[中文]我们很少能指出避免失败行为出现的确切时刻,因为这种行为通常不会影响我们授课,不会转移我们的注意力,也不会毁坏我们的财物。害怕失败的学生仅仅是不完成作业,默默地希望不要被老师发现,不过老师最终还是要帮助他们与大家建立联系,帮助他们在学校有真正不一样的表现。老师们首先要做的是要帮助这些学生意识到他们自己有能力并且可以取得成功。
帮助学生感到有能力的干预技巧可以分为十步。
首先的五种方法
我们从技巧一至五开始介绍,这五种方法是为害怕失败的学生量身打造的。其余五种干预技巧也是鼓励性的。这些策略对所有的学生都有帮助,特别是对那些畏惧失败的学生尤为有益。技巧六至十在本章节只作大概介绍,在第十三章会有详细的说明。
策略一:调整教学方法
关于调整教学方法,我们推荐四种方法,即运用实体教学材料;使用电脑辅助教学;一次一步,循序渐进;通过传授七种类型的智力模式改变学生的心态。
使用实体教学材料 学生运用看得见,摸得着的可操作的材料时,他们的学习效果最好。被老师和家长看做是失败者的学生,在运用适当的材料的情况下,也可以像那些所谓的更聪明的同学一样在学习上取得成功。60多年前,玛丽蒙特梭利证明了这一观点。为了得到这些惊人的结果,蒙特梭利设计并使用了符合以下原则的实体教学材料。
*有吸引力:学生喜欢使用有趣而又丰富多样的材料。
*明了易懂:学生能够独立决定如何使用材料时,他们学习更有动力。
*自我纠正:学生们发现,大家都不再去关注他们在学习新知识的过程中犯了多少错误时,犯错也就显得很平常很自然了。
4重复使用性:学生可以反复练习,直到熟练掌握。然后,再用相同的材料让孩子们重温成功的喜悦。
符合蒙特梭利四原则的学习材料已经运用到了现今的课堂教学中。
运用电脑辅助教学 现代科技为我们提供了一种使教学方法得以拓展的教学工具——计算机。许多学生从未想过拿着铅笔在教室里学习,却能一连几个小时坐在显示器前学习基本技能。尽管教学软件不是实体的,但它确实具有蒙特梭利学习材料的四个特点。
当然,计算机无法取代教师在教学当中的位置。然而,所有的学生都可以从电脑辅助教学中获益,尤其是那些由于害怕失败而尚未成功的学生会受益更多。这种一目了然,可让学生自我纠正和重复使用的特征使得害怕失败的学生敢去冒险,这些风险是他们在传统教学材料当中未曾遇到的。
循序渐进 害怕失败的学生很容易不知所措。他们会因为害怕一个复杂的学习任务而变得被动,但这个任务对于他们的同学则难度适中。如果我们把这项任务划分为几个易于取得进步的小部分,引导学生完成任务,这样他们犯错的几率就会减少。学生每完成一步,老师可以给予回馈从而进一步帮助他们。每一个小小的成功都会鼓励学生继续前进,相对于整个任务中的众多错误而言,每一个小错误都更容易改正。
兼顾七类智力模式 假设你被迫用不常写字的那只手写好长一段时间,这难道不是一段很痛苦的经历吗?学生在那种传统“灌输式”的教学体系下接受教育时,他们也同样经历着“痛苦的学习”。传统教学体系注重学生的语言智力和数理逻辑智力。
霍华德•加德纳划分了七种不同的智力模块,并给我们推荐了一些方法去帮助这七种智力模式的学生获得成功。找出一种主导智力模式并把它转化成为一种策略,帮助有回避失败行为的学生来克服沮丧。一些可以配合这七种智力模式的教学事例如下:
语言智力:期刊,讨论,辩论,电视,电脑,嘉宾演讲,话剧阅读,笑话。
数理逻辑智力:制图,定纲,类推,解决问题,记忆,调研,实验,公式
视觉与空间智力:海报,表格,图表,绘画,图片,演示,电脑,录相,电视。
身体运动智力:角色扮演,创造性的动作和舞蹈,野外旅行,体育锻炼,游戏,课题研究。
音乐与节奏智力:唱歌,说唱,诵诗,加油歌,打油诗,合唱朗读,乐器演奏。
自我认知智力:反思,日志,独立完成任务,思维方式,目标设定。
人际交往智力:共同学习,团队项目,访谈,协作游戏,讲故事,班会。
在定期的集体活动中,运用这七种智力方法会促使更多的学生在他们的学习兴趣范围内去学习。他们在这些活动中的体验可能会激起他们的学习兴趣,从而发掘他们在未探索领域中的天资。
方法二:给予指导
许多有避免失败行为的学生同时也处于一个失败链中。他们没有学到一些基本的学习技能,这种欠缺使他们学习起来困难重重并屡受挫折。此外,这些学生看到其他同学可以很轻松地完成作业时,他们已经失去了尝试缩小差距的信心。他们学习的信心减少时,学习动力随之减少,从而导致他们持续的表现不佳以及进一步的信心缺失。
这种时候,要挣脱这条失败链,学生个人无力可施。他们最期望的是得到基础技能上的指导。这些技能可以帮他们弥合差距,重拾信心,激励他们取得成功,从而挣脱失败链。以下五种方式对害怕失败的学生最有帮助:
*老师的额外帮助
*补习的计划
*成人给予辅导
*同龄人的指导
*商业性教学中心的辅导
方法三:鼓励积极的自我对话
有避免失败行为的学生常常会形成一种消极的自我对话模式。面对任务时,他们总会想“任务太难了”或“我肯定做不好”,这些消极的话语会成为自我实现的预言,这种预言会抑制学生的主动性和积极性。这些方法可以帮助学生把内心消极的意识转化为积极的自我对话:
在教室张贴积极的标语 "如果你认为你行,你就行。” 我九年级的代数老师琼斯太太曾经就张贴过这样的标语。我每天都读那条标语,积极的话语逐渐开始对抗我潜意识中的信念——我不可能学好代数。渐渐地,消极的自我对话的影响减小了,而我坚持学习数学的意愿增强了。
在教室墙壁上张贴积极暗示标语的方法并不费事,老师可以要求学生写出,或是举例说出很多这类的标语,这些标语可以定期更换。这里有几条供参考的标语:
*我能做到 。
*只要稍加努力我就能成功。
*我很聪明,一定能做好。
*我说行,我就行。
*我能改变我的所思所想。
要求每句贬低的话之后说两句褒扬的话。制定这样一条规则:学生每次大声说一句自贬的话,他们必须说两句表扬自己或是积极的话。这样的练习不仅会帮助学生注意他们评价自己的方式,也会帮他们把消极的自我形象转化为积极的一面。起初,学生可能会觉得这样直接说出自己优点的做法有点傻,但是随着长时间不间断的练习,褒扬就会像起初的贬损一样自动起作用。而当这些发生时,对于失败的恐惧也会减轻。
在任务分配前,鼓励学生进行积极的自我对话 随着一项任务的分配,学生意识中的“录音机”也开始播放了。为了确保磁带播放的内容是积极的,有避免失败行为的学生着手去做一件事之前,我们可以要求他们大声地说出这件事的两个积极方面。“我能轻松地解决这些问题”和“我很聪明,能找到所有的答案。”
如果学生在完成任务的过程中遇到困难,我们可以建议他们默默重复他们所说过的积极的话。有的学生觉得任务困难,他们能够有意识地重新播放这些积极“录音”,这些学生通常都能取得成功。无论何时,学生在做作业时,成功会让他们更容易地去把消极的磁带换成积极的磁带。
方法四:对于一再重复“我不能”的重新思考
“我不能”是害怕失败的学生最爱重复的话。交给他们一项有一定困难的任务时,他们会很快放弃努力而屈服于这个错误的观念。心理学家用术语“重新思考”来诠释看法的改变,即采取一种不同的观点。我们用下列几种方法帮助学生改变对“我不能”的想法。
表明你对学生能力的观点 不同意学生消极的说法,可以这样回答:
“你当然能行,我怎么帮你?”
“请重复我说的话:‘我现在不会做,但我愿意去学怎么做。’ ”
“你有这个能力,再努力一点,你的‘我不能’就会变成‘我能’了。”
举办一场“我不能”的葬礼 对于一位四年级老师举办的一场葬礼,《心灵鸡汤》这本书中有一段精彩的描述:老师要求学生在一张笔记纸上写出“我不能”,并列出他们觉得他们完成不了的事。她把这些清单装进一个盒子,随后埋在校园里。还有一块墓碑,上面写着:安息吧,我不能。在她的颂词中,这位老师谈到了这些写着“我将”和“我马上就做”的没有埋掉的清单。
我设想,这个“我不能”的坟墓就像新奥尔良的教堂坟墓一样。因为那座城市处在海平面以下,祖坟都建在地面以上。当家庭成员去世以后,可以挖开这些坟墓把去世成员的遗体埋进去。当新的“我不能”出现之后,他们就会很快被埋葬,和他们坟墓中的“祖先”放在一起。
中学生对举办一场实际葬礼的想法犹豫之时,可以让他们写一部剧本,表演木偶剧,或者创作一部记录片或通过广告宣传来例证他们的观点。他们还可以再进一步,把这些作品展示给小学生看。
方法五:教授应对挫折的方法
每个人都可能遇到困难而不知道如何去完成手头的任务。教会学生应对挫折的方法,就能使他们继续前进而不是放弃。
寻求帮助是集中力量解决问题的第一步。 开局是第一步,一个开始,一种策略。一些学生一直被难住是因为他们不知道如何开始寻求帮助,特别是他不想用同龄人的方法。在集体讨论或班会上,当学生需要帮助的时候,你要和学生一起想办法找出他们可以用到的方法。学生只是想举手吗?还是有别的想法?还是想在书写板上写下他们的名字放在你的桌子上?
使用顺序表 根据我们的课题范围,我们可以确定并制定出一系列的步骤。当学生不理解一项任务时,他们可以照着步骤去做。这些步骤可能包括这些内容,如重新阅读指南,画出重点单词,或者解决开始的两个问题。他们知道通过寻求帮助来取得很好的开头时,更多的学生会投入到创作顺序的行列。他们在遇到难题时也就越显得从容。
五种额外的干预策略:
概述
这五种干预策略也是对所有学生都有用的鼓励策略,特别是和那些害怕失败的学生交流时很有帮助。
让犯错变得平常 害怕犯错让学生处于避免失败的印迹里。他们把每个错误,不管大小,都理解为是他们一直不能把事情做正确的证明。我们可以帮助他们学着去接受错误并把犯错看做是学习过程中的一部分。
建立信心 建立自信意味着帮助害怕失败的学生意识到成功的可能性。他们要相信,不管他们技能水平如何,他们都能圆满完成任务,而且是靠他们自己的努力取得成功。
关注以往的成功 每个学生都有过成功的经历。我们可能要为那些害怕失败的学生发掘实例。但是,通过不断提醒使这些学生想起他们过去成功的经历,这些成功不管大小,老师都能建立起努力的基础,这些努力很可能带来巨大的成功。
让学习变得有形 如果不能看到或是接触到某些事物,很多学生就会认为它不存在。不幸的是,“学习”就是这样一种看不见摸不到的事物。对于这些需要感官反馈才能意识到学习已经存在的学生,老师必须使学习尽可能变得有形可触知。
认知成功 如果学生们能像认知失败一样去认知成功,那些想要回避失败的现象就会消失。任何方面的成功或是进步都需要得到认可。当害怕失败的学生从他人,特别是从老师和同学那里获得这种认知的时候,他们开始觉得自己有能力,开始相信他们也能与他人建立联系,他们也能出一份力。
注释
1霍华德加德,智力的模式《多元智力理论》(纽约:Harper and Row 出版股份公司1983)
2杰克加菲尔德和马克维克多汉森《心灵鸡汤》(鹿野海滩,佛罗里达:健康交流,1993)156-60
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[外文]We can rarely pinpoint the exact moment of avoidance-of-failure behavior since such behavior usually doesn’t disrupt our lessons, distract our attention, or destroy property. Students who fear failure simply don’t do their schoolwork, quietly hoping we won’t notice. While we eventually need to help them connect and contribute to make a real difference in their school performance, our first step is to help these students feel capable and be successful.
Intervention techniques that help students feel capable can be grouped into ten strategies.
The First Five Strategies
We’ll begin with Strategies 1-5,which are specifically tailored to students who fear failure .The other five intervention strategies are also encouragement strategies .They are helpful for all children but particularly useful with students fearful of failure .Strategies 6-10 are summarized in this chapter and fully explained in Chapter 13.
Strategy 1:Modify Instructional Methods
Four techniques are recommended for modifying instructional methods: using concrete learning materials, using computer-assisted instruction, teaching one step at a time, and changing the modality by teaching to the seven types of intelligence.
Use Concrete Learning Materials Many students learn best when they use materials that they can see, feel, and manipulate. Over sixty years ago, Maria Montessori proved that youngsters considered failure by their parents and teachers could ,with the right materials ,succeed academically as well as their so-called brighter peers .To produce these spectacular results ,Montessori designed and used concrete learning materials that met these criteria:
●Attractive ---Students love working with material that are interesting and colorful.
●Self-explanatory-Students are motivated to work when they can determine independently how the materials are used.
●Self-correcting --Students discover that making mistakes is natural and okay when no one else has to know how many errors they make while learning a new skill.
●Reusable-Students can practice tasks over and over again until they’ve achieved mastery .Then the same materials can be used again to give children the joy of succeeding repeatedly.
Learning materials that meet Montessori’s four criteria are readily available for today’s classroom.
Use Computer-Based Instruction Modern technology has provided and additional learning tool that adds a new dimension to teaching methods-the computer. Many students who wouldn’t dream of picking up a pencil in class can sit for hours in front of a monitor, working on basic skills .Although not concrete, educational software does have the four characteristics of the Montessori learning materials.
Computers can’t take our place ,of course .And while all students can benefit from computer-assisted instruction, those who underachieve for fear of failure are particularly helped by it .The self-explanatory, self-correcting, and reusable features enable such students to take risks that they ’d never chance with traditional instructional materials.
Teach One Step at a Time Students who are afraid of failure are easily overwhelmed. They can be frightened into passivity by a complex learning task that’s appropriate for their classmates We can entice these students to tackle the task if we break if up into small, progressive steps so that the chance of making errors is reduced. We can further help them by giving feedback after they complete each step .Each small success will spur them on, and each small mistake will be easier to correct than multiple mistakes involving the whole task.
Teach to the Seven Intelligences Picture yourself being forced to write with your nondominant hand for an extended period of time .Wouldn’t it be a painful experience? Some of your students are experiencing "painful learning" when being taught only in our traditional educational delivery system, which consists of teaching mainly to the verbal/linguistic and logical/mathematical intelligences.
Howard Gardner has identified seven modes of intelligence and had recommended that we teach to all seven to help students succeed. Finding the dominant mode of intelligence and switching to strategies that emphasize it helps a student with avoidance-of-failure behavior overcome discouragement. Some examples of teaching strategies and activities to accommodate each of the seven intelligences are:
●Verbal/linguistic: journals, discussions, debates, television, computers, guest speakers, dramatic readings, jokes.
●Logical/mathematical: graphic organizers, outlines, analogies, problem-solving, mnemonics, research, labs, and formulas.
●Visual/spatial:poster,charts,graphics,painting,drawing,demonstrations,computers,videos,television
●Body/kinesthetic: role playing, creative movement and dance, field trips, physical exercise. games ,,projects
●Musical/rhythmic: singing, raps, poems, cheers, limericks, choral reading, instruments
●Intrapersonal: reflection, journals, independent assignments, thinking strategies, goal setting.
●Interpersonal: cooperative learning .group projects, interviews.cooperative games, joint storytelling, class meetings.
Periodically integrating activities using the seven intelligences invites more students to work in their learning comfort zone. It exposes them to activities that might pique their and uncover aptitudes in areas previously unexplored.
Strategy 2:Provide Tutoring
Many students who exhibit avoidance-of-failure behavior are caught in a failure chain. They have missed learning some basic academic skills, and this gap in skills makes schoolwork difficult and frustrating. Moreover, these students have lost confidence in trying to close the gap because they see classmates completing assignments with ease. As their confidence slips, so does their motivation, which leads to continued poor performance and more erosion of confidence.
At this point, the students can do little on their own to break the failure chain; Their best hope is tutoring in basic skills, which breaks the chain by erasing the gap, restoring confidence, and encouraging success. Five forms of tutoring are most beneficial for students who fear failure:
●Extra help from teachers
●Remediation programs
●Adult volunteers
●Peer tutoring
●Commercial learning centers
Strategy3 Encourage Positive Self-Talk
Students with avoidance-of-failure behavior often develop a pattern of negative self-talk. When faced with tasks, they may repeatedly think,"It’s too hard" or "I’ll never get this right "such damaging put-downs can become self-fulfilling prophecies that stifle students’ initiative and motivation. We can help students turn negative internal messages into positive self-talk by using several techniques.
Post positive classroom signs “You can if you think you can!”was the message on the sign posted by Mrs. Jones, my ninth-grade algebra teacher way back when .I read that sign every day, and its positive words gradually began to counter my subconscious belief that I’d never do well in algebra .Little by little, the impact of my own negative self-talk was reduced, and my willingness to persevere with mathematics increased.
Plastering our classroom walls with positive self-talk signs takes little effort. Students can be asked to write -and perhaps illustrate -a number of such signs that can be rotated on a regular basis. Here are some possible for the signs:
●I can do it!
●With a little effort, I’ll succeed.
●I’m smart enough to do good work.
●I can when I tell myself I can.
●I can change how I think and feel.
Require Two "Put-Ups" for Every Put-Down Initiate the rule that for every negative statement students say aloud about themselves, they must counter with two "put-up”, or positive statements. Such a practice not only helps students focus on the way they talk about themselves but also helps transform a negative self-image into a positive one .At first; students may feel little foolish verbalizing good things about themselves. But with time and practice, put-ups usually become just as automatic as put-downs, And when this happens, the fear of failure diminishes.
Encourage Positive Self-Talk Before Tasks The "tape recorder” in students’ head begins playing as soon as an assignment is given. To ensure that the tape played is positive, we can ask students with avoidance-of -failure behavior to say aloud two positive things problems about the task at hand before they set out to tackle it :"I can do these problem with fractions "and "I ’m smart enough to find all the answers."
If students get bogged down during the assignment, we can suggest that they repeat their positive statements under their breath. Students who learn consciously to "replay” the positive tape when they feel threatened by a task will usually achieve success .That success will make it easier to "eject” the negative tape and to insert the positive tape whenever they’re dealing with an assignment
Strategy 4 :Reframe the "I Can’t "Refrain
“I can’t "is a favorite refrain of students who fear failure .When presented with a task that seems the least bit difficult, they quickly give up and give in to this erroneous belief. Psychologists use the term reframing to mean changing perspective, taking a different point of view. We help students reframe their "I cant’s "in a couple of ways.
State Your Belief in Students’ Abilities Disagree with students’ negative statement .Make responses such as :
●"Of course you can .How can I help you?
●"Please repeat after me:’I can’t right now but I ’m willing to learn how.”
●"You have the ability .Now add some effort and your ’I can’t will become ’I can.’’’
Stage an " I Can’t "Funeral The book Chicken Soup for the Soul contains a marvelous description of a funeral conducted by a fourth-grade teacher:
The students are asked to fill a notebook page with ’I can’ts," a list of all the tasks they believe they cannot do .The list s go into a box that is then literally buried in the dirt in the schoolyard, with a headstone and an epitaph that reads "I can’t RIP." In her eulogy, the teacher talks about the surviving siblings,"I will” and "I’m going to right away."
I envision the crypt for "I can’t” like those in New Orleans. Because that city is below sea level, family crypts are built above the ground and can be opened to admit the remains of family members as they pass on .As new "I can’t s "creep into the classroom, they can be quickly buried and placed in the crypt with their “ancestors".
While secondary students might balk at the idea of an actual burial, they could write a play, produce a puppet show, or create a documentary or an ad campaign that illustrates these ideas .They can also take it one step further and present the work to elementary students.
Strategy 5 Teach Procedures for Becoming "Unstuck"
Everyone gets stuck at times, not knowing how to accomplish the task at hand. Teaching students procedures for becoming "unstuck” empowers them to continue working rather than quitting.
Brainstorm Ask-for-Help Gambits A gambit is an opening move, a beginning, a strategy. Some students stay stuck because they don’t know how to begin to ask for help, especially in ways that don’t attract unwanted attention from peers .During a class discussion or meeting, brainstorm with your student’s gambits they can use when help is needed. Do they simply want to raise their hands? Use some other signal? Sign their name on a clipboard kept on your desk?
Use Sequence Charts. Depending upon our subject area, we can identify and chart a sequence of steps students can follow when they don’t understand an assignment .The steps might include such things as rereading the directions, underlining key words, or doing the first two problems. As with the ask-for-help gambits, the more the students are involved in creating these sequence charts, the less afraid they’ll feel when they do get stuck.
Five Additional Intervention Strategies :
An Overview
Five intervention strategies that are also encouragement strategies useful with all students are especially helpful in working with those who fear failure.
Make Mistakes Okay The fear of making mistakes keeps students stuck in the avoidance-of -failure rut .They interpret every mistake, no matter how small ,as proof that that they can’t do anything right --ever. We can help them learn to accept mistakes as part of the learning process.
Build Confidence. Building confidence means helping students who fear failure realize that success is possible. They need to believe they not only can perform tasks capably but also are successful just being themselves, regardless of their skill level.
Focus on Past Successes. Every students has experienced some success. We may have to dig deep to find examples for students who avoid failure .But by repeatedly reminding these students of past successes , no matter how small, we can build a basis for effort that may lead to major achievements.
Make Learning Tangible. If they can’t see or touch something ,many students think it doesn’t exist. Unfortunately, "learning" is something that’s hard to see or touch. For students who need sensory feedback to realize that learning has occurred, we have to make learning as tangible possible.
Recognize Achievement. If students were to receive as much recognition for achievement as they do for failure behavior could be eliminated. Achievement or improvement in any area needs to be acknowledged. When students fearful of failure receive recognition from others, especially from teachers and classmates, they begin to feel capable and to believe that they can successfully connect and contribute.
Notes
1.Howard Gardner ,Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences (New York: Harper and Row ,1983)
2.Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen ,Chicken Soup for the Soul (Deerfield Beach, FL:Health Communications1993),156-60
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