From Learning-Focused Culture
- Foster trust, respect and cooperation with and among learners so that they experience an environment in which it is safe to take risks.
I recently had a conversation with a student after she passed me a note written on scrap paper that explained her fears about the subject.
She was new to NCEA and was been struggling with fear and anxiety about assessments, passing, etc.. She had not attained any maths credits, though most of the class had. She was on an individual plan to meet mutually agreed upon goals.
Through our discussions of goal setting and trialing some assessments, it had become clear that this student was more than capable of achieving. However, whenever she sat down to a test, her fear of failure would cloud her ability to think carefully and demonstrate her knowledge.
Ideally, it would be useful to assess this student using a portfolio method. However, to be fair to the rest of the class, for authenticity purposes in particular, we needed to stick with the traditional test.
Rather than provide false reassurance such as "It will be okay" or similar, I helped her consider the worst case scenario: failure. As she faced her fear, I could see her confidence growing. It would not be the end of the world, and there would be plenty of other options to achieve as she grew used to the NCEA system and sitting tests.
We also made a plan to practice enough so that the actual test wouldn't present any surprises.
Doing all of this built on pre-existing trust to grow that trust. It was a co-operative process also, developing the teacher-student relationship and ability to ask for and offer help. Most important of all was the facing up to her fear of failure so that she could safely take risks that were genuine risks and not cotton wool coated learning experiences.
I always enjoy the pastoral approach to academic conversations like this, so it was very rewarding as a teacher to see this immediate growth in confidence.
