As discussed in this week's class, confidence and competence play a huge role in the classroom as well as a child's overall success. I believe that self-confidence or lack thereof, can make or break one's success. It is critical for a student to feel safe and comfortable in the classroom. It's good to make mistakes, ask questions or admit you don't know something because that is how you learn.
When volunteering with a grade one class, there was one student who was always smiling, laughing and was engaged in almost every subject. The moment it was time to do independent reading he would act out, distract other students or refuse to read. I realized that this student had the lowest reading level in the class and it was not because he wasn't smart enough but because he lacked confidence in himself. He was not comfortable reading or writing and so this challenge became even more daunting. As other students progressed in their reading, he did not do so as quickly and so he became even more discouraged and became more disruptive. After a couple of days of working with him privately, I realized that when he was feeling confident (maybe because he had excelled in the subject prior to literacy or was having a good day) he was not only more willing to read and learn but was also doing so a faster rate than normal.
As he began to feel more comfortable with me and in our reading space, his confidence grew and he gradually improved more and more. Building confidence and promoting hard work is more beneficial than praising fixed intelligence or competence because it allows children to better handle new challenges and encourages growth whereas the latter, instills a value system based on abilities which can be discouraging when children find a task they cannot do.
Keegan@NU
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