Self-Fulfilling Prophecy
I foound this to be very true, especially with students who hae struggled in school beofer. I have a lot of students who did not succeed in HS, and they feel that no one has faith in them, which causes them to fail. When I get these students and remind them that they can do it, they usally meet and/or exceed my expectations. I think that a little encouragement really goes a long way.
Very true... my experience with students is quite similar. I have observed that students I talk to more during the class breaks tend to be very responsive and actively participate in class sessions. In contrast, a relative few who I noticed would not manifest the same responsiveness were those who I recall did not obtain the same amount of conversation time I have rendered to the others. I acknowledge that I have learned significantly from this module.
Noel,
this is a great point & demonstrates how important the personal touch is to our students & our work with them.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I don't think anything is more important in teaching than letting students know that you believe they can do well in my class. I always ask them at the end of the term - "What was the most important thing you learned in this class?", and inevitably they will tell me that they learned that they could do it. Since I teach the first two semesters of general ed, it is important for them to know that I believe they can make it through the next 22 months.
Claudia,
this is key & challening them while encouraging is crucial to this.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I have been tutoring students in math and find this to be very true as well. Students tell me that they can't do Math and I tell them that I will prove them wrong and that they will soon be helping their classmates. It always happens.
I have the starting students two days a week the other two days they have which they tell me is a very challenging English class. I like to start by giving easy assignments and making sure I grade generously, with a hard copy of their grades given right away. This I do to give them confidence, some of these people have never been given an A before, you can see the face light up and the pride swell, I find this to be a good start.
I cannot agree more with your observation on students who struggled in high school automatically having a negative attitude toward a class. I try to remove any self-doubt very early on in the course. My students are technical in nature and I teach general education classes where they typically struggled in high school.
I like to use myself as an example of a self fulfilling prophecy. If you explain to the students the step by step methods to achieve their goal and affirm it's do-able using your own and other examples( including their's) the self fulfilling prophecy can work for the positive deelopment, not negative development.
Mary,
it is very powerful for the students to see the living example in their instructor.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I think the Pygmalion principle can even be true in reverse for Instructors. A positive attitude can be difficult at times but definitely reflects in the overall classroom behavior and experience. How can we encourage them in the very beginning when they feel overwhelmed with new content?
I am a firm believer in the fact that, it only takes one person to show you that they believe in you. Students find that empowering. They end up believing in themselves, and its an amazing thing to watch, as a student starts to believe in themselves. Its rewarding, to know that you took a part in it.
Melissa,
and the more encouraging we can be to our students & demonstrate that we believe they can be successful the more they will listen to us & seek our help when needed.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I think day one is the perfect time to reprogram the students that show up to class with a negative attitude, nobody enrolls in class expecting to fail.
After reading about the pygmalian effect ai relaized myself that I may be the factor that can get these students through. I have had excellent students and challenging students and I tried to work with the ones who were struggling some succeeded some did not but I think my personal feelings may have more to do with the outcome than I originally thought. Thanks for the insight.
At one time, I was teaching marker rendering and I would say that I could teach anyone to draw. They all learned beyond their own expectations. I know that anyone can learn anything they want to if they just believe. It's amazing!
Thomas,
yes, students can accomplish great things when they know we believe in them & we help them to believe in themselves.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
I also teach math. Many of my students have had such bad experiences learning this subject that they are math phobic! In addition to teaching the subject area, I also praise student successes and attempts at success. Students' accomplishments will rise to our expectations!
cynthia,
this is very true & too often, our students have not had success & been berated for failing, rather than being encouraged to try again.
Ryan Meers, Ph.D.
Like many other schools, we do not attract the cream of the crop with respect to academically motivated students. This provides our instructors with an opportunity to make it possible for our students to succeed in their studies, quite possibly for the first time in their lives. I try to ensure that each and every of my beginning students have every opportunity to succeed and reinforce the fact that they do every chance I get. This sets the tone for the rest of their educational experience.
