Guest Facilitator

Joseph:

I agree. Isn't it amazing to think of how many times I have made an assumption about someone and allowed the learning to be hindered. I am especially conscious of my words to my children, and other peoples' words to my children.

Lou Russell

Brenda Gaddy

never underestimate anyone.

Guest Facilitator

Dear Brenda:

Could you say more about how you would do this in one of your classes? What would it look like when you don't underestimate the students?

Lou Russell

LaWanda Bowles-Costello

I've seen it over and over - predetermining a person's destiny. Instructors believing students will not succeed. I spoke w/ a student yesterday about the "self-fulfilling prophecy". She's struggling in Math and is "bottled" with lots of negativity. If she doesn't channel her energy to positive thinking - her results in class will lead to destruction. As Educators, we must constantly encourage our students. Did someone ever encourage you while you were in school?

Guest Facilitator

LaWanda -

Your observations are consistent with research done in elementary school classrooms. Students cannot be strong and capable unless we treat them as strong and capable. We won't treat them this way unless we truly believe they are.

Thanks for sharing!

Lou Russell

It was great to see this explained and put into context. It really reinforces what you should be doing. Teacher Jaime Escalante was brought to mind.

Carol Myslinski

Hello,

Students have an amazing ability to pick up on the instructor's cues. It's the instructor's job to inspire confidence. This is a theory that benefits teachers as well. We sometimes forget that teachers need a boost of confidence as well.

Carol Myslinski

Hello,

I remember this one student who failed English over and over again. When she failed the last time, she cried and cried. Students had to pass a pass/fail exit exam before proceeding to the next level. I tried everything I could to encourage her.

My question to the class is, where do we draw the line between encouragement and false hope?

Jay Hollowell

Hi Carol! This is a difficult question and I'm not sure that there is even a perceived line between encouragement and false hope. Encouragement is always needed because the level of success for each student is different. We don't want to lead a student down the wrong path, but false hope is most likely a perception.

I had a student in my Accounting class once who was required to take the course as part of her medical administrative degree, but she could not get it despite repeated efforts. I finally made her promise me that she would never manage any accounting records, gave her substantial extra credit and passed her with a minimal grade.

In the case with your student and English, it is a different situation. Was it a standardized test? Perhaps a different way of assessing her progress that more aligned to her learning style or challenges might be an alternative, plus many other forms of support such as peer tutoring, or alternative assignments.

I'm hesitant to draw the line myself, I don't think encouragement facilitates false hope, but misdirection does - we need to make sure that our students' capabilities and goals are in alignment with our programs, then handle special needs and challenges as they occur.

Thanks for your question and all of your participation.

Jay Hollowell
ED107 Guest Facilitator

Bill Arbes

Joseph - I have also learned that the students frequenlty come to expect of themselves what I as their instructor expect of myself.

Nolan Cook

On a somewhat related note, Barbara Ehrenreich has a new book out that discusses the problems with "positive thinking" vs. realism. The book, Bright-sided: How the Relentless Promotion of Positive Thinking Has Undermined America, focuses on her idea that the positive thinking movement actually does more harm than good. She discusses how positive thinking and denial of reality helped in causing the current economic recession.

I personally believe that we, as educators, should certainly continually encourage our students to do better and strive for academic success. However, after reading Ehrenreich's book, I also agree with her that we should really take a step back and look at our affinity for positive thinking (while sometimes ignoring the reality of the situation).

Holly Morss

I agree. I have many students that I talk to over and over about their negativity. They tell themselves that they will fail and then they do. I try to be encouraging which works sometimes. Often, with lab skills, I tell them to stop overthinking and just do it, you know what you're doing! I also ask them, "What is the worst possible thing that could happen?" After they reply, they relize that even the worst case scenario is really not that bad.

Jay Hollowell

Hi Holly! Thanks for your observations. Reminding students not to "overthink" is an excellent idea; I think that adult learners, because of possible doubts and lack of confidence, can sometimes make things harder than they are. Supporting them, step-by-step,is a sure-fire confidence builder.

Jay Hollowell
Guest Facilitator
ED107

Kari Johnson

During my first quarter teaching, I had a student in class who had failed the class last quarter. She talked to me about what changes she could make to improve this quarter. I told her that I wanted all of the students to do well. She was shocked. The students had felt like the teachers weren't that supportive of them. This definitely becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Arlene Eliason

I plan to teach well enough so that students CAN reach an A or B if they work as hard as I do. I tell them this up front. For the first few weeks, I find a moment to talk to lower students (usually alone before class or during a break) about what they are studying. I give them ideas on how to do better. Most of the time they improve. No, they don't all get the As or Bs, but I do get a strong effort from most students.

Michael Kocher

There is no doubt that many students bring on their own negativity. I have found that the more negative that a student is the more likely they will have a hard time passing the course.

Jane Davis

Greetings to each of you!

As the new facilitator for ED107, I have been going back and reading as many discussion threads as possible. This one I found particualarly interesting and relevant to my personal education process.

Throughout my educational process, I was a very non-traditional student - married, family, full-time job, husband in military and often away AND I was taking one and two evening courses. Invariably, the most difficult courses for me were those that the instructor had no expectations of success from his students. It was simply a job!

Becuase of this attitude attendance was low, interaction in the classroom was poor and dropout rate was high. AND - I, personally, never felt successful at the end of the course.

So - once I became a classroom instructor/facilitator, I viewed every student in class as being successful and it was my job to encourage them to that end. Because of that approach, the student with the most challenging reputation in the school would often do very well. We all like positive reenforcement and to feel accomplished.

I know this has been a long comment but one very near to my heart as I struggled to educate myself in some classrooms that were less than encouraging than others. Be knowledgeable on your topic, encourage students and be positive about their ourcomes and both student and instructor/facilitator are successful.

Thank goodness, there are more instructors like each of you. Keep up the good work!

Jane Davis
ED107 Facilitator

Virginia Rud

I hate to admit this, but I have been guilty of doing this. It never occurred to me that I did in fact influence the outcome for the student. With this information, I will make every effort to avoid these negative expectations.

Roger Riebsam CHEP

I find used to find myself making snap judgements about a person or their work abilities,some time i was right. but latley i have been trying not to predetermine my students and let there actions speak for them self. and i noticed that if i put my feelings aside then the students who are supseptible to the pygmalion effect. if i offer advice instead jhumping to conclusions then they preform a lot better