Suppose you are teaching eighth grade math to a small class of nine students who perform below grade level. Most of these students attribute their failure to unchangeable factors and exhibit self-handicapping strategies. In essence, these eighth graders function in failure-avoiding mode. You want to help them change their thinking and create a culture of learning among these students – keep

Question

them from reaching a state of failure acceptance. Describe what you will do to achieve this goal. Address students' view of ability, attributions for successes/failures, and self-efficacy for doing math tasks.

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Suggested Response:
Here is my plan for addressing students' view of ability, attributions for successes/failures, and self-efficacy for doing math tasks.
• I will address students' view of ability in several ways. First, I believe all students can learn and improve. I will send this message to students every day by telling them they can learn and by giving specific feedback that helps them make progress. When students see progress, they are more likely to be motivated to persist. I will discuss the unstable nature of ability in ways that they understand that they are in control of their learning. By teaching them new strategies and altering their thinking about ability, I can help them stop using self-handicapping strategies.
• I will attribute students' successes and failures to their effort and persistence. When I monitor their work and help them with learning tasks, I will remind them that their efforts pay off. I'll provide role models they can identify with to help them feel encouraged. I will tell them about my own struggle or failure with a similar aspect of learning and show them that I had to work to learn.
• I will help them develop self-efficacy for math tasks by ensuring successes. Tasks can be broken into small steps that allow students to succeed at small goals. By achieving small goals, students are likely to persist. As students work on math tasks, I will scaffold learning as needed with tips, extra examples, and illustrations. I will teach from a mastery goal orientation and support students in developing mastery goals. I will focus on learning and progress rather than grades.
Text Reference: Beliefs and Self-Perceptions