(10/14/12) "Creating the Confidence to Respond" (Kylene Beers)

If you walk into any elementary school first-grade classroom in the country, as Beers points out in the reading for this weeks class, you are likely to encounter a level of student enthusiasm that is unparalleled by any other grade level of students. Students raise their hands constantly-even if they do not know the answer to the given question, and constantly shout out answers with little self-restraint. The teacher actually has to contain students’ emotions in order to successfully channel their energy into productive learning experiences. So the key question becomes, “Where does that first-grade energy go” (Beers, 259).

In my field-experience so far this semester, I have had the opportunity to interact with high school juniors and to witness their behavior on a consistent basis. Among the forty plus students I encounter spread throughout two classes, I would estimate that about one quarter of the students respond to teacher questions and discussion prompts on a regular basis, with little encouragement necessary. The majority (about half in each class) of the students however, do not speak regularly and only seem to participate in discussions when they are either highly interested in some specific question, when the teacher directly calls on them, or when they feel the need to fill an awkward portion of silence in order to turn the spotlight off of them. That leaves the remaining handful of students (I would say around 8 total) in the category of completely silent. As I was reading the chapters for this week’s class, I began to wonder how many of these remaining 8 students avoid speaking all together simply because of personality traits, or if their silence is related to a larger problem: a lack of confidence. Although I can only hypothesize at this point, I am sure that there are at least a few students that would be more willing to participate if they had the confidence and security to make the risk of speaking “worth it.” Unfortunately, by the time students reach the 11^th grade, if they lack the confidence to respond in class it is likely that they were conditioned for this role over the course of multiple years. These same students may have been the most energetic young first graders in their class, but after a decade of in-class ridicule, embarrassment, shame, and overall fear of failure, the risk of speaking in class is no longer worth any potential reward.

So what can be done? I think the first and most important element to promote student confidence is to build a safe space within the classroom walls. Beers introduces the idea of establishing a “no-tolerance” policy when it comes to disparaging and hurtful between students. Beers writes, “When children are belittled by their peers, something happens that is hurtful almost beyond repair. When it happens in front of an adult, an adult who is supposed to care, and the adult does nothing, then the damage is even greater” (Beers, 266). So I think it is critical to create a relationship of respect between all students in the classroom setting. I also think the teacher is responsible for creating a culture of communication within the classroom. Many of these students have passed from grade to grade over the course of years without ever having to speak. They have become conditioned for silence but a good teacher can create a situation where this habitual silence can finally be broken. It is also important to remember that this process will not take place over night. Luckily teachers are given an entire YEAR to spend with their students, and a lot of progress can be made throughout the course of a school year.