Introduction
An important perspective for parents and teachers is learning which students show signs of low levels of confidence. This knowledge will help you determine whether or not the use of certain intervention strategies is required. Becoming aware of the symptoms that indicate low levels of confidence will reduce frustration for both you and the students in your class and allow for more realistic intervention and expectations.
A high risk student lacking confidence is usually a student that has experienced possibly severe emotional, social, environmental or academic stress and /or failure. As a result of this intense turmoil, many symptoms are generated in a dynamic attempt to alleviate the anxiety. They can show up in many different behavior patterns. Some of the more common ones that can be exhibited by either elementary or secondary students while in school are:
1 – A history of adequate or high first quarter grades followed by a downward trend leading to failures in the final quarter.
2 – A history of excessive absences.
3 – A history of excessive lateness.
4 – Frequently cannot separate from parent at the start of he school day. While this can be normal behavior in very young children, it becomes a more serious symptom after age 6 or 7.
5 – High achievement scores and high school abilities index with a history of low academic performance.
6 – Consistent failure in two or more quarters of at least two subjects.
7 – A history of parent “coverage” for inappropriate behavior, poor work performance, poor attitude, failures , or absences.
8 – Students wandering the halls after school with no direction or purpose.
9 – A history of constant projection onto others as a reason for a lack of performance , handing in work , failures, or cutting.
10 – A history of feeling powerless in the student’s approach to problems.
11 – Recent stress related experiences i.e. divorce, separation, death of a parent or parent’s loss of employment.
12 – A history of constant visits to the nurse.
13 – Social withdrawal from peers with an emphasis on developing relationships with adults.
Once a pattern of low confidence is identified it is then important for teachers to understand how this may interfere with the child’s ability to learn. Children who lack confidence are not “stubborn” or “lazy”. The real reasons for a lack of academic production or inappropriate behavior may lie in their dynamic state of low confidence and how it affects their ability to learn in the classroom.
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