Issue #24 – “How To” Series

In This Issue:

How To Create a Positive Classroom Environment Part I

&

How To Create a Positive Classroom Environment Part II

Introduction

Developing a sense of confidence will be crucial right from the start. Children with disabilities all too often lack a sense of confidence in their academic ability. Further, this lack of confidence may have a direct effect on their perception, cooperation, willingness to try etc. Children with low confidence tend to be more rigid, more sensitive, over-reactive, more insecure, and more vulnerable. How do teachers expect children with low self-confidence to absorb anything, when most of their energy is going into self-protection? Therefore, you may want to consider the concept of Positive Restructuring.

Creating a classroom environment to ensure successful experiences is referred to as Positive Restructuring. There is no doubt that Positive Restructuring requires a great deal of work. However, the long term effects and benefits greatly outweigh any amount of work. Why would any teacher not want to guarantee success and develop a child’s overall sense of confidence? As educators, we have an obligation to question any teaching style that frustrates children, makes them feel like failures, reinforces their inadequacy, promotes negative self-worth, exposes them to ego deflating experiences, and promotes teacher “ego” at the expense of student failure (belittling students in front of others).

There are 20 principles involved in Positive Restructuring that need to be conveyed to students and parents right from the start of the school year:

1. Empowerment: Empowerment says. “It is not as important to use power, as it is to know we have it when we need it. Providing a student with educational tools e.g. calculator, dictionary that he/she can turn to at a time of doubt can enhance one’s feelings of security.

 

2. Hope: Hope is the genuine belief that we have a direct effect on the outcome of a situation. When a student feels hopeless he/she feel powerless. By having hope, students will tend to take more risks and chances because they believe they can succeed.

 

3. Resiliency: The student’s ability to bounce back from an unsuccessful experience. For example a student with high resiliency who fails a test would be more willing to look at the factors as to why he/she may have failed rather than giving up.

 

4. Security: A classroom is a child’s second home. As a teacher, it is your responsibility to create the warmest and comforting environment so that the children in your classroom can work to their potential without worry.

 

5. Recognition: Everyone needs to be validated. This need is normally provided by parents. However, teachers are second to parents in the child’s desire to please and attain validation for performance and effort. Validation provides motivation and incentive to continue working. A lack of recognition and validation inhibits desire since the belief is that “no one cares what I do anyway.”

 

6. A Sense of Completion: The feeling one gets from a completion of a task is crucial to the development of confidence. Confidence is reinforced by the belief that one’s behavior will for the most part play a crucial role in leading to completion of some task, project etc. In Positive Restructuring this sense of completion is enhanced by control over the assigned work to ensure success.

 

7. Develop Decision Making Skills: You will need to teach your students the concepts of delay before making decisions so that they learn to consider all possible consequences. Many times children with learning disabilities act impulsively and add to their problematic situation with poor judgment and a lack of awareness of consequences.

 

8. A Sense of Accomplishment:You will need to provide tasks that every child will be able to finish with a feeling of success. Do not be afraid to limit the assignments, or the level of difficulty in favor of a sense of completion. Once confidence is developed, the student will have more motivation if you offer more lengthy assignments with a different level of difficulty.

 

9. A Sense of Initiation without fear:Children who are more confident will be more willing to ask questions and clarify issues with the teacher thereby preventing problems or failures. Providing an atmosphere of acceptance, tolerance, and reassurance will allow children to approach without fear or concern.

 

10. An enjoyment of school: Children who feel more confident will look forward to coming to school. Keep in mind that success breeds success and everyone likes being in a place that reinforces their feelings of self-worth.

 

11. The belief that every child is capable of being successful:Students need to start believing from the start that they are all capable of success in some or all areas of school. What prevents many students from this belief is the amount, type, and level of work that is presented to them, coupled with the definition of “success” used by many educators. When “success” is defined as a group comparison, i.e. tests, SAT’s etc., then failure will always occur. Why do schools need failure by some students? What purpose to the system is really served by students’ failing grades? Other than a reduction of confidence, setting them off from other students who scored higher, feelings of inadequacy, parental anger and frustration, resentment, avoidance, there is nothing served. The belief that children learn by failure is really a tragedy to the educational system. Schools really practice what we call triage education that is the belief that one has to accept a certain amount of “casualties by failure.” Do we really believe that society would tolerate a medical system of a hospital that suffered 25% death rate? There would be a public outcry and immediate change. But no such outcry exists in today’s schools. You must decide within yourself whether or not you believe that all students are capable of succeeding in school, and if not, why? Schools tend to accept failure and point to unmotivated or trouble youth as the cause. We believe that we need to look at the delivery system used by schools. Don’t always look at the high death rate in a hospital as an indication of how unhealthy people are getting, the real problem may be the delivery system of medical attention.

 

12. The belief that every child has potential that may not have been exhibited up to this point:It is not realistic to believe that all schools provide the opportunity for all children to express their true potential. The only thing that schools may offer is the opportunity for some to exhibit their academic potential, limited sports potential through gym activities, creative ability in a few areas i.e. art, music, and that is about it. The areas of potential may include but are not limited to the following:

• Creative
• Intellectual
• Recreational
• Physical
• Academic
• Sports
• Social

Schools need to explore every area possible to see where a child’s true potential may lie. It is true that potential may not appear until certain ages, however, it is never too early to start exploring. Potential is an area that adds to a child’s identity both in and out of school.

Through the use of interest inventories geared to potential, discussion, interviews with students and parents, observation and so on, the teacher needs to develop a mentality that believes that everything good about a child does not always happen in school.

13. Confidence is the necessary foundation for feeling good about yourself and your ability:Building a house on top of water is not as reliable as one built on land. Children have to be taught that building confidence is a process that develops from successful experiences and not overnight.

 

14. There is definite hope even though the student may not have felt successful up to this point:Failure forces children into closets labeled failure or inadequate. Coaxing a child out of this “closet” is not easy but can occur with recognition of the difficulty he/she has faced, coupled with the hope of change. Children who lack confidence in schools tend to “cocoon, that is pull in within themselves.

 

15. That you, the teacher, are in charge and know what you are doing:Conveying a strong leadership message to children will provide the structure that someone knows how to get the most out of them. Being a good lifeguard is a crucial step in having children feel secure and confident.

 

16. It will not take forever to build confidence: Children need to be informed that there is a light at the end of a tunnel and that if they work with you, they will see results within 30 days.

 

17. Once you have confidence, you will be motivated to try other experiences: Success breeds success. A child who lacks confidence will have a very small safety zone, the area in which he/she feels adequate or comfortable. However, small safety zones also carry along the following:

• unwillingness to try new experiences
• giving up easily
• rigidity
• low frustration tolerances
• lack of new experiences
• self-doubt
• boredom
• social isolation
• loneliness
• avoidance
• lack of tolerance for others
• and many more

Have a discussion on what life would be like living in a closet versus outdoors. The limitations of a small safety zone and the excitement of increasing the zone need to be presented.

18. There are reasons for not feeling confident: Children need to understand how inadequacy and a lack of confidence occurs. They need to know that it does not just appear, that it is a process, just like regaining confidence. A discussion about why children lose confidence needs to be discussed. Some examples may include:

• school failure
• socially unpopular
• family issues
• physical limitations
• few feelings of success
• no one to believe in them
• lack of recognition

 

19. All children will not become confident at the same time but that does not mean it cannot happen:

Children will need to know that like growing, confidence grows in individuals at different rates. Therefore it is important for them to realize that some children will gain confidence more quickly, but that does not mean they will not. Reaching confidence is not a competition, but a process that can exist in all children.

 

20. Feeling confident and good about yourself are always better than feeling inadequate:

Children who lack confidence and feelings of inadequacy learn to function in a state of unnaturalness. This may be a long-standing issue for some children. They have to learn that feeling good about yourself in any way is always better than feeling inadequate, even if it is the only feeling they know.

Teaching children who lack confidence that feeling good is a better place to be, may be like convincing a feral child that there is more to life than the forest. They have no frame of reference but with work, will begin to feel the results of confidence, a more natural state for the human condition.

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Introduction

Confident children seem to share certain characteristics. In their relationships with both teachers and parents, they show in many ways that they are empowered, hopeful, autonomous, resilient, and secure. They are also accomplished, receive recognition for their accomplishments, and persevere even when things don’t go as they would like. Finally, for the most part they genuinely seem to enjoy life, both at school and at home. The ideas described here, if practiced in the classroom, will help students enjoy the environment they are in and believe in themselves as they never have before. The building of confidence in your students should be a process rather than a hit and miss approach. The following suggestions will enhance the factors in the human condition that lead to a sense of self worth and overall confidence.

Remember, confidence is based on actual successful experiences, not just telling a student that he or she is intelligent, creative etc. so providing these opportunities will be crucial. The main goals in building confidence are to provide tasks and an environment that results in sense of completion and a sense of accomplishment.

Empowerment

Empowerment means being given the authority or power to act as you wish. For many students, knowing they are empowered is actually more important than actually exercising that power. In the classroom, the empowerment that comes from having educational tools they can turn to promotes a sense of security and help build the foundation of confidence. Without a sense of empowerment, students may become rigid and hesitant, always waiting for you to tell them what to do next or how to solve problems.

Children who do not feel empowered:

• May be unwilling to try new things
• Hesitate initiating activities
• Procrastinate or use avoidance out of fear of asking questions
• Lack resources to solve problems
• Do not have the ability to see solutions
• Exhibit learned helplessness

Classroom Practices to enhance empowerment

Allow the use of:

• Math tables and formulas during tests
• Calculators to check work
• Computer resources to find answers
• Dictionaries for in class writing assignments and spelling
• A thesaurus to help find words for writing assignments
• Give several examples similar to upcoming problems or questions
• Permit students to collaborate on finding answers
• Provide several alternate ways of responding to a task

Hope

Hope is desire accompanied by the belief in one’s ability to complete of a task. When students feel hopeless, they feel powerless. If they have hope and believe they can succeed, students will tend to take more risks and chances.

Students who feel hopeless:

• Tend to give up easily
• Tend to negate his or her progress or ability
• Are unwilling to try things or take a chance
• Are resistant
• Are external in their thinking and believe why bother it really doesn’t matter anyway

Classroom Practices to foster hope

• Provide shorter but more frequent assignments to increase chances of completion and success.
• Check small groups of problems at a time rather than waiting until the end so that students can correct any mistakes they are making in the process prior to completing the entire task.
• Prove students with short, positive daily progress reports.
• Send parents reports on progress areas rather than problem areas. Word problem areas as “areas being worked on” or “areas in need of further attention.” The language of a letter or note home can have positive or negative results and in turn affect the hope and motivation of the student to continue trying.
• Bridge areas that may give students trouble so that they can move on and complete the task. Teach them to ask for a “helping bridge” from you if they are stuck and not sure how to proceed.

Autonomy

Another important quality found in confident children is a sense of autonomy, or the belief that you have the ability to govern yourself. Individuals seek a quality of human functioning that has at its core the desire to determine their own behavior; they have an innate need to feel autonomous and to have control over their lives. This need for self-determination is satisfied when individuals are free to behave of their own volition—to engage in activities because they want to, not because they have to.  At its core is the freedom to choose and to have choices, rather than being forced or coerced to behave according to the desires of another.” –James P Raffini, 150 Ways to Increase Intrinsic Motivation in the Classroom.

Compared to students of controlling teachers and to pawn-like students, students of autonomy-supportive teachers and origin-like students show the following positive educational and developmental outcomes:

• Higher academic achievement
• Greater perceived competence
• Higher sense of self-worth and self-esteem
• Enhanced conceptual learning
• Greater creativity
• Preference for challenge
• More positive emotional tone
• Increased school attendance and retention

“Deadlines, threats, competition, imposed goals, surveillance, and evaluations were all found to undermine intrinsic motivation….It seemed that if controlling people–that is, pressuring them to behave in particular ways–diminishes their feelings of self-determination, then giving them choices about how to behave ought to enhance them…. Research has confirmed that choice enhances people’s intrinsic motivation, so when people participate in decisions about what to do, they will be more motivated and committed to the task–to being sure that the task gets done well….  People who were asked to do a particular task but allowed the freedom of having some say in how to do it were more fully engaged by the activity–they enjoyed it more—than people who were not treated as unique individuals….  It is thus important that people in positions of authority begin to consider how to provide more choice….  Why not give students choice about what field trips to take and what topics to write their papers about, for example.” Edward Deci, Why We Do What We Do

Students who lack autonomy will:

• Be more dependent
• Will have problems offering opinions
• Will be easily influenced by others
• Will change their opinion if it is unpopular even if it is right
• Will lack direction or a plan of action

Classroom Practices to enhance autonomy

• Give students time to do independent work, enjoy hobbies, or pursue areas of interest and curiosity
• Allow students to work on their own ideas
• Allow students choices or options for projects rather than telling them what must be done
• Allow student to share their own ideas and areas of interests with others
• Give students responsibility for aspects of their own learning i.e. determining the order of lessons, types of evaluation measures used, timelines for completion

Resiliency

Resiliency is the ability to bounce back from unsuccessful experiences and maintain a perspective that requires the student to think about what needs to be done to change the outcome the next time. A student with high resiliency who fails a test is likely to be willing to look at the factors that contributed to his lack of success, then try again.  Resiliency is an important component of self confidence and success.

Students who lack resiliency:

• Give up easily
• Have low frustration tolerances
• Pout
• Become stubborn and withdrawn when confronted with frustration
• Sees everything as negative
• Becomes blame oriented
• Becomes self deprecating

Classroom practices to enhance resiliency

• Provide repeated successful experiences even if the task or job being given was given and successfully completed several times before
• Provide students with the opportunity to correct their work to master concepts and improve their grades
• Give student the opportunity to drop their lowest grade so that one bad score does not destroy his/her motivation
• Teach the child to set realistic attainable goals

Accomplishment

A feeling of accomplishment is the sense that you have brought something about by your own efforts. Confidence is the belief that one’s behavior will, for the most part, lead to successful completion of tasks or projects. In Positive Restructuring this sense of accomplishment is enhanced by assigning work that will ensure student’s success.

Feeling a sense of accomplishment does not mean that a task or assignment must be completed in its entirety. A child can feel good about him or herself because he/she was able to find a specific answer to part of an assignment, persevered in his/her work, or gave it his/her best effort.

A sense of accomplishment provides closure, a necessary factor in believing in one’s ability and one’s capacity to be successful.

Children who lack a sense of accomplishment will:

• Procrastinate
• Avoid
• Give up very easily on a task
• See every task as too hard

Classroom practices to enhance a sense of accomplishment

• Have parents check homework every night so that all assignment are complete when the child comes to school
• Provide tasks, in whatever form possible, that allow for the highest chance of accomplishment and closure
• Provide assignments, projects, tasks in such a way as to control successful outcomes
• Have students use a step by step approach to tasks and assignments so that they can feel successful at the completion of every step
• Provide sufficient time for students to complete work or extra time for students who need it. Remember a sense of accomplishment is the key
• Give students a checklist of work they have completed rather than lists of work they need to complete.

Recognition

Everyone needs to be recognized-to receive special notice or attention. Parents normally provide much of a child’s need for recognition. However, teachers are a very close second to parents when it comes to a child’s desire to please and be recognized for performance and effort. Without recognition, students may lose their desire to try, believing that no one cares what they do. Recognition enhances motivation, especially intrinsic motivation-that is, choosing to do an activity not for external rewards but for the internal satisfaction derived from the activity itself. Although recognition is an extrinsic or external reward, over time it becomes internalized.

Children who do not feel a sense of recognition will:

• Crave attention at inappropriate times
• Use spot light behaviors i.e. class clown to derive negative recognition
• May exhibit frequent visits to the nurse
• Put down other students who are getting recognition in positive ways
• Find negative ways to gain recognition i.e., bully

Classroom practices that enhance a feeling of recognition

• Provide frequent verbal or written validation (e.g. “Thanks for helping Billy yesterday, Good job in keeping your desk neat)
• Give spontaneous notes of praise and leave them on the student’s desk
• Write positive notes and letters to parents
• Go to students with complements rather than them always feeling they have to do something to get recognition
• Share a student’s success outside of school with the class
• Have a positive recognition day where everyone gets to share nice things they have done

Perseverance

Perseverance means to pursue a goal in the face of difficulty, discouragement, frustration, or opposition. Continuing when the going is rough means that students have built enough confidence to have internalized the belief that there is a direct relationship between effort and achievement. Once students have internalized this belief, they are less frustrated and more resilient, solution oriented, willing to take chances and be goal oriented.

Children who lack perseverance will:

• Give up easily
• Throw tantrums or pout when frustrated
• Verbally beat themselves up
• Be resistant to new activities

Classroom practices to enhance perseverance:

• Provide rewards for trying
• Recognize sustained effort
• Break down long term assignments into manageable steps
• Have students work in teams to have a sense of group accomplishment and help each other through hard times
• Give rewards at several steps along the way to enhance the desire to stick with something to the end

In conclusion, you have the power to provide a wonderful environment where children can grow, learn, and most of all feel great about themselves and their ability. Confidence does not happen by chance, and your role, especially in today’s society is so very crucial in determining the outcome of a child’s self-worth and feelings about his/her future.

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NASET’s “How To” Create a Positive Classroom Environment Part I ,CLICK HERE

NASET’s “How To” Create a Positive Classroom Environment Part II , CLICK HERE

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