A couple of weeks ago my Principal gave a presentation on Self Efficacy. The first part of the session was going around the room and trying to define what Self Efficacy meant. After she put this definition up: “Belief about our capability to produce designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect our lives.” But what does this really mean. If you believe you can, you can. Part of believing you can do something has to do with events that have influenced your life.
An example from my own life has to do with math. When I was in middle school I did not do well in math, nor did I enjoy it. I did not feel encouraged by my teachers, or made to feel like I could be successful in math. When I got to high school we were given a math placement exam. I was placed in the higher ninth grade math group (geometry). I was in class for a couple of days and did not really know what was going on. I told the school that I had never taken the other math (algebra 1) and they put me back in that group. I felt proud that I had placed in the “higher” group. So even though I went to the lower math, I felt encouraged that I COULD be successful in math. My math teacher was also positive and she made me feel smart in math. I started to work a little harder and I did really well. I was at the top of my class. However, I never had the opportunity to move up, because the school was not set up for that. I got excellent grades in high school math and it became one of my favorite subjects. The idea of self-efficacy connects because once I believed that I could do it and that I was “smart” in math, I did it! It is now also my favorite subject to teach.
People with a high sense of self-efficacy see challenges as tasks to master as opposed to tasks to avoid. During this presentation a teacher talked about this game she started playing on her smart phone. It is a word game, and she said she would get 8 points, and then when she would see someone else got 25, she would not stop playing till she got a higher score. Our principal said that would be an example of someone with a sense of high self-efficacy. Specifically this type of self-efficacy is vicarious experience which means, “Observing a peer succeed at a task can strengthen beliefs on one’s own abilities.”
The other types of self-efficacy are mastery experiences- “Students’ successful experiences boost self-efficacy, while failures erode it. This is the strongest source of self-efficacy. This would be the type of self-efficacy that I experienced with math. Verbal persuasion which is, “Teachers can boost self-efficacy with credible communication and feedback to guide the student through the task to motivate them to make their best effort.” And lastly, emotional state, “A positive mood can boost one’s beliefs in self-efficacy, while anxiety can undermine it. A certain level of emotional stimulation can create an energizing feeling that can contribute to strong performances. Teachers can help by reducing stressful situations and lowering anxiety surrounding events like exams or presentations. “
So now, what can we do in our classrooms to help students? How can we encourage self-efficacy in our students? As stated above, teachers can run their classroom in a way that promotes self-efficacy. Teachers can communicate with their students. They can give positive feedback or feedback that guides and does not discourage the student. Teachers can group students with other students who will motivate them. Teachers can differentiate in their classroom. By doing this it gives all students the opportunity to experience success, which will perpetuate self-efficacy.
What else can we do…? Self-efficacy is so much more than just encouraging students to be successful. It is about fostering the belief in each child that he/she CAN SUCCEED, and teaching them how to generalize this skill into all areas of their life. This would be a gift we could give our students, and it seems to be it is worthwhile to invest in this skill.
The information in this post came from the presentation and handout from my Principal- Aug. 27th 2012
rebeccaaf 