student confidence

Empowering Students with Strengths-Based Teaching

Educators play a pivotal role in shaping students’ academic journeys, and their impact in the classroom extends far beyond merely imparting knowledge or grading students’ work. Teachers’ communication in and out of the classroom has an effect on students’ self-efficacy, confidence, and resilience during challenging

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Using SMART Goal Setting to Advance Student Achievement and Confidence

Students often struggle academically due to an inability to organize their lives around achievable goals. Students beyond early adulthood may have already reached certain personal goals but now must balance their priorities, time, and resources in striving for academic goals while still maintaining structure and

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When Students Should Question Teacher Authority

In my previous column I addressed what makes it difficult for students to speak up in peer groups, especially to express opinions different from those that others in the group offer. As I’ve noted before, some columns continue to follow me around, and this one

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Helping Students Find Their Voice in Peer Groups

Performing among peers is never easy. I’ve seen great teachers tremble before a group of colleagues as they speak about an instructional practice they’ve developed. The fear grows out of not finding respect among equals. Academic professionals end up having lots of experience in peer

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Building Students’ Confidence with Exemplars

We expect a lot of students as learners these days. Knowledge acquisition now means more than just receiving information. It involves students in actively constructing knowledge using what they know to make sense of the new content and its application. Learning at its best requires

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When Students Are Afraid of Learning

It’s night; a boy bikes alone on a dark, empty forest road, the only sounds those of his bike wheels whirring, the cicadas singing, and the gentle breeze. He passes a large metal fence with a warning sign that reads, “RESTRICTED AREA. NO TRESPASSING. U.S.

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A yellow paper plane deviates from a formation of white paper planes

Learning Inside and Outside the Comfort Zone

Do the things we know about how students learn apply to faculty when they’re learning about teaching? That question follows me around. I think about for a while, forget it, and then bump into it again. My latest encounter happened yesterday, when I decided to

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The Teaching Professor Conference 2024

June 7-9, 2024 • New Orleans

Connect with Fellow Educators at The Teaching Professor Conference!