As I look back over my reading from last week, chapter three, I am reminded of the powerful section titled "Self-Worth Theory: Self-Protection of Perceived Ability". A quote from Convington discusses that the self worth motive "is based on the premise that a central part of all classroom achievement is the need for students to maintain a positive image of their ability (Alderman, 2004). I too believe this to be true.
Through my brief experience as a teacher, I have seen that a positive attitude is the one key element needed for a student to succeed. With that being said, my students so not hold a positive attitude unless they succeed. Furthermore, Alderman addresses that there are four main components of "Self-Handicapping". These four include: procrastination, unattainable goals, underachieving, and academic wooden leg.
As I examined all four of the "Self-Handicapping" elements, the one that stands out most to me is unattainable goals. While as teachers, we can help strengthen the students perceptions of the other three, creating clear an attainable goals for all of our students is in our hands. I believe it to be important to set clear and measurable goals that our students can attain for their success. This does entail knowing your students person levels and where you would like them to go, but these steps will lead to the success a student has with an activity, thus increasing their motivation and self-perception for success.
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Meghan,
ReplyDeleteI found your points on unattainable goals interesting. Alderman writes about unattainable goals as a possibly high achieving students who takes too much on.. the example being taking 15 credit hours while working 30 hours a week. Even the most diligent of students probably would not be able to do it; it is a matter of time, not commitment. I felt this way sometimes during our internship program. We had masters classes, intern seminars, and then every day school stuff to be taking care of all at the same time, and it was a juggling act. At times I felt like I had to sacrifice one thing for another in order to not fail.
The part you wrote that said: I believe it to be important to set clear and measurable goals that our students can attain for their success interested me. But what about a student where the “norm” within the classroom is an unattainable goal for them? This is a position I was in my last semester in a 1-2 classroom. How can you create self-efficacy for a child who can not compete with the goals of the classroom. A child who is so far behind they can not complete any of the work assigned in its entirty and need constant personal attention. Even a 7 year old can see they are different and what can I do as an educator to show this child that this difference in ability doesn’t make them worse? I agree with you Meghan that if we know each child and their learning styles intimately can foster growth both in their learning and in increasing their motivation and sucsess. I just worry about the child coming in with so many negative experiences who is so far behind that everything seems unattainable to them, even when motivated.