Nurturing a Struggling Student's Self-Perception

"I tin can't read." Every year I take at least one student say this to me. Sometimes it's tinged with frustration, sometimes anger. Other times it is very matter of fact, every bit if they were telling me their favorite color. Being a nonreader has get, to them, a part of who they are. I teach many students who have reached fourth or fifth grade without perceiving themselves as readers, or mathematicians, or successful students in full general.

These struggling students are all at unlike points in their journeys. Some take resigned themselves to the thought that they'll never "grab up" to "everyone else" and just endeavor to blend into the cinder block on the walls, hoping the teacher lets them float along the year, unnoticed. Others recoup for their bookish struggles past becoming the grade comedian, bully, or the extra-helpful one. They all detect some fashion to mask or dull their sadness. Reading is only ane instance; it could be whatsoever bailiwick where a student struggles.

These students about likely have been exposed to the basics more than a few times. So what can nosotros, as teachers, do? What tin can we offer that is so different than all the instruction these students have already had?

Regardless of the age level or ability, in order for someone to exist able to learn something, they need to believe they tin. Until they are open, learning is non going to happen. For example, at some bespeak you learned how to tie your shoes. You may have been the child who jumped into that and learned right away. Alternatively, you may accept been the child who information technology didn't come up to hands and had to practice many times before yous got it. If it was hard for y'all, recollect about it: At some point, through the struggle, you persevered and decided that this was something you could eventually master. You would never have learned had y'all stood at that place telling yourself that you would never figure it out. At some betoken, yous took the risk to be vulnerable and kept trying.

Helping struggling students to believe in themselves

That hope is exactly what we need to inspire and nurture in struggling students in order for them to succeed. Over the years, here are some tips I accept begun to keep in mind when working with such students:

Come across them where they are.

If you're lucky enough to exist able to spend some i-on-one time with the pupil, work with them and effigy out exactly where they are in terms of level. It is no utilize starting out two or iii class levels to a higher place the student'south head if they are non there. This will simply cause frustration for you lot and for them.

Set realistic expectations.

Let them meet success. To do this, the tasks may beginning out equally very simple. One twelvemonth I had a student who was average merely really had little-to-no literacy skills for a variety of reasons. We found a book that looked like the size of a paperback that his peers might be reading, but the reading level was actually that of a beginning reader. He was able to meet success with this volume. He took it abode night later on night and became more and more confident with information technology.

Encourage, encourage, encourage.

Information technology tin get easy for u.s.a. to overlook the small successes a educatee may take. Truthful, she still tin can't zip upwardly her glaze, but the fact that she at present puts it on herself is a step in the right direction. I always remind myself to make sure I gloat those minor successes with the student. No matter what their age, students need to go that verbal praise at every step along the style.

Help them succeed in the bigger picture.

One time they have some confidence in their new skill, encourage them to use information technology as role of a larger group in the classroom. That student who took that book domicile and memorized it to assistance himself learn to read? Somewhen he got to the indicate where he would read aloud in class. I would always preread with him to make sure he would be successful. The idea was that he felt good enough about reading to take the risk and do it in front of others.

As teachers we are and then much more than instructors, although information technology certainly is our responsibility to instruct our students. The instruction will not stick, however, until the student believes that they are capable of learning. It is that rest of coaching, supporting, and instructing that allows a teacher to make a difference for a struggling learner.

How practice y'all nurture a struggling pupil's self-perception? We'd love to hear your thoughts and ideas in our WeAreTeachers HELPLINE group on Facebook.

Plus, be conscientious what you tell your students, because they'll believe you lot.

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Source: https://www.weareteachers.com/struggling-students-self-perception/

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