Teachers can tell when students are happy with themselves or not. When students are emotionally well they can accomplish more in class. Think of yourself: the more confident you are, the more capable you will feel, no matter the task. When a child feels capable and confident, they are easier to motivate and more likely to reach their potential.
Fostering attitudes of power and building confidence by preparing students for success and providing frequent positive feedback are essential roles of teachers and parents. Learn how to develop and maintain positive self-esteem in your students.
Why is self-esteem important?
Children must have good self-esteem for a number of reasons, as it affects almost every aspect of their lives. Good self-esteem not only improves academic performance, but also strengthens social skills and the ability to cultivate supportive and long-lasting relationships.
Relationships with their peers and teachers are most beneficial when children have adequate self-esteem. Children with high self-esteem are also better equipped to deal with mistakes, disappointments, and failures. They are more likely to complete challenging tasks and set their own goals. Self-esteem is a lifelong necessity that teachers and parents can easily improve, but also easily damage.
Self-esteem and growth mindset
The comments that children receive play a major role in the development of their self-esteem, especially when the feedback comes from your mentors. Unproductive and overly critical feedback can be quite detrimental to students and lead to low self-esteem. Positive and productive feedback can have the opposite effect. What children hear about themselves and their abilities influences their mindset about their worth.
Feedback to children should be goal-oriented rather than people-oriented. This type of praise is more effective and ultimately more likely to instill in students a growth mindset or the belief that people can grow, improve, and develop with effort (as opposed to a fixed mindset or belief that people are born with fixed traits and abilities that cannot grow or change).
How to improve self-esteem in students
Next we are going to give you some strategies so that you can raise the self-esteem of your students.
Don't evaluate your students with your comments
Avoid assigning value to students with your comments. Statements like "I'm proud of you" and "You're really good at math" Not only are they useless, but they can also lead children to develop self-concepts based only on praise. Instead, it praises accomplishments and draws attention to particular efforts and strategies applied to tasks. In this way, students perceive the comments as useful and motivating.
Except to tell students what you notice, try to leave yourself and the student out of your comments and comment only on their work, especially the improvements. Here are some examples:
- "I've seen that you've used paragraphs to organize your writing, that's a great strategy."
- "You've really improved your writing, I know you've been working really hard on it."
When you use goal-oriented feedback, you positively influence self-esteem and support a child's level of motivation to achieve academic goals.
There is more you can do to improve your students than simply provide meaningful feedback. It is important for students to have healthy self-esteem both inside and outside the classroom, but many children need help cultivating positive theories. This is where your mentors come in. Here is what teachers and parents can do to support high self-esteem in students:
- Focus on the positive
- Only give constructive criticism
- Encourage students to find things they like about themselves
- Set realistic expectations
- Teach students to learn from their mistakes
By following these tips, you will be able to realize how your students are gradually improving their self-esteem and therefore also their grades. A child, adolescent or adult who feels good about himself will also reflect this in his self-esteem.