Useful strategies to help pupils build self-esteem
- · Create opportunity for students to express themselves
o One way could be to pose relatively easy question to students who have low self-esteem so that they can have experiences of success before throwing them more challenging questions.
o Wait time is also very important. Too short may be insufficient for students to think and answer the question; too long might be embarrassing for the student. Therefore, I feel that this shows that TEACHING IS BOTH A SCIENCE AND ART. Teachers need to know the pedagogical principles of teaching and the content knowledge but also be flexible and twist the “science” part to accommodate the situation and student like an “artist”. Once again, I feel strongly for the notion that teachers can never be replaced by robotsJ. There can be the best computer program that delivers the best knowledge information but there can never be a program that gives teaching the personal touch.
- · Treat each person as an unique individual
- · Don’t dumb talk or talk down to pupils (each person has his/her own strengths and weaknesses)
· In my own opinion, I feel that as teachers, we should be aware of our student’s profile, get to know them as an individual. I remember the tutor mentioning an instance where a teacher calls her pupils by register number. I was really shocked by that because it seems no different as treating your pupils as prisoners, identified only by serial numbers and not their personality etc. While it is not easy to memorize every student’s name, it would certainly indicate to the child that you value them and want to know them if you make the effort to match their face to their names. One suggestion would be to acknowledge to the class that you do not have a super-sonic memory and thus, unable to immediately remember their names, BUT emphasize to them that you will try your best to familiarize yourself with their names and faces and display the confidence that each and every student will be able to contribute and achieve his/her goals if they are willing to work hand-in-hand with you.
- · A particular point in the lecture struck me: Having a genuine interest in the children and their problems and helping them with it. Let the child know that he/she is cared for. I believe that we all have the ability to differentiate “genuine” vs “fake” concern. As teachers, we should try to remain objective and not display overly obvious favoritism (personally I feel that it is almost impossible not to have a particular student(s) that we like or find cute). I remember my maths tutor, Dr Lee sharing with us one of his strategy: He would purposely pay more attention and ask more questions to pupils whom he “dislike” so as to get to know them better and also “train” himself to “like” them. When teachers show genuine interest in the child, it would make the child feel like he is valued and worth something, thereby increasing his self-esteem.
Take-aways
- · How should we deal with overly-high self-esteem pupils?
o I agree with what our tutor and class mention: Self-esteem is multi-faceted. A pupil may have high self-esteem regarding his academic-self but low on his social-self. While we need not blatantly point out to the child his weaknesses, I think that we should raise awareness that no one is perfect. We could use ourselves as examples (e.g., teacher is also not perfect, I am scared of heights), we could also bring in famous people (e.g., Walt Disney: was fired by a newspaper editor as he was deemed to be lacking in imagination. He faced many obstacles including bankruptcy and business failures but his determination eventually paid off. Source: http://www.onlinecollege.org/2010/02/16/50-famously-successful-people-who-failed-at-first/)
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