How Can a Teacher Foster Student Self-Esteem?

There are many variables that go into one’s self-esteem. At the high school level, I remember re-evaluating how I felt about myself almost hourly. I pegged up when I got a good grade on a science quiz. I pegged down just attending my calculus class. I pegged up hearing that John likes brunettes and down when sally told me my shirt didn’t match my pants. Teachers can’t affect the entirety of a student’s self-esteem but they can do better than my calculus teacher.

My calculus teacher had a liaise-fair style of class. He wrote on the board the homework to be done and the exam date. That’s it. The whole period we chatted and maybe asked him questions if we had done any of the readings or homework, which we never did until the weekend before the test. Basically, we did nothing productive all period. While his style of teaching was preparatory for what to expect in college, I couldn’t even tell you his name. Since I had to create my own goals for the class, my self-regulation happened only before a test, 1) to hopefully finish the homework in less than a Saturday and 2) to get a good grade on the test. Unfortunately, cramming resulted in frustration and tears as I tried to learn two weeks-worth of concepts in a day. My self-efficacy was low as cramming does not create retention. Subsequently when asked by a college placement adviser about math placement, I asked to take Calculus again as I believed I was not learning much from my class. The final blow to my self-esteem was the students in my class. We’d had math classes since 8^th grade together, and most of the class was smarter, or more popular, or funnier, or elected to student council and I didn’t have such accolades to my self-worth.

Teacher’s need to foster their student’s self-esteem. Teacher’s set achievable goals and talk about them, daily or by unit. They aid the student’s self-regulation by providing worksheets, quizzes, and tests often to let them know their progress in learning the material. Daily reflections or reflection notebooks can help a student see their progress. I hope to implement “clear and unclear” check out slips. As the students leave class, they have to provide me a piece of paper with a thing in the lesson that was “clear” and/or the idem in the lesson they are not quite understanding. The reflection on the “clear” can show students that they are making progress toward the goal, boosting self-efficacy. Additionally, a teacher can foster self-efficacy using positive affirmation - by telling students they can do it and having them demonstrate that they can. Finally, the whole person’s self-esteem is bolstered by having a personal connection to each student – a challenge for a high school teacher but important for all academic aims.