Empowering learners through believing in them: Students seeing their success through the eyes of their teachers.
Inside this post: Inspiration that enforces the power of dedication of believing in our students. The influential role, we as educators hold, in empowering the next generation with high level emotional proficiency.
Before I jump into this post, I want to orient your brain to a concept that is significantly powerful: looking-glass self. If you have spent time in psychology books and lectures you may have some familiarity with this term.
Looking-glass self describes the process of individuals basing their self perception on how they believe others see them. People define themselves within the contexts of others' views and subsequent social interactions.
This is extremely powerful.
The logic here is clear to see: we are shaping student's perceptions of themselves based on our own perceptions and interactions.
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Long ago and faraway, in a land called high school, I was faced with the ugly headed monster of...CHEMISTRY.
It was, without a doubt, the most challenging class I had taken. Try as I might, I could not seem to grasp the concepts. I was overwhelmed by the content and I felt the teacher was speaking a different language altogether.
When I approached the teacher with my concerns, he told me not to worry - that since my parents had passed chemistry, then I would too (yes, he actually used that logic).
I felt like he did not want to take the time to help me. He did not see it necessary to invest in my learning so an excuse was slapped on the situation. And I felt dismissed.
As you can imagine, this did nothing to curb my stress and frustrations.
Fast forward to my year sophomore in college, when chemistry met its match... research statistics for psychology. Ouch. Here we go again...
I had those high school chem feelings come rushing back like muscle memory.
The stress, anxiety and just the overall feeling that I was never going to understand. After the first statistics exam, I remember pulling my hat down low and walking back to my dorm with tears in my eyes. How was I going to pass this class?!
I know you’ve been there – those classes and/or subject areas that prove difficult for you to wrap your brain around.
<<SPOILER alert>> I not only passed statistics, but I got a solid "B". This was a huge accomplishment. (A "B" was a long way from my high school chemistry grade).
Both were extremely challenging for me to grasp and retain.
Both were discouraging and frustrating. Both were just plain old HARD!
The difference – the instructors.
While my chemistry teacher encouraged me to just repeat my parents' success in the class, my statistics professor was different.
He broke it down – he took the materials and reworded them, restructured them, retaught them; he taught the class a song about the "sum of squares" equation and sang it to us. (I remember the song and the tune all these years later).
The take away here isn’t just the musical equation – it’s the time, the effort and the HEART my professor dedicated to ME, to my learning.
My goal of learning was his goal of teaching.
I felt he truly wanted me to learn; he wanted me to understand and grasp the materials; and not only that, I felt he KNEW I would eventually get it - he believed in me first!!
He knew I would get it before I knew I would get it!!!
Looking-glass self: I was seeing my success through the eyes of my professor. He helped me believe in my success BEFORE I was successful!!
There is so much power in our students seeing our belief in them
I know this story resonates with you, my readers, because you are that teacher, social worker, or counselor.
You come alongside your students – their learning goals are your teaching goals. You believe and they feel it.
You break it down, spell it out, chunk it, color code it, differentiate it, turn it around, upside down, rhyme it, sing it, clap it, dance it – YOU talk the talk and walk the walk because you are invested.
Invested in teaching. Invested in learners. Invested in your passion of pouring into the hearts and brains of tomorrow!! Invested in your students seeing themselves as learners, as individuals who can do hard things!
Together we are working to make this generation of learners feel worthy, heard, able, and successful despite the struggles that they will indubitably face. We are working to shape healthy, strong perceptions of students' potential!
🍏Stay mindful,
Victoria
