Many times in my work as a School Psychologist I see students who are capable of doing the work, but their self-concept as not being a learner gets in the way of success.

Four ideas for teachers to help start students thinking of themselves as competent learners.

1. Start with what they are doing well at academically. (Be specific and authentic)
2. Ask the student what might be missing from your instruction that they need to be more successful.
3. When a student has responded to corrective feedback, praise the student with specifics on how they helped to transform their learning and you are excited to keep watching them grow as a learner.
4. Connect and talk to your grade level team and also support staff (Principal, Counselor, and School Psychologist) to get more ideas and tools to support your student in need.

Articles

Self-Concept and Self-Esteem in Adolescents (NASP)

Understanding and Fostering Achievement Motivation (NASP)

Student Self Esteem and the School System: Perceptions and Implications

Dr. Ken Shore’s Classroom Problem Solver -The Student With Low Self-Esteem

Self-concept and School Performance – UCLA

SELF-BELIEFS AND SCHOOL SUCCESS: SELF-EFFICACY, SELF-CONCEPT, AND SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT

Ideas to support students

Characteristic	How to support
Sense of security	Maintain a safe and healthy learning environment by following safety policies and procedures. Show all children you care about their well-being by talking to them each day and learning about their lives. Be consistent and follow through on your promises.
Sense of belonging	Create a community atmosphere. Celebrate all children as individuals. Implement a zero-tolerance policy on bullying, and promote kindness and character education.
Sense of purpose, responsibility and contribution	Give children responsibilities in the environment. Ask for input from children when creating activity plans and setting themes.
Sense of personal competence and pride	Give children opportunities for success. Have activities that are varied in levels of difficulty so that children can be challenged in a safe way.
Sense of trust	Gain the trust of children by creating an atmosphere based on respect and kindness. Set boundaries that give children opportunities for safe risk taking. Be consistent and follow through on your promises.
Sense of making real choices and decisions	Give children the opportunity to choose their activities, field trips, etc. Make them feel like their input and voice matters by taking their suggestions seriously and using them to develop activity plans.
Sense of self-discipline and self-control	Use positive guidance methods that support school-age children and their ability to regulate their own behavior. Help children gain self-control by teaching them coping techniques.
Sense of encouragement, support and reward	Provide guidance, encouragement, feedback and praise when children are working hard towards any goal (big or small).
Sense of accepting mistakes and failures	Turn mistakes, setbacks or failures into learning opportunities by talking to children about what happened. Discuss with them the choices, steps or decisions that could have changed the outcome. Always talk about how a child would do something differently in the future. This helps them to apply their current situation to future events.
Sense of family self-esteem	Families are a child’s first and most important caregiver, teacher and advocate. Children need to feel comfortable, loved and safe within their family unit. Work with families to support their needs.

Source: American Academy of Pediatrics (2015). Caring for Your School-Age Child: Ages 5 to 12. Available at:https://www.healthychildren.org/English/ages-stages/gradeschool/Pages/Helping-Your-Child-Develop-A-Healthy-Sense-of-Self-Esteem.aspx

Source:  https://www.virtuallabschool.org/school-age/self-culture/lesson-2

Course work

Complete Lesson on Building self-concept of school aged children

Video

Caregivers give their own examples on how to promote positive self-concept in children Video

Quick Measure