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?
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I can see students who are always waiting for direction from the teacher. However I am also seeing students who can take a class plan and work through it independently. There is a change happening.
Yes, it’s good to see evidence of this in the classroom. Even better, when it encourages other students to contribute and work independently as well
To be able to teach flexibly students do need to be able to self direct their learning and become responsible for there learning. I am also seeing students able to work through a class plan.
I agree with the change Julie-Anne. It is up to the teacher to provide engaging learning material and meet the student on this level.
In order to encourage life long learning, I prefer to develop “Growth mindset characteristics” in my classroom. It is the best way to walk with students when they come across challenges and I find my teachable moments for individual groups. It’s the best way for learners to embrace failure as a learning opportunity. I find the unconditional positive regards in the Self-Esteem Movement is “empty praise”. Sooner or later, students give up when the “reward ” is not as they expected.
Such students depend on external validation and tend to stay in their comfort zone.
Dorothy I agree the students learning is a journey we share with them. We cannot make them learn just like we can’t give them self esteem.
On the subject of ‘empty praise’: I remember in my early years of teaching at the primary level we use to give out ‘Merit Awards’ each week. We were directed to make sure that each student received at least one during the term so sometimes you found yourself scratching to come up with something to award a student for. Sometimes you had to award ‘Johnny’ for ‘good sitting’ at group time or ‘remembering his library book’ (which was already 4 weeks overdue). I always found it condescending for the child who was probably aware these were things the other children were not awarded for and wondered how the parents receive it as they chattered amongst themselves at the classroom door. For some children these awards were all-consuming motivation and they would ask if they were getting an award anytime they answered a question or were first onto the mat or helped pack up. They were competitive about how many they had and quick to devalue others who were rewarded. Of course, the merit awards weren’t all bad but I found that they tended to motivate the already motivated students and did very little to encourage the others.
I see the over-exposure to external validation as coming from the ubiquitous devices glued to nearly every young person’s hand as much as their parents. Games and apps, just like the pokies in clubs across Australia, constantly reward and stimulate whilst gathering profit for the developers and their backers. This constant exposure leads young people to develop a fragile sense of self-worth and a reluctance to risk failure.
Matthew, I agree with your comment. There’s almost nothing we do anymore that doesn’t involve some form of external validation, and I’m sure we’re all just a bit conned in by that. Even good old Spider Solitaire (how much skill does that take?) gives the player levels to work towards and a record of their “achievements”. It’s no wonder this has spilled over into the classroom – why do something if no-one’s going to notice?
I agree with your comment Matthew. I see nothing wrong with accountability when it is realistic, reasonable and comes from a loving mind-set.
I’m surprised by the fixed mindset being competitive. I always assumed a bit of competitiveness was a sign of wanting to grow and be better but I can see that it’s a way of getting self validation that you are already good so there is no need to try harder. Very interesting.
I thought the same, interesting to see how it relates to the fixed mindset.
Interesting topic and I can clearly see the difference. Being a trade teacher, I did assume it was more about what takes place in the workplace v’s at the RTO!
Reading though everyone’s comments has definitely helped as has the session by Michael.
In my world their is always room for growth and learning, I do my absolute best to demonstrate a path of long life learning to my students! Its vital within my industry.
I believe that self confidence give students that resilience to bounce back when faced with obstacles. These are the students who know failures are part of learning. It is however hard for those who are growing up with constant praises that they can do anything. I see some of my students having a breakdown over low mark because of the high expectations they have set on themselves.
We regularly have students watch video stories showing a growth mindset and fixed mindset. The students can identify both scenarios and use the language in the classroom and in discussions. Unfortunately not all students rise above apathy and dependence. At school assemblies we ask those receiving rewards “What did you do to help you get to where you are today eg: Best in Show – riding, wool; best athlete – run/swim/sporting team. We’re looking for the stories of effort, failure is a learning opportunity etc. If their peers can communicate their growth mindset, we hope others can use that learning. When students complain of “too hard, I’m giving up, that will do”, we try to challenge them and only when they pull through to show the stretch in skill/result, do we give the extrinsic reward. Ask them to perform the extra effort in the meantime and show authentic joy when they do make a real advancement in the end.
This is great – having the “winners” share their journey with their peers.
Many of us have the idea of that winners are born that way. To have students at that elite level share their experience of challenges, effort and failure is a lesson in itself. Fantastic!
I see unintended results of the self-esteem movement in students in post-schools environments where there are some students (not all) that require constant encouragement and close supervision in order to complete learning tasks. They value external validation and do not always seem internally motivated to engage with the learning materials or course. There is also a considerable variation that I see that appears to be associated with the age, experiences etc.
I agree Georgie.
I totally agree too Georgie
In the classroom environment a student’s self-esteem has a significant impact on almost everything they do, how they enter the classroom,how they engage with ineractive activities, deal with social challenges, and interact with others in the classroom . Self-esteem also can have a marked effects on academic performance how they accept feedback, how they accept classroom guidance and assistance required. Low self-esteem can lessen a student’s desire to learn, their ability to focus, and willingness to take risks.
I agree Fiona, low self-esteem will often be a factor when you are trying to understand why a student is less engaged or seems unmotivated.
I agree Fiona. I am amazed that our society has created a movement that has created results opposite to the intended result.
Fiona, I agree that low self esteem in students can indeed have a detrimental effect on their school life as well as their personal life.
I agree Fiona . Students with low self-esteem need extra effort to build up their self – confidence before they could actively engage in classroom activities.
Fiona I agree ,low self esteem impacts all facets of education and I would like to add how individual students have the ability to engage in group/peer work often give a clear indication of low self esteem
In the post-school environment, I can clearly see the difference in the mindsets of the students in my class. I have older students who have a fixed-mindset too, likely due to disadvantage and past experiences. The ones who have a growth mindset are ‘up for the challenge’ and are a lot more willing to engage in new tasks and learning. I have a quiet giggle to myself when a student is astounded when I confirm that they will actually need to participate and complete assessments to be able to obtain their qualifications, that being enrolled is not enough for them to get through their course, and that it is up to them to ensure that they attend and hand their work in on time.
I agree. It is always interesting to see the way that different students approach learning and how much effort they perceive is necessary to achieve the outcomes.
I had a giggle reading your post! I love seeing the way students approach tasks and activities so differently.
Loving this post it so resonates with my experiences teaching mixed age groups. The joy of adult education
I have an issue with a few students where I need to constantly encourage them to complete learning tasks. They are unable to take initiative and be responsible for their own learning without my constant encouragement. I am trying to foster a growth mindset by encouraging all my students to undertake self assessment and relfection of their tasks to help them take more responsibility for their own learning.
Jessica, self assessment is an excellent guiding tool. A scaffold for the structure of the project and milestones with dates might assist too. Seems that self motivation needs an internal motivator – each kid seems to have a different thing that motives them hidden under their need for extrinsic reward.
I find it difficult too – especially getting the balance between using praise early on to develop confidence but not over-using it so when it is faded out the students don’t feel bereft.
Jessica, some students need extra LOVE to facilitate their learning .
“LOVE ” spells as T-I-M-E. So, the few students in your class need not only constant encouragement but also constant love and care from their trusted teachers and friends.
I see pleasing results when I encourage my students, as opposed to focusing on their weaknesses and negative comments during a lesson.
yes i definitely see more positive results when encouraging my students to complete task duringa lesson. My students need that encouragement to do their work or participate in discussions. They need a lot of prompting as well.
Yes I can see the same effect in my students too, why focus on weaknesses when the students are aware of them anyway. Celebrate their efforts to be involved in the class, make them feel valuable.
I too, obtain a positive result when I encourage my students. This fosters an inclusive environment and students are more receptive to feedback and are willing to actively participate.
encouragements often results the positivity with younger learners.
This session, and all the comments, have really helped me to understand the differences in the students in my class. Although I definitely see a massive increase in fixed-mindset students post schooling. I suppose the growth mindset people are being recognised and getting the jobs (or progressing to higher level study) and the rest are in beginner certificate courses, and not by choice either – they don’t really want to be there.
Yes, it’s definitely a reflection on their attitude / mid set. the willingness to be engaged in a job role or further study is evidence of this
Interestingly, because I largely teach older students (migrants and refugees), I see in them a mostly determined, internal-validation mindset. They work hard, they try to master new things even when they appear overwhelmingly difficult, and they accept criticism well. This in comparison to my peers – I’m in my 30s – where I know many who cannot handle workplace failures or criticisms and are consumed by the idea of their public image. I really enjoyed hearing about the difference between the Fixed and Growth Mindsets and identifying where I thought my strengths and weaknesses were.
definitely an eye opener thinking of my own motivation/mindset (in my 50’s) vs the majority of students I have in High School/early school leavers. They don’t seem to think that they have to “try” – they come along, do a few activities and that’s it. They know they will all get school certificates without much effort. There is very little to differentiate between them – I feel for employers.
yes, this cohort of learners are interesting to teach – and interesting to now understand them through the growth mindset lens.
The need to have students be responsible for their own learning directions is difficult depending on their confidence and resilience to understand making a mistake is part of learning and not a failure. Students need to be able to give and take constructive feedback and see it as a positive challenge.
I agree confidence and resilience are essential in all areas of learning
I agree with this. I am encouraging my students to assess their own work as well as their peers. Students need to be taught how to be critical of their work and others in a constructive manner. Without the ability to do so they will never take responsibility for their own learning and will be constantly dependent on that validation.
True – I teach adults and it’s important to give them power, control and an understanding that they are responsible for their development – the teacher and the learning resources are resources they use to get where they want to go.
I too, agree with this statement. It is important that student confidence and resilence are key factors necessary within a learning environment.
I can relate to the self-Esteem movement in my student, and this presentation has confirmed what i have noticed and have been dealing with throughout my teaching career. although this does not reflect onto all students but surely we can notice the fixed mindset vs the growth mindset, it is imperative to be able to understand this notion (learner and non learner) and act accordingly keeping in mind the student welfare .
giving constructive feedback to the student is very important to their learning, unconditional positive feedback is a false statement that can do more harm then good as there is always ways to improve on their good work.
my conclusion is always better to give a constructive feedback no matter how good they are and encourage them to strive for more.
I can see now have the fixed vs growth mindset is reflected in the students I teach. The idea that they can grow with ‘intentional effort’ seems a foreign concept to some and requires extra effort on my part to ensure assessments are completed!
yes, agreed – it is all so much extra work to get satisfactory effort from them. I feel that everything I send back is just knocking them further down. It is hard to find that balance.
I see this in my students and it is perfectly explained. The reason of self direction and motivation is perfectly categorized by the two mind set Characteristics Fixed and Growth. I now understand how this movement has effected the behavior of this generation. I am extremely curious about narrowing this gap and help me to become a better teacher
I totally agree with you Mario, I do believe that our student who come from a non speaking English background and different culture have a different upbringing and a different mindset however it is up to us teachers to find who is a learner and a non learner as this is very important to accommodate the style of teaching and delivery thus accomplishing the task required from us as teachers, it is not an easy job but i am sure we can do it.
I agree I really hope we can narrow the gap. We know what went wrong but how do we fix it?
I teach in hospaitality sector, commercial cookery. I have different students from different backgrounds and walks of life. I can see within a day of first meeting these students where they sit in regards to the effort they will put in. When they receive feedback that is not what they want to hear they become frustrated and I get the but why? This is with prac classes.
Then there is the theory side. I had students ask me for the answers and to why we cant do the workbooks together.
I said that a bit of research/reading and learning is good for them. That it improves their knowledge and understanding.
I worked hard to get to where I am today by studying, pushing myself and doing the long hours to achieve what I have achieved. I am proud of myself that I did and I hope to instil this into other students
I teach in the tourism and hospitality sector teaching patisserie, I do cohort of students of different age groups, and the difference of receiving constructive feedback is taken so very differently , the students who have the fixed mind set take it with such disbelief that that did not get the positive feedback such as “well done” even though they may served a raw product, but my reflection on this topic is I have learnt that the fixed generation can be changed and begin to understand the positive impact that helps them learn better
I agree! I also feel the fixed mindset students, eventually come around due to the theory behind the skills, it takes a while and when it happens – Its almost magical!
I have two distinct groups of students: those that work independently with little direction and those that need a lot of direction. Those that need guidance, tend not to take a risk, require affirmation at each stage or just want to know what the correct answer is (rather than be guided towards coming to the answer on their own). They take criticism personally and lose motivation quickly. Those that are independent learners tend to have specific questions and don’t waste time; they can be critical of the information presented (and even challenge the information). I think some of the characteristics could be cultural as well.
I teach Patisserie and I see this behaviour a lot. The students of today do not want to be told that the product is not up to the required standard. They want answers and everything on a plate. I am happy that this behaviour stems from this movement and i am so keen to see the methods to narrow this gap. Especially when you are teaching skills and a discipline it is vital to bridge this gap
I see positive outcomes when I encourage my students, rather than trying to focus on their negative behaviours and comments during a lesson.
Giving the students a positive outcomes is good to their self esteem, however giving them a positive outcomes with constrictive feedback such as ideas something a little more just to get them thinking that they have done very well but they can do better, its just an idea that i follow during my class especially in the patisserie section as there is more then one way to do a task.
Absolutely, a positive learning environment is something I aim for too. The challenge is to also give that constructive criticism, to push them harder in order to bring out the best in them.
I think one thing that really impacts me in this session is how we can bridge the GAP between Gen Y in our teaching deliver
Some students need to be spoon fed information and how to do things where as other students seem able to persist and investigate when they hit a road block.
Absolutely correct. Some time ago the students who loved to be pushed and wanted to investigate beyond the basics(growth mindset) outnumbered the fixed mindset students. Bridging the gap is what will bring about a change and prepare our students for world
Hoping that intervention of bridging the gap can also be implemented through schools and in the home environment.
As a teacher, I can see an improvement in their engagement when given praise and encouragement – work on developing their self esteem skills. Praising students provides motivation and continuation in their learning journey.
Similar, I find students respond well to encouragement that they are on the right path.
positive feedback definitely motivates better productivity and also fosters better learning, but I do also notice some feedback needs to be given when we see that a student has some hidden potential that could be tapped into
I guess the message to pick from this is constant praise doesn’t help the students identify where they need to focus their efforts so they can improve. It’s hard to undo as I’ve been “trained” to praise and never let someone feel bad about what they have done but I’m actually not helping them learn if I don’t point out where there is room for improvement.
Definitely. I also work hard to build rapport with the students at the beginning of our time together so that they develop a sense of belonging with the group.
I have also found that alot of students suffer from Identiy crisis – as they really do not know how they should accept and behave when they receive encouragement in the adult envirnoment as they are use to being told what is acceptable in school environment.
I think that students are all different and it is clear which have a fixed and those that have a growth mindset. We will need to focus on moving them all towards having an open growth mindset at least while they are learning to prepare them for their futures.
I find the high school classes to be a mix of both fixed and growth mindsets. But I have noticed that all the students need external feedback constantly and individually. They don’t want to be praised as a whole class, but one by one. If this praise is not offered voluntarily the students will persist until they receive an individual feedback.
I agree there is a mix and a variety of levels in between too.
I do quite notice this in my patisserie classes, even though we give a thorough group feedback they would have better fulfillment with an individual feedback, I have learnt better that dedicating 5 minutes per student alleviates this issue and keeps the cohort happy
Most of my students have low self esteem and learning difficulties.
Donna I have had students with these issues…I found what made them tick and a little bit of positive feedbackwhen they had made an effort they grew and enjoyed what they were doing! Such a great thing to see!!!
A lot of my students are from very disadvantaged backgrounds, and have low self esteem too. I work hard at building rapport and encouraging participation so that the students feel a sense of belonging. This often helps when we get to the difficult bits where I have to provide constructive criticism and stretch them a little bit.
We have classes across all age groups and the younger generations tend to be the first to ask what is the minimum I have to do to pass – they are not interested in the learning journey but in a quick outcome with as little input as possible. When the students are engaged they do need constant reassurance that they are doing an activity correctly this can be very draining if you have a large class group that all require constant praise
I totally agree Wendy. It is my younger students who are consistently late or tardy, who don’t show up, or leave early, and who don’t try as hard. It is so discouraging and takes a lot of effort and investment from me to get them working as hard as their older student peers.
The majority of my learners fall into the fixed mindset. They avoid risks and challenges and seek external validation and guidance to ensure they are correct before giving things a go. They give up easily, set the benchmark low and are quick to blame when the going gets tough.
I cringe when i hear uni students say “P’s mean degrees”! This to me is laziness not a self-esteem issue. Just doing what you need to do to pass rather than giving it your best effort.
I’m lucky that my cohort of students attend their ESL classes because they believe it will truly help with their everyday life in Australia no matter how difficult the class may seem to them. Do they seem to lack confidence? Yes at times they do.
I wonder if their “near enough is good enough” attitude is a result of the disposable society we live in today – things change so fast – why invest time and effort when it will all change tomorrow? Also, I don’t think that confidence and self esteem are the same thing.
Hi Alanna, I teach ESL too. Do you find you experience different mindsets across your different ages? Like me I’m guessing you have both migrants and refugees which means our dynamic is different to your regular Aussie students, and we don’t hear much which is targetted to our specific cohorts in ESL.
With the introduction to new work, questions start – what do I need to pass? how many tries can I have? where would I find the answers? Students want to do as little as possible to complete the work. Not really interested in the learning just the end result – PASS, and what is the easiest way to do achieve that. Any submission means work is correct and achieved.
I agree we have the same in our area – the most important questions are around how much work do I have to do – it seems that the students wont take responsibility for their education and anything they hand in must be correct because they handed it in and find it hard to accept that they may need to resubmit.
As a teacher I see a resubmit as a learning opportunity for the student. Students seem to see it as a failure.
Students ask for the marking guide for the assessments and choose the amount of effort required based on the predicted outcomes. IE Minimal effort to pass. The trend in vocational education is “Competent or Not Yet Competent” there is no failure status that actually provides value to the student that they are not coping with the work, just a false sense of “I’m almost there…”
I find there are always a mixture in the class. Those who just want to do a minimum to pass, but there are always those few who want to excel, stretch and have a true growth experience. I enjoy encouraging people, and I admit I find a fixed mindset very hard to deal with as this is not my mindset.
Learning for me is a lifelong journey.
Yes, there are always learners who want to exceed and complete extra activities to learn and then there are those who are lazy and absent from classes and expect someone to help them catch up and get them through!
We must be careful with the praise we give students, too much can be detrimental to their progress. Its best to encourage them to work harder to find the answer themselves. A bit of gentle prompting can be helpful. .
It is very hard to balance “praise” and “critical response”. The ultimate failure is the creation of a set language for reporting that removes “negative” terms such as “fail”, “did not”. Only providing positive reflection does not provide students with an accurate description of activity or success in a task.
It is very difficult to find that balance between praise – positive and a what can be perceived as criticism in a feedback response. With some students I have found that pointing out errors in activities is perceived as a personal attack rather than being accepted as a learning opportunity.
Rhonda, so true. I see that with my students. I also see that with my daughter!
Many students expect the answers to be given them. Some ask for assistance before even attempting to work out the answer. This could be because of low self esteem,
Sometimes it’s important to scaffold success before a student is confident enough to attempt things beyond their perceived reach
yes it can also be linked to the need to preserve their ego, rahter not answer at all then face the shame of getting it wrong infront of peers.
Many students have low self esteem. Many are from low economic communities and are not always able to buy their text books. I will often give a copy of the text book to the student or enable them to have the library hold the books for them. I feel that if, as a teacher, I can show interest in the student and encourage them to gain further education, they either enrol in other courses or email me telling me of their intended course. Sometimes they email to say they have found employment. This feedback from students makes me feel that I have accomplished some small thing for that student.
Hi Maureen, yes no matter which mindset they may be, us as teachers working flexibly, and responding to individual student needs can have amazing results.
Some students do not appear to have self esteem in the classroom. They do however, have a strong sense of “I’m a leader and my friends will follow”. External validation from their teachers is not desired but want their friends to know ‘they are important’ to others.
The expectation that they are all leaders, avoids the situation where they are not the leader. Even leaders should know when to follow.
They believe rules are not for them and so social media is ever present in the classroom, always wanting to share their work with others or their daily experiences. In essence ‘work can wait’ as getting in touch with my peers is foremost on my mind.
Detaching them long enough to teach them is a constant classroom problem. Engaging with them using social media has been an attempt to solve this problem but finding the right pedagogy for this is the challenge. What is the design of the classroom of the future when a common experience is that they “know everything already” but you discover rapidly that they only have the shallowest understanding of topics, technology, skills etc.
Students are wanting direction before giving the task too much effort. When directed to work alone, many of the students seek to have their work viewed by the teacher before submitting it for assessment. They are all part of the same pack and it is not in their nature to submit and take the consequences without checking with their pals.
I’ve observed that, ironically, as students grow up they tend to develop characteristics of a ‘fixed mindset’ and lose the tendencies of a ‘growth mindset’.
They consider performance as identity and are always concerned about how others perceive them. They become competitive, but want to achieve things without trying or working for it. They tend to complain about everything and require constant recognition of their performance. They look for easy ways to gain popularity and don’t even want to attempt things that they think they have a remote chance of success.
They lack the tenacity and resilience that is expected of them, and they see minor setbacks as failures and as a result, they easily give up.
A definite impact in my students, students who are bright and could really push themselves to achieve are quick to dish up any work so they can tick and flick. I’m done, no care for quality or challenge. Others require constant reassurance they have done “what you want”
Agree with this statement. Bright group of students want to get the PASS as soon as possible. The not so interested want help, claim they don’t understand, want an explanation that provides answers.
The biggest impact I see is the level of complaints when you provide honest feedback that is not sandwiched with enough praise and the time that is wasted by dealing with the complaints because they feel “wronged” that they haven’t demonstrated a competency and you have asked them to do more research/learning into it.
I agree – the sense of entitlement to pass is a worrying trend
Students need encouragement to build up their confidence to take further challenges. Accordingly, praising students on what they have achieved can help them develop cognitively and socially. However, encouragement or praising must be genuine. Overpraising will only create a negative effect. Students will not believe the teacher or take any further challenge. They will wait for solutions to be told. They don’t accept failure.
That’s right, Alan. Commending students for their performance is a good thing, but it needs to be genuine and when they don’t cut the grade, it needs to be pointed out to them, as constructive feedback, so they learn from their setbacks and develop their skills to perform better, down the track.
I agree. There is a big difference between confidence and self esteem (and often one masks the lack of the other). Students definitely know the difference between genuine praise and encouragement and false attention and put downs. I think we need to give students more credit – they respond to the environment and energy around them. They will often live up to expectations of those that judge them.
The Students I am engaging with are extremely needy. They do not want to work hard for anything, cannot handle constructive criticism and want to be handed the answers to all of the assessments.
They ALL have mental health issues and hide behind this. They use Mental Health to manipulate the system and want to be handed the Qualification.
It is only a matter of time before they are Using COVID 19 as an excuse as why NOT to complete their studies
Agree with your experience, student are lacking drive and resilience.
I have seen all the three impacts in the cohorts I have come across but dependence exists everywhere in every class room. I see very few students trying a problem rather most of them waiting for the solution to come on the board. That’s where I think we as Teachers need to use various motivational techniques to get them to try solving the problem. I always try to tell students that’s what they have to learn to experience to use it in their day to day life. They need to first try and not give up or wait for solutions,
Some of my students have the same problem as well. They would like the teacher or some smart students to tell them the answers. However, I like to ask some less able students and provide lots of scaffolding. Praise or encourage them on every correct step. This can motivate them to try to think about the problem instead of waiting for the solution
I see these characteristics daily in my classroom and it is the most discussed problem amongst my colleagues. As a Montessori educator I aim to develop independence and self motivation however parents use a self esteem approach at home. Parents are constantly contacting me about little issues that the children can work out for themselves and being “curling” parents. Issues can be about forgetting a snack or social problems. Parents do not give their children the responsibility for themselves so children are dependant on others.
I agree, I am finding it hard to correct the child , if i do so i could have a parent complain . The lack of Respect for Teachers is not acceptable
Students want the answers given to them. If they don’t know the answer, instead of trying to work something out for themselves, they seek out help prematurely.
I could not agree more with this comment
Tracey, this is a great point and definitely where we then need to use our coaching skills more predominately than we should.
Totally agree, I had a bright student who was keen to attend Maths Olympiad, but then when she didn’t get them all right and others were smarter than her she wanted to pull out.
I agree, Tracey. The age of ISE (Internet Search Engines) has made things very easy for students and even academic research is done by randomly searching the internet and using thesaurus or a grammar/ collocation software to reword the sentences so it goes undetected by plagiarism software.
They want to complete, but when the going gets tough they soften up and pull out making it easy for their antagonists, thus weakening the ‘real’ competition.
I find that students are less inclined to research and do further reading to extend their own understanding, but want the answers provided by the teacher.
When challenged, they can very easily become unproductive and wait for someone else to do the thinking for them….. or give up.
I agree with you. It is difficult to elicit responses and for students to become enthusiastic about extending their learning.
I agree with this and that’s where I think motivational techniques need to be used to get them to try
Yes, it can be tricky to get some students to actually deliver an answer. Some of the students I work with enjoy 1#1 assistance from the teacher.
With the students I have taught, I have noticed the impacts that are made by teachers and myself are we tend to overpraise to get a desired outcome or behaviour. Too much praise eventually loses its effectiveness (desensitization). I find if I give constructive feedback rather than praise is more effective to get students to become more motivated to continue their learning and progress.
I totally agree with you. Over praising or ingenuine praise will create an adverse effect.
Alicia, this is a great point, however it becomes hard when we are just one cog in a long line of praise givers……hopefully we can be that one person from the education that they remember for making that difference.
Many ESL students would rather know what they did wrong rather than what they did right.
I find that the students are extremely impatient. If they try something new and the can’t master it straight away, and thus receive the positive response or praise they desire and that makes them feel good about themselves, then they give up. They are unwilling to put in the hard yards to learn how to accomplish a task and simply tell themselves the task is outside their skills set.
I agree with you! Some students have a fixed mindset and find it extremely difficult to shift their thinking. They do not know how to self regulate and give up way too quickly when things do not go their way.
I find this as well. Parents come complaining to me that their child doesn’t want to read because it is too hard. Again they just need to do a little practice requiring a little effort and they will be rewarded with a boosted self esteem because their efforts have led to success.