Describe how students' anxiety level is likely to affect their classroom learning and performance, being sure to include the concepts of facilitating anxiety and debilitating anxiety in your discussion. Then describe three strategies you can use to keep students' anxiety at a productive level

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Generally speaking, some anxiety promotes learning and performance; this is facilitating anxiety. A great deal of anxiety often interferes with effective learning and performance; this is debilitating anxiety. Easy, automatic tasks are often facilitated by high levels of anxiety, but more difficult tasks are best undertaken with low or moderate levels. Possible strategies a teacher can use to keep students at a facilitative level include the following (the response should list at least three of these or other, well-justified strategies):
• Communicate clear expectations for students' performance.
• Hold realistic expectations for students' achievement.
• Match the level of instruction to students' current knowledge and abilities.
• Provide support or scaffolding to help students master subject matter.
• Teach effective learning and study strategies so that students can be successful.
• Assess students' performance independently of how other students are performing (i.e., don't grade "on the curve").
• Provide specific feedback rather than global evaluations.
• Allow students to correct errors.