Dr Ann Farley, Director of Cross Faculty Initiatives
Recently, our Philosophy of Learning students in Years 7 and 8 were asked to depict assessment as a creature. A number of their drawings showed two-headed monsters that represented the positive and negative elements of assessment. As I reflected on their pictures, I realised I identified strongly with their conflicted feelings about the contradictory nature of assessment. Each time I prepare to mark a piece of assessment, I fear that the outcome will impact negatively on some students’ confidence and future approach to learning.
I know that students approach their work in very different ways. Some are not happy with their last result and have worked incredibly hard to improve it. How will they respond if their result has not improved? Others have been very busy with multiple commitments and I suspect that they have not done adequate preparation. Will they realise that this is what has happened and make plans to monitor future commitments, or decide that it is the subject that has become too difficult? Then there are the students who demonstrate their understanding of concepts during class time but become so anxious during tests that their outcomes never match their efforts. Will they be able to learn to ‘turn off their amygdala switch’ or will they give up?
I am concerned that each student may not achieve as well as she had hoped and I worry about the impact of this disappointment. For some, I know that this will be the timely ‘wake-up call’ – that they will evaluate their actions, adjust their time management, consider commitments, and take responsibility for monitoring their progress. For others, I worry that this may confirm in their minds that, no matter how hard they try, they will never improve. Each year I see students who persevere to overcome obstacles with grit and determination while others give up as soon as they encounter even minor challenges. I know that the earlier one truly learns to take responsibility for one’s own actions through reflection, decision making, and monitoring, the greater the possibility of success, not only at school but later in life.
Why is it that for some students taking charge of themselves appears to be easy while others seem to let life happen to them or in some cases roll over the top of them? Schimmer (2014) suggests that:
Confidence separates those who persist from those who give up. When students have confidence, when they believe that they’ll eventually be able to achieve, they can learn almost anything. Without confidence, regardless of how on point a teacher’s instruction is, learning stops.
Without it, Fox (2009) warns:
You question your ability and stress constantly. Fearing you will not be able to handle it, you may actually sabotage your ability to get it done. Instead of facing the task, you retreat, avoid, or procrastinate. Maybe you confront the task, but without believing in yourself you over-think it, over-do-it, or tremble through the process all the while doubting yourself.
Ongoing research into brain functioning has enabled us to understand with increasing clarity how levels of confidence can either stimulate or inhibit thinking. When students feel confident, the brain releases endorphins that trigger faster neurological connections, thus enabling them to think more clearly and logically, and this can lead to improved problem-solving abilities (DuBois-Maahs, 2013). In contrast, when students feel too much stress and pressure, the amygdala triggers the body to react with the unhelpful fight, flight, or freeze mode rather than transferring data to the prefrontal cortex where information can be processed into long term memory. Self-preservation takes over, reasoned action is difficult, and thinking and learning can shut down (Gregory and Kaufeldt, 2015).
None of us is immune to struggles with confidence and motivation but parents often have the opportunity to role-model confidence-building strategies, explaining how you plan to succeed at a difficult task. If it does not work, you can still demonstrate confidence by speaking about the changes you are going to make next time in order to succeed. You can also discuss past experiences that have been difficult, demonstrating that we all go through difficult times and make mistakes that result in a lack of confidence: a deficiency that you have developed strategies to overcome.
As teachers, we continue to encourage students to grow in confidence by becoming more active participants in monitoring and shaping their own learning. Brains are made to seek not just to ‘sit and get’ according to research conducted by Gregory and Kaufeldt (2015). We know that ineffective learned responses can be replaced through the development of alternative neural pathways but it is up to each individual student to have the confidence to accept the challenge to persist in making necessary changes.
Schimmer (2013) emphasises the importance of the relationship between competence and confidence. To achieve competence, effective strategies need to be adapted to personal situations. Regardless of whether the student is struggling to achieve or regain confidence in sport, music, drama, or academic pursuits, she needs to persist at managing time for practice, monitoring learning through conscious self-assessment and practising strategies to overcome unproductive responses to stress and anxiety.
According to Fox (2009), ‘confidence is our greatest personal resource. With it, we can face any situation knowing we can handle it’. There is an inherent danger in letting life ‘happen’ to us because, inevitably, a situation will arise that requires considered action. Those who have learned to listen to their self-talk and respond to it effectively, to reflect on and evaluate current outcomes, and to make choices despite the sometimes overwhelming demands of peers and adults around them — have the greatest opportunity of developing the kind of confidence described by Schimmer (2013) as a ‘kind of self-efficacy … where they believe that success is an eventual outcome’.
References
DuBois-Maahs, J. (2013). Increase students’ confidence and boost in achievement. Education Update, 55(7), 6–7.
Fox, M. (2009, July 1). The key to confidence. Psychology Today [Weblog]. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/think-confident-be-confident/200907/the-key-confidence
Gregory, G. & Kaufeldt, M. (2015). The motivated brain: Improving student attention, engagement, and perseverance. Alexandria, USA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
Schimmer, T. (2014). The case for confidence. Educational Leadership, 71(6). Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar14/vol71/num06/The-Case-for-Confidence.aspx
Schimmer, T (2013). How confidence through competence plays a part in assessment. Retrieved from http://researchnetwork.pearson.com/nextgen-learning-and-assessment/how-confidence-through-competence-plays-a-part-in-assessment