Pedagogical Exploration of Building Student Confidence
The overarching question guiding my planning of, teaching of, and reflection on three small-group kindergarten lessons is the following:
How can I build students' confidence in themselves as capable learners?
The Story Behind the Question
As I taught in the Dominican Republic, I was struck by the students’ attitudes toward school. They had decided by first grade whether or not school was something they were “good” at, and they had separated themselves into those who were good at school and those who weren’t. Even in the United States, this attitude pervades many schools. Students decide they’re good at math or science, or they’re not. Or, students live in such high-performance environments that they are terrified to make mistakes and spend their school careers trying to prove themselves. I want to fight this trend by teaching in a way that enables each of my students to be successful and thus to see him- or herself as a capable learner.
Related to helping students see themselves as capable learners, I want to help students see that education matters. For my students in the Dominican Republic, education can be a way out of generational poverty, a way to find work that provides a steady income, a way to make sure the family has food to eat. Students say they want to be doctors or teachers or businessmen when they grow up, but because so many people around them tell them, “You can’t,” they struggle to persevere in their studies. By middle school, most students have lowered their expectations and abandoned their dreams, talking instead of being housewives, construction workers, and metal workers, none of which provide stable income.
I want to encourage my students to believe that whatever their goals and dreams are, they can achieve them, and education is a step toward doing that. I want them to believe that they can succeed in school, and that they can be doctors and teachers and lawyers if they persevere. My desire is for each student to reach his or her full potential both in and out of school. This starts in the classroom, where I will strive to create a supportive community environment that encourages students to challenge themselves, learn from their mistakes, and see that they can indeed succeed in school.
Related to helping students see themselves as capable learners, I want to help students see that education matters. For my students in the Dominican Republic, education can be a way out of generational poverty, a way to find work that provides a steady income, a way to make sure the family has food to eat. Students say they want to be doctors or teachers or businessmen when they grow up, but because so many people around them tell them, “You can’t,” they struggle to persevere in their studies. By middle school, most students have lowered their expectations and abandoned their dreams, talking instead of being housewives, construction workers, and metal workers, none of which provide stable income.
I want to encourage my students to believe that whatever their goals and dreams are, they can achieve them, and education is a step toward doing that. I want them to believe that they can succeed in school, and that they can be doctors and teachers and lawyers if they persevere. My desire is for each student to reach his or her full potential both in and out of school. This starts in the classroom, where I will strive to create a supportive community environment that encourages students to challenge themselves, learn from their mistakes, and see that they can indeed succeed in school.
My Current Beliefs
Every student is capable of learning. Every child can learn to read, write, do math, engage in scientific investigations, think critically, express him/herself artistically, and engage in higher-order thinking. Related to this, I believe that one of the best things I can do as a teacher is instill in my students a love of learning. As a K-2 teacher, I teach children at a critical age when they are often deciding if school is “for them.” If I can create a classroom environment that sparks curiosity, provide engaging materials and lessons, and encourage students, then students will begin to enjoy and engage in school. I have seen this happen before, and I have seen how it affects the way a child thinks about him/herself. My hope is that once students believe that they can succeed in the classroom will they begin to take ownership of their education, investing themselves more and more in their learning.
My job as the teacher is to meet each student at his or her level, then teach in a way that moves the student to the next level, whatever that means for an individual student. If I truly want to help my students see themselves as capable learners, I have to set realistically high expectations, provide the scaffolding my students need to reach those expectations, and then celebrate their successes. Giving students easy tasks so that they will feel successful is counterproductive – even young children know when work is always too easy, and they, in my experience, tend to “check out” of class when they don’t feel challenged. This is what Vygotsky calls the "zone of proximal development" and Piaget calls the "zone of accommodation."[1] Providing the support for my students to succeed is critical and must be both assessed and provided at the level of the individual student. To practice this effectively, I must know my students well – both their strengths and their challenges – so that I can appropriately scaffold my instruction.
[1] Byrnes, J. P. (2007). Cognitive development in learning and in instructional contexts. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Chs 1&2.
My job as the teacher is to meet each student at his or her level, then teach in a way that moves the student to the next level, whatever that means for an individual student. If I truly want to help my students see themselves as capable learners, I have to set realistically high expectations, provide the scaffolding my students need to reach those expectations, and then celebrate their successes. Giving students easy tasks so that they will feel successful is counterproductive – even young children know when work is always too easy, and they, in my experience, tend to “check out” of class when they don’t feel challenged. This is what Vygotsky calls the "zone of proximal development" and Piaget calls the "zone of accommodation."[1] Providing the support for my students to succeed is critical and must be both assessed and provided at the level of the individual student. To practice this effectively, I must know my students well – both their strengths and their challenges – so that I can appropriately scaffold my instruction.
[1] Byrnes, J. P. (2007). Cognitive development in learning and in instructional contexts. Boston: Allyn & Bacon. Chs 1&2.