[FocusOnBasics 502] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?Somecomments
Craig Alinder
info at gaming-pc.net
Wed Sep 27 11:13:11 EDT 2006
Well Said Bonnita. I agree that involving the student in goal setting and evaluation is an essential part of a successfull, collaborative educational experience. This has the added bonus of teaching goal setting skills at the same time as you teach your specific subject area. I also think it is important to celebrate success when goals are reached.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Craig Alinder
Escuela del Sol Montessori
1114 Seventh St. NW
Albuquerque, NM 87110
http://www.merchant-reviews.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Bonnita Solberg" <bdsunmt at sbcglobal.net>
To: "The Focus on Basics Discussion List" <focusonbasics at nifl.gov>
Sent: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 8:10 AM
Subject: [FocusOnBasics 501] Re: Low Self-Esteem: Myth or Reality?Somecomments
> One way an educator can focus on success without
> unwarranted external praise is a collaboration between
> teacher and student to set individual goals for the
> student's participation in the program. The result is
> a reasonable, definable and practical measure for
> success that is backed by a student portfolio which
> includes test results, samples of class work, ESL
> Diary, etc. All this feedback, together with
> anonymous student evaluation of tasks assigned by the
> teacher. informs the instructional process, thereby
> insuring that teaching methods and goals are meeting
> the needs of the students. We also give certificates
> when stduents are advanced to the next level and
> generally have a celebration to acknowledge their
> success. Some students have commented that they have
> never received any recognition, including a
> certificate. I for one use "smiley faces
> reinforcement" only rarely so the impact is greater
> than if used on a daily basis, although I do "smile"
> often during class and use humor as often as
> appropriate. Bonnita
>
> --- Craig Alinder <info at gaming-pc.net> wrote:
>
>> In my experience with Montessori education
>> unqualified praise will actually rob a child of
>> their efforts and lead them to believe they should
>> not do things for their own worth, but solely for
>> the external praise. Personally, I believe the same
>> applies to those educating adults. Any attempt to
>> falsely raise someone's self-esteem without any
>> effort or reason for the praise, will undercut any
>> real attempt at praise when something significant is
>> accomplished. Praise loses its worth when it is
>> doled out constantly. It must be reserved for those
>> moments of success through effort, even if the
>> successes are small ones. I have a feeling there is
>> probably a statistical bell curve of educators based
>> on what is considered a "successful moment"
>> deserving praise. It seems instincts and experience
>> are the guides at this point.
>>
>> What I feel is important to point out, is that the
>> work that the educator must carefully consider what
>> level of work to give each individual to ensure
>> success is possible. In this sense, self-esteem is
>> taken into consideration, as the student must feel
>> they have a chance of success to even make an
>> attempt at completing the task at hand. Those are my
>> thoughts on the subject.
>>
>> Craig
>>
>>
>> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>> Craig Alinder
>> Escuela del Sol Montessori
>> 1114 Seventh St. NW
>> Albuquerque, NM 87110
>> http://www.merchant-reviews.com
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: Anastasiya A. Lipnevich
>> To: The Focus on Basics Discussion List
>> Sent: Tuesday, September 26, 2006 4:51 PM
>> Subject: [FocusOnBasics 495] Re: Low Self-Esteem:
>> Myth or Reality? Somecomments
>>
>>
>> Hi Barb! You raised intriguing questions and I would
>> love to hear educators' thoughts on this matter.
>> >From my personal observations, informal
>> conversations, and formal interviews with adult
>> literacy teachers, I noticed that educators could be
>> roughly split into two groups: those who believe
>> that one of the key concerns of adult literacy is to
>> raise learners' self-esteem because it's very low,
>> and unless they do it, students cannot succeed, and
>> those who think that teachers need to teach students
>> skills and knowledge, and that self-esteem will
>> naturally follow. If we look at Bandura's research,
>> he believed that the relationship between
>> self-efficacy (a concept, similar to self-esteem)
>> and achievement follows the latter pattern -- you
>> learn to do something well and your feeling of
>> self-efficacy goes up, which, in turn, affects what
>> you do in the future. Years of research showed that
>> attempts to artificially build up students'
>> self-esteem by praising every little thing they do
>> (playing a "cheerleaders' role", as Hal puts it) and
>> such, are very unlikely to lead to increas
>> ed sense of competence and self-worth. Therefore,
>> starting off from the assumption about learners' low
>> self-esteem would seem to be not quite as beneficial
>> to students as simply trying to help them learn.
>>
>> The study definitely needs replication -- we can't
>> really generalize our findings since only one adult
>> learning center was used as our research setting. I
>> have been recently contacted by a GED instructor
>> from one of the Illinois colleges, who is interested
>> in replicating my study. I am really looking forward
>> to hear about the findings. If they are similar to
>> mine, it will certainly make the case stronger.
>> Thank you for your comments!
>>
>> Ana.
>>
>>
>>
>> This discussion is rich and fascinating.
>>
>> I'm very taken with Anastasiya's research,
>> particularly since her findings resonate with much
>> of my classroom experience. Of course, it is only
>> one study and certainly needs to be replicated with
>> similar and different populations to see how robust
>> the findings are.
>>
>> In the meantime, I wonder how tied we are as
>> teachers to the idea that our students have low self
>> esteem. What role does that idea have in our views
>> of ourselves as teachers?
>> Barb Garner
>> Editor, Focus on Basics
>>
>>
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>>
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