Two General Strategies to Improve Student Self-efficacy

 Two General Strategies to Improve Student Self-efficacy

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Self-efficacy according to Kirk (2021) is the belief that one has based on his/her capabilities to achieve an intended goal for success. With self-efficacy, a student is directed to challenge themselves by taking any kind of task because their thoughts, emotions, actions, and motivation are influenced to work for the goal (Chowdhury, 2021). Thus, it can be achieved in the classroom through different strategies. Two general strategies that I could use to improve student self-efficacy in my classroom are encouraging peer modeling and using self-assessment. 

Encourage peer modeling

Encouraging peer modeling in the classroom is one of the best ways to encourage self-efficacy in students because it is the peers who can influence self-efficacy beliefs (The Education Hub, n.d.). In this model, students are engaged in problem-solving activities with peers regularly which helps them boost their competency and confidence in analyzing the problems and solving them in the appropriate manners which later they come to complex problem-solving processes. 

I could use this strategy in my classroom twice a week by engaging students through activities and games, whereby students are offered autonomy to have the choice to decide on their skills and knowledge through the support they are provided by the teacher. This peer modeling will be individualized to the students, focusing on their specific social skill deficits, and continue until they attain mastery of the targeted skill (Socialskillsnj.com, 2021). Mostly, I would be engaging them through open-ended questions that really would make them think in a deeper sense to justify what they are thinking. Simultaneously, they would also be asked to tell the purpose of their doing in the classroom through their explanation. To foster this, pairs can ask, “How did you get of … can you explain? On the other hand, students in pairs will be asked to identify their errors and discuss their self-efficacy by saying, “I would have done this instead of… because…” whereby the teacher is engaged in providing guidance and support during the process so that they complete their task. On the other hand, I could also make students learn by observing how their peers are succeeding in a task, and then they can be drawn based on their ethnicity, interests, achievement level, gender, or age (Margolis and McCabe, 2006). I could also make some students who know the concept already model it by demonstrating the concept to other students where others can learn taking advantage of the modeling, in which they can even question their model for better understanding. 

The rationale behind choosing this strategy is that it enables students to develop social skills such as attending skills, communication skills, conversation skills, friendship and play skills, empathy and emotions, social problem-solving skills, etc., which are very important purposes of education today. They will be encouraged to try any tasks by themselves as they watch their friend working hard and solve the problem (Chowdhury, 2021). Moreover, students can relate with others who are of their age and make learning out of it through critical analysis of the behavioral aspects during the course, they will be able to overcome any failure they encounter and then move towards developing mastery in that particular area.

Use of Self-assessment

Making students self-assess is another effective way to improve their self-efficacy because it creates in them a sense of achievement based on the data they have collected from their self-assessment. Moreover, it would also make them reflect deeply and realize through exploring their own beliefs and actions so that students can make their commitment to maintaining their standard at par with other students for the high level of achievement to attain Harris, S. (2005).

To improve students’ self-efficacy, the way that I could use it in my classroom is by helping my students first lay out their specific learning skills and then execute their plans. Once they are in their tasks, I could ask them to note down their progress and finally verbalize them once the task is completed, which is to be handled in the next class tomorrow (Schunk and Pajares, 2002). This would enable them to have an analysis of the progress they carried out and come up with a better one through self-realization. Students would be also involved in carrying out other self-assessments on their own about everything that they carry out in the classroom so that they can use the data collected for analysis and a way forward. 

The rationale behind choosing this strategy is that it would help children track their progress during the course of their learning, as they would be engaged in noting down the comments and questions about their learning process that are usually addressed the very next day (The Education Hub, n.d.). It would exactly help students to understand themselves and make them smarter by letting them know what they should be doing next. Thus, it encourages learning by self-realization and reflection.

 

Reference

Chowdhury, M. R. (2021). 4 Ways To Improve And Increase Self-Efficacy. Retrieved October 7, 2021 from https://positivepsychology.com/3-ways-build-self-efficacy/

Harris, S. (2005). Bravo teacher: Building relationships with actions that value others. Taylor &   

               Francis Group, pp. 1-58.

Kirk, K. (2021). Self-Efficacy: Helping Students Believe in Themselves. Retrieved October 7, 2021 from https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/efficacy.html

Margolis, & McCabe. (2006). Tips to improve self-efficacy for struggling students. Retrieved October 8, 2021 from https://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/affective/efficacy.html

Socialskillsnj.com. (2021). Peer Modeling Social Skills. Retrieved October 10, 2021 from https://www.socialskillsnj.com/peer-modeling-social-skills

Schunk, D. H., & Pajares, F. (2002). The development of academic self-efficacy. In A. Wigfield &

              J. S. Eccles (Eds.), Development of achievement motivation (pp. 15–31). Academic Press. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-012750053-9/50003-6

The Education Hub, (n.d.). 6 strategies for promoting student self-efficacy in your teaching. Retrieved October 10, 2021 from https://www.theeducationhub.org.nz/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/6-strategies-for-promoting-student-self-efficacy.pdf

The Education Hub. (n..d.). Strategies for promoting self-efficacy in students. Retrieved October 8, 2021 from https://theeducationhub.org.nz/strategies-for-promoting-self-efficacy-in-students/Karna lives in the one-bedroom flat.