Building self efficacy by fostering goal setting

Goal setting can be a powerful tool for students to use in building their own self efficacy. As well as student led goals, teachers can also give students goals to work on. As a teacher, one has to know the students well to set realistic and manageable goals for each student. A one size fits all model does not work here. We often discuss that our classrooms are differentiated to cater for our students and their learning abilities but are our expectations realistic for each student? 

In my practice and working on my teaching as inquiry, I have been discussing with each student their own journey in their learning. We have discussed their challenges in completing their tasks and how I as their teacher could be of help. We have also discussed how we can overcome challenges by seeking help from peers, whanau and self directed study. We have a long way to go yet with self directed study but making a start by asking the teacher or a peer is proving to be effective. My target learners are engaging in more discussions about their tasks where they share their ideas. The less confident students are not afraid to say they need help or say they do not understand. This is an improvement from getting stuck in their work then finding other activities to occupy their their time until it is time for their break or packing up for home.

I have always been a firm believer in the power of self realisation when one analyses their own performance or achievement. I did a task with my target learners where they reflected on their last project which was Architecture. They looked at their submission sheet for the Architecture project and summarised how many tasks they completed as well as make notes on how many Excellence, Merit, Achieved and Not Achieved tasks they had. As the students shared their reflections, they were very honest about their lack of effort, making simple mistakes and missing out on valuable points. It was also very evident they were very eager to ensure the current project which is Great Books would be an improvement. 

To set a goal, one has to realise where they are and their next goal for improvement. This was the purpose of this activity. Now the students are on a quest to ensure they complete all the tasks for the current project and working towards improving on the marks they receive. 

Diary of a teacher on lockdown

We have had a good run since last year and life almost felt normal again. At the beginning of this month, the news, social media and communication in schools started pre warning that it was a matter of time before Covid's Delta Variant will affect New Zealand. I was sitting in a Manaiakalani leader's meeting when our principal sent through an email from the ministry asking teachers to start preparing just in case we have to go into an urgent lockdown. 

Today, we heard the update from the Prime Minister that there as been a positive case of Covid in the community and it is Auckland. It is unsure if it is the Delta variant but genome testing is being conducted to determine if it is the Delta variant. 

Here we go again. We are going into teaching from home and students learning from home. We got communication from our principal that we can access school devices tonight and hand them to students in preparation for learning from home. Luckily for me, most of my students take their devices home and also VERY LUCKILY, my class had a practice lockdown drill in class yesterday. YES! Just yesterday we had another lockdown drill. 

What does a LOCKDOWN DRILL look like? 

In my best Jacinda Ardern voice, I announced to the class that there is now a positive case of Covid in the community and in an hour New Zealand will go into Alert Level 4

The students sit at their tables with their devices and chargers

We check all devices and chargers have labels with the students names on it

All students go on to the class site and go into our Home Learning page

On the Home Learning page, the students join the class meet using the link on the Home Learning page

I then accept all the students and we smile at each other while I take a screenshot to capture our beautiful faces on screen 

Benefits of a Lockdown Drill

I have peace of mind that all students have a working device and charger

All students are able to go on to the Home Learning page and access the class meet

Our new students to our class and Manaiakalani are taught how to access the class meet link 

I am confident our class site is easily navigated by students and parents to access the meet link

All devices are chargers are labelled 

Therefore, tonight, it took me about three minutes to take the devices out of the lock up cupboard and put them on the table. It took about 30 minutes to wait for my students to arrive and pick up their devices and that was it. Done! I left school confident that in the morning I will be seeing my tamariki on our first meet in this August 2021 Alert Level 4 Lockdown.

Guiding questions about self efficacy

In the planning of my self efficacy intervention for my students. I have been having a lot of conversations with my buddy teacher who is a long time colleague of mine. We have been discussing what we have been observing with the progress of our students in their project work and more importantly their self belief and perseverance when they come across a task which they find challenging.

At times, as teachers we might say the students are not working hard enough. However, as reflective practitioners, we have to think of what is underneath what we see. In a way thinking about the iceberg image. We only see the tip of the iceberg but beneath the surface, there are more we need to consider, in this case the challenges our students are experiencing. 

I have been doing some readings on the resources available on The Education Hub, I came across guiding questions teachers needs to ask themselves on how they are building the self efficacy of students. My experiences in conducting teaching as inquiries has taught me that inquiring into your practice is not just about looking at what the students are doing and how you can change that. It is also a deep reflection of yourself as an educator, mentor, teacher to your students. 

Below are the questions with my responses:

How often do all students in your class experience success with their learning?

When I first read this question, I thought of course my students experience success with their learning every week. However, I re-read the question and saw it referred to ALL of the students. I would like to think that all my students experience success in their learning on several occasions a week. How would I measure this though? Without qualitative or quantitative data, how can I be sure the students are experiencing success? This is a really interesting question which is highlighting the importance of noticing when students are experiencing success and also celebrating success. I know my students experience success, whether it be solving a problem in DMIC, completing all their blog commenting for the week, completing a task they have been working on for their project or for some...There are so many ways to experience success but what this question made me realise is the lack of noticing when success is experienced in my class and acknowledging and celebrating success. 

How do you scaffold learning into smaller tasks, so that students experience smaller successes more regularly? 

With Project Based Learning, I realised after the first project that the tasks we complex for a lot of students. The students struggled to manage the tasks because it required a lot of planning and self management. In the second and third project we planned, we looked at breaking down each task on the submission form so the students understood what the task required them to complete. Now, as the students work through their tasks, they have the submission form open on their devices so they are able to check if the requirements of each task is met in their work. 

My buddy teacher and I have also been discussing working with students who are struggling with completing their projects on breaking down the tasks to manageable sections for them to complete. 

This question is emphasising the importance of scaffolding students to experience success by working on smaller tasks and experiencing success. In my intervention, this is an aspect of I am incorporating into my self efficacy intervention. Students experiencing success regularly and working through manageable tasks which will enable them to experience success and build their self efficacy.

How do you communicate your aspirations for your students, and let your students know that you think they can succeed in their learning?

I have always been a teacher who communicates my aspirations for my students. I strongly believe in building a positive relationship with my students and this starts from the very first day of Term 1 every year. When a student is feeling down, I always take the time to unpack how they are feeling and the factors which contributed to their emotions. Often I find the students are able to articulate how they are feeling towards the situation but often neglect to consider how they contributed to situations. It does take a lot of time to build the trust of students but I always find that once the students have my trust and I have theirs, collaboration, teaching, learning, sharing...is more effective. 

With learning, I always emphasise to my students that success is a matter of perseverance and resilience. Failing is a part of learning. I do not hide my failures from my students. I often embrace my mistakes and share these with them and we collaborate together to solve challenges we have in class with learning. 

These guiding questions have been a good reflective experience for me to think about what I am currently doing in my practice and what I still need to work on. Following on from this post, I will complete the rest of the iceberg with my target group where they will unpack what is under the iceberg for them.