is definitely a fear of making mistakes. Some students spend more time rubbing their work out and overthink their work.
In my experience I have found that the mindsets of students change throughout their time at school. Students who are younger who have less inhibition or feelings of being judged, are more likely to embrace challenges. Whereas, as they progress in their learning, they become less willing to take risks and expect praise on all efforts and achievements.
I definitely agree with this. Working with students in K-2, there is definitely a freedom to express themselves and contribute even if they do not know the “right” answer, whereas there is a lot more avoidance of risk and a desire to participate in low-threat situations in older students.
Students are very competitive and often measure their own success against their peers. They seek reassurance that they are doing well, and if they feel that something is too difficult they sometimes won’t even try. Many students will also do the minimum that a task requires, rather than pushing themselves and extending themselves, unless they are explicitly told to.
This is a common issues across many aspects of life. Whats starts in the classroom can often carry on to future life opportunities e.g the work place, development of families. Jealousy of someones accomplishments can often ‘fix’ someones mindset. This is why it is important to teach students that not getting first or being the best in something isn’t the end and there is other opportunities to succeed.
Students rely too strongly on a teachers praise and recognition rather than their feedback and future goals they are being given. They often seek to be recognised by simply achieving the work they are set and not how they can improve their work in the future or improve their mindset. Students are encouraged to develop a growth mindset so they can approach a task/challenge with a mindset to see failing as a learning opportunity, however some are stuck in their fixed mindset phase and will avoid pushing themselves or attempting a new challenge as they see too much risk.
I agree, I think it is interesting to see how few students take on feedback and use it to improve their work. I feel like this is an example of students avoiding risks – if they do not try, they cannot fail.
Good point, the idea of seeing something as a challenge rather than too risky is a good way of thinking about how to develop a growth mindset. It’s sometimes hard to remember that you don’t have to get everything right the first time, and there is always room to grow and develop. Accepting feedback and extending yourself are an important part of being a lifelong learner.
Great points Liz. I agree that many students are highly motivated by teacher praise and validation. Many students require constant validation and recognition through tasks and as a result don’t take as many risks in their learning.
Fixed and growth mindsets always make me reflect on my own learning and approach to work. It always makes me feel like I should challenge myself more. Often apathy takes over and prevents further growth and stress through procrastination. Trying to capture those moments and being self-driven would solve so many problems in the world and is something I constantly deal with. The students have so many more things to distract themselves and waste time easily so how do we challenge them to overcome that and increase their growth mindset.
Life today more than ever has those distractions your’e talking about Josh, and how we balance distraction and time wasting with meaningful learning is going to be a challenge we all face.
Low self-esteem can be an major issue for students. Working with the younger years, I find it crucial to create an environment where learning and mistakes can occur. I don’t believe students should be praised for everything, but I will always try and encourage and motivate them so that they can build resilience and an intrinsic drive. I feel that the students respond better and are more proud of their work when they earn praise for something they have truly worked hard for.
It is such a delicate balance as too much perceived negativity turns them doing off any work at all. It is so easy to give external rewards so how do we further embrace the intrinsic motivation. I always feel it is through the classroom environment that you maintain and discuss failures as a learning step constantly.
I agree that the sense of achievement is greater when you work hard for something. I think this is a crucial part of building intrinsic motivation and self-direction.
I completely agree, Matthew. You’ve raised a great point in regards to being praised for everything.
I am finding that students need constant external feedback & increasing validation, almost a need to obtain extrinsic feedback in order to apply and stretch themselves as opposed to being intrinsically self motivated. Many students try to “safely learn”, avoiding risks or challenges that may expose any kind of failure or sense of not being “good enough.”
Everyone wants a ‘quick fix’ solution without putting in the work. In this age where everything happens immediately, it seems students are spooked when things don’t happen that way.
I agree. The constant need for external validation and reward has become an expectation from students. This can be increasingly hard to manage in the classroom.
It is such a regular part of our teaching and we have always been told positive reinforcement only which is easily achieved through external approaches. Taking a risk and challenging appropriately is always an obstacle I find in teaching. It would seem a large shift in culture needs to happen to adequately provide for our future world.
I totally agree that students are not risk takers and will choose the easy way out to avoid failure rather than taking on a challenge and working on achieving positive results
Some students feel that if they don’t get immediate praise then the task they are doing is not worth doing and if they get something wrong they are quick to throw in the towel and not persevere with anything.
It’s a shame but very true. Everything has to be immediate, including seeing results in what they are doing.
I totally agree Pam. There is an overwhelming sense of immediacy or urgency to learn something as fast as possible and to give up if this is not achieved quickly within a short timeframe. Students are needing huge amounts of external validation to persevere,to face new challenges and to stretch themselves. They seem to prefer the easy way of “throwing in the towel!”
I agree that students give up if they are not given immediate praise. They don’t always see the value in doing things. Therefore if I don’t get it or can’t do it it’s not worth doing at all. Students these days do not have the patience or commitment to see a task through to the end
A lot of students are very sensitive to criticism and find it difficult to act on advice… they perceive it is not their fault, rather someone else. I also see students who are not willing to try if they don’t ‘get it’ first time, This is not always the case but increasingly so.
Absolutely Alison. It then becomes a challenge for teachers to break down the walls of a fixed mindset student to develop the confidence to failure in order to learn when they potentially have developed this mindset within numerous settings that are out of the control of a classroom – for examples at home, social media and the workplace.
This is where growth mindset needs to be pushed. Students need to be reminded that teachers give feedback for their future growth and not to be picking out errors and corrections. This is the job for young teachers who are only beginning their teaching journey to help with the development of education being a place where students are allowed to make mistakes, just like adults do.
Giving feedback to students is crucial. When the feedback needs to be constructive on the needs for improvement, students often feel deflated like they’ve done something wrong. The management of feedback is difficult in the classroom setting.
I agree that many students are scared to try again if they do not get something right the first time. This fear of failure and inability to rise to a challenge is definitely a sign of a fixed mindset.
I agree Alison, feedback is essential in helping students overcome this, not feedback which simply states the correct and incorrect aspects of student’s work, but feedback which, while doing this, also provides the guidance and support that the student needs to set them in the right direction. If we can encourage and support them to improve their confidence and skill in taking feedback and using it to improve their work then they will hopefully develop the skills which will help them to explore the ‘growth mindset’ approach to learning.
Within the classroom I see more students waiting to be told the answer to questions and lack the motivation to take chances, as they look to avoid any risk of being wrong. Building relationships in the classroom is important to create an environment where the student feels comfortable to develop their confidence and increase their ability which then leads to them wanting to challenge themselves in seeking the answers. The challenge as a teacher is to convince the student with a fixed mindset that it is okay to fail, to use this as motivation and thus developing the skill of being self-motivated.
You’ve nailed this Chris, failure, and not wanting to look stupid is holding our kids back, we as educators need to help them challenge themselves.
Totally. And also in the mix, nationally, we have students with low literacy and numeracy skills which only adds to their lack of self-esteem, confidence and motivation. With the amount of scaffolding we create to help students complete tasks, are we in fact doing them an injustice in some (not all!) instances..? Food for thought.
Students can become dependent on their peers, teacher and parents for positive affirmations. They struggle to accept positive affirmations within themselves and so their rely on others. They often need external motivation to complete activities.
I agree Imogen. If they have grown up with a culture (particularly from home) that unless you receive immediate positive feedback then nothing difficult is worthwhile.
Totally agree with you Imogen. Some students definitely depend on those around them and almost expect positive affirmations and given answers to questions constantly. The challenge comes when trying to break down some of these layers, which have been built over many years and created within numerous settings – at home, school, social media). In the classroom this takes a long time to break down and assist the student to have the confidence to identify failure as motivation.
I agree. In a lot of circumstances, verbal appraisal is also not enough for children we teach. They seem to seek more or expect more.
The students that feel the need for continual unconditional positive regard can react negatively to gen x feedback. They potentially think we don’t “like” them. Without resilience the student’s attitude can hamper the student teacher relationship to the point where they think we don’t care, so they give up.
That’s true. We need students to have resilience so they can accept constructive feedback and improve.
So true Jacqui, they can feel we don’t like them if we don’t give lots of positive affirmations. The question is do we adopt a method of constant praise to build the relationship rather than risk a disengaged student??
Many don’t strive or push themselves to achieve well. There are many who do complete what is asked of them, however it is often a “that will do” approach. This is not the case with all. Some do take pride, but there are many who have no interest in completing work or realising the potential they have if they were to put in intentional effort..
this is a hard struggle for teachers, to try and engage these students, isn’t it Sally
This is my experience too Sally…just get the work/task done with minimal effort when I know they are capable of so much more/higher quality work. It is so refreshing when that small cohort of students seek & relish challenge & consistently apply intentional effort to grow.
Sometimes student will not put in the effort in front of their peers. It takes more motivational skills to start them on task.It can be frustrating when you know they have the ability.
When given work to do, many students I teach roll their eyes and complain about the work saying “It’s too hard,” or “Why do we have to do this?”, solely to try to get out of doing any work at all. This is definitely being fueled by the fixed mindset as I really think that they are living with the fear of possible failure, and without having a teacher beside them showing them all the steps needed to achieve a result, they shy away from it, dependent on others for their own success.
Students need to have the internal motivation to complete tasks and understand the relevance of their activity. They need to understand that making mistakes is going to improve their performance in the long run.
This is extremely noticeable in many of the students that we teach. They no longer have that drive to work independently and want to be told everything. This has been evident in the move to online learning where they are not getting that face to face interaction and validation. Posting step by step instructions for students to read is only met with “what am I supposed to do?” This is their lack of motivation to take time and read for themselves. I certainly agree that if we want students to reach certain benchmarks we need to be honest with them instead of wrapping their feelings in cottonwool. Im not saying we have to be harsh, but we do have to be honest and feedback needs to be delivered correctly. But too many times students are told how great they are going only to receive an exam, assessment or HSC results back and then wonder why they didn’t get 100%.
even given merits for coming to school!
Some staff room discussions have included the terms open your mouth and we will spoon fill you. As an experienced teacher the change in students is very noticeable as is the need for the constant checking on their mobile phones , our traditional teaching methods are not creating the results we hope for. do we need to change , do the students have to change or is this a combination of both.
I certainly believe its a combination of both – I think our teaching methods need to move with the times to engage these students, but students also need to be present and self motivated to achieve. Our responses to students could certainly help with that by giving them honest feedback instead of telling them just because they tried is good enough. Also having to move on with curriculum so quickly all the time before students have achieved decent skills is a problem as well. Therefore they are feeling like they don’t ever achieve anything.
I agree
It is very difficult to put a one size fits all approach to a group of young people born during a particular time, like some generational form of astrology. Willingness to learn new things and ways will always be a strong trait.
It is becoming increasing difficult to motivate students. Students don’t want to put in the effort required to satisfy task requirements. They are happy to sit and attempt very little, if anything, and wait for the teacher to give them the answers/ do the work for them. Students do not want to improve their assessment tasks by editing them – their first attempt is good enough.
Hi Bev. I totally agree. Avoiding failure with the constant need of externalised validation has had such a major impact on the learning style of so many students nowadays. No one seems to want to try to be the best they could be.