Having wrong assumptions about the students can have a great repercussion in their way to learn and to believe in themselves. As educators, we are not fully aware about what is happening in our students’ lives. That is why we do not know what the capabilities and the potential our students could have, but it is our duty to teach them how to develop to believe in themselves and to have Hope.
This concept of Hope is described by some researcher as “one’s ability to achieve goals. It has been linked to greater academic achievement, creativity, and problem-solving skills, as well as less depression and anxiety.” In other words, you have Hope if you manage your way to achieve what you set as a goal, solve a problem in an efficient way. Another thing related to Hope is that it is composed by two components: Pathways and Agency. The first concept is a kind of roadmap to reach the wished goal (in this case, it is created by the student), which includes different routes when obstacles appear. The second concept deals with the student’s belief, motivation, and confidence that he/she can achieve the goal.
In addition to this, if students are able to cultivate agency (and furthermore Hope) by believing in their success and own potential to achieve that success and maintaining that behavior throughout their school life, they might get engaged more in school, and preserve towards a much more ambitious goal (specially when the road to that goal seems to be pretty fierce).
Moreover, developing agency (to obtain Hope) is tricky and not as easy as it seems to be at first sight, because it involves a student’s history, beliefs, self-concept, and motivations (all of them depending only on the student). But it is not impossible to obtain, therefore, most people can acquire a sense of agency at least. The main key is to develop in the students the feeling of self-efficacy or the “belief” that one can be successful in a task. The author says that: “self-efficacy is the “can” phase of a task, whereas hope is the “will” phase.” Said in other words, being able to believe that one can accomplish a goal is crucial to develop the will to do it.
On the other hand, the educator has to create an environment that can be safe (emotionally speaking) and supports student’s desire and motivation to learn and succeed in the area they need to. Students are more willing to learn when they feel safe to make mistakes, take risks and not feeling judged and without fear or humiliation. Although there is not an immediate solution or way to develop agency quickly, some researchers have named three possible ideas to improve agency (and furthermore: Hope).
The first idea is: Become mindfully aware of what’s going on inside. It says that we first have to know what happens inside our mind and our body reactions to some situations. Because we rely too much in our psychological reaction to an event (whether is a good or bad one) and, for example, if a student has anxiety the night before an oral presentation, he/she may think that does not have the ability to do it properly. That is why it is necessary to put into practice becoming mindfully aware, perhaps by doing it, students that present the same case of anxiety could know how to act in that situation and go through it anyway.
The second idea is: Be gentle with yourself and change your narrative. This idea tries to explain that sometimes we can be tough with ourselves, by saying phrases like: “I cannot do this.” “Why do I even bother?” and so on. But if students can learn to practice self-compassion, starting to talk kindly to themselves and understanding that sometimes they can make mistakes, and it is okay to make them, then they may be more likely to alter their beliefs.
The third and final idea is: Check our own narratives about students. This one goes to us as educators. Because students spend almost half of their life time in classroom, which means that teachers play an influential roll in their lives, and every little thing we say (referring to teachers) can mark them and change their path in life. We have to help them reach their full potential, so that they can face the world and go to more ambitious goals in short and long term.
In conclusion, as teachers, we never have to underestimate the capability and potential our students have. Our goal must be help them reach that full potential and give them the tools to develop Hope. Make them want to do more and more every single day of their lives.
Link of the article: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_to_help_students_believe_in_themselves