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Hello Everyone!
I was in a class today watching a demostration of Reader Rabbit, a software
program. Unfortunately, Reader Rabbit does not comment on student's
mistakes, and actually told the demonstrator that he had done a good job
when he got only 1 out of 5 correct!
The professor of the class said that Reader Rabbit seemed to be placing
the
child's self-esteem higher than knowledge or (let alone) mastery.
Any thought? Is self-esteem more important than knowledge?
Can we even separate the two?
Dave Bellis
Hi Dave,
I was very excited to read your message because I had the same feeling
today in class. I was actually planning to bring up the same issue
because I do not know where to draw the line either. I just completed
my first year of teaching and ran into this problem daily.
To answer your question "Can we even separate the two (self-esteem
and
knowledge)?" I do not think we can. I believe that it is my job to
be
an educator and a role model. As a first year teacher I was unprepared
for the immense amount of behavior and emotional problems that some
students have. For example I had one student who repeatedly ran away
from home and at times was living under a bridge. In order for me to
educate her I must work with her emotional state first. This student
would often have so many other things on her mind that she had no
interest in Course II mathematics.
My rule of thumb for my first year was to treat each student as an
individual and use my own professional judgment.
Michele Telle
You don't build self-esteem by praising kids for failures (i.e. Reader
Rabbit). You build self-steem by providing oportunities for kids to be
successful and then praising them. Kids are not stupid. They know when you
are being a phony. When you praise a child who has not done his best you
send
the message "You aren't smart. That's the best that you can do. You
can't
expect to do any better."
Pam
I agree with Pam statement "kids know when you are being a phony."
As
an educator we should never praise a wrong answer or bad behavior. It
is our job to RAISE the standard of education not settle for a wrong
answer because a child's self esteem will decrease. Although, it is
still very important to consider a child's self esteem.
Michele
I would say that Self-esteem and knowledge are equally important. If you
review Erik Erikson's 8 Stages of Social Development you can see why praise
in
conjunction with learning strategies can have a more positive effect on
a
student. Students are people and as teachers, we should work to encompass
both areas in our classrooms.
Teresa King
It is the job of a teacher (I used to be one for many years) to convey
knowledge, enthusiasm for the subject, and to get students to achieve more
academically than they would without your input. Doing difficult things
well builds self-esteem. Focusing on the self-esteem itself as a primary
goal dumbs down education and trivializes the role of a teacher.
Wayne D. Parker
Institute for the Academic Advancement of Youth
Johns Hopkins University
Wayne is right.......self-esteem is only a small part of the whole learning
process.....it was mentioned here in a previous letter or two...students
are
not dumb......you can't fool them.....you praise them if they get the answer
right......so what does it do for their self-esteem if you praise them for
getting it wrong....and they KNOW they got it wrong....
Life is never full of right answers........or even praise.....it's better
to
crunch them now......tell them they were wrong......then you generate enthusiasm
and encourage them to try again.....help them....:))))..the self-esteem
comes in them finally reaching the right answer.....think the word "praise"
should be replaced by the [better] word "encouragement"...:))))
Paints a picture tho........:
"Davey, the scalpel that you left in the patient after the triple bypass
punctured the left lung causing him to convulse, haemorrage and die, but
you
did a great job sewing him back up."
(chuckle)
John
John -- I spoke about how I believe that educators can not separate self
esteem and knowledge. I believe that it is difficult to educate some
students when they are bringing in so many problems from outside of
school. Thus if a student has a low self esteem, it may be directly
affecting how a student is performing in school. I also believe that if
a student is doing poorly in school in some cases it may lower a
students' self esteem. But, I DO NOT believe in ignoring wrong answers
or wrong behavior. It is my job as an educator to try to help a student
to feel better about themselves by encouraging them in positive ways.
Michele
Michele,
I agree.....in order to educate you need to generate confidence....this
in
turn creates ability.....
But self-esteem and knowledge need to be separated......sorry for being
pedantic, but I get the impression from looking at this issue, not only
from
your letter, that the term 'self-esteem' is used loosely and covers a
multitude of sins and excuses. It's easy to say that a student suffers from
a lack of self-esteem. But do they. Don't forget that the term self-esteem
covers two main areas....it's either a confidence or respect for oneself
or
it's an exaggerated opinion of oneself......one of these is fine, the other
dangerous....:))))...now how do you separate the two.....and which of the
two is synonomous with knowledge and which is detrimental....:))))
Too many other anomolies can be batched under the term self-esteem....to
my
way of thinking this in itself can be dangerous.....and while we're on
'self' words........any of your students could be suffering from:
self-consciousness
self-effacement
self-assurance
self-justification
self-aggrandizement
self-righteousness
self-abnegation
self-realization
self-absorption
self-approbation
....and so on and so on....;))))
Some of these are fine....others are even more dangerous than lack of
self-esteem......`self aggrandizement, to choose one, is common in most
classes.....and can be detrimental both to the student concerned and to
others....disruption at home or other emotional problems may have no effect
on self-esteem, but they can create distraction in the classroom. By NOT
separating self esteem and knowledge, then many of the more dangerous 'self'
problems may not be recognised......or they are attributed to a lack of
self-esteem....
Now to my point....I don't think teachers are afforded enough protection
in
being expected to diagnose a student's problems.....and they are expected
to
do just that......in order to educate........a doctor can be sued for giving
a wrong diagnosis.......how long will it be before we see the same thing
happen to a teacher.....
So tell me....are self-esteem and knowledge two separate issues.....should
they be separated....:))))
John
My own personal observation has led me to the conclusion that many of us
are fooling ourselves about the importance of self esteem. What if we
REALLY make a child feel, as RR does, that 1 out of 5 is great??? Aren't
we telling that child that he has met or exceeded our expectations, and
1
out of 5 is all we expect the child to be able to achieve? That to me
seems to be worse than telling the child that we believe he/she can do
better, and maybe we need to review, or try again. Generally, the
higher our expectations, the better the performance. AS educators and
parents I believe we have to be more careful in our consideration of self
esteem. It is important, even critical, but we have to think about what
we are telling the student in the process of trying to build this self
esteem!
Just my two cents worth.... you hit a nerve... I will be quietly lurking
again for awhile!
Pat DeMarco
#
ALSO SEE these "In Case You Missed It" conversations on similar
topics:
Encourage "troubled kids" with
caring, discipline, academic support
Failing Grades for Late Assignments:
Teaching Responsibility or Giving Permission to Fail?
An Uncloudy Day: A story about how praise
paid off