If you scroll through Instagram, within seconds you'll see uplifting quotes: "You are enough!" "You are an expert at being you" "Be your own best friend". As adults, we can easily appreciate the importance of valuing ourselves and nurturing our interests. And there is no doubt that teenagers hypothetically agree with the adage "Love yourself" but does this extend to the classroom?
Navigating through the bubbling hormones and peer pressure, every teacher can identify those students whose lack of confidence stops them from answering questions or attempting tasks. It's not necessarily the 'quiet' students either; often a comic retort can mask a fragile ego.
With the increasing pressure on English teachers to prepare our students for the academic rigour of the new GCSE, it seems rational, required even, to jump immediately into starter activities and early topic tasks which hammer vocabulary and complex linguistic and literary concepts. But what effect does this have on our students? Yes, they may learn a couple of impressive terms they did not know before the lesson but are they likely to apply them independently of their teacher? For some, no they will not. For some, this type of early task also serves to strengthen the idea that they are not good at English and shouldn't risk what little confidence they have in attempting something they may get wrong.
Lessons and schemes of learning need to be seen as an ascent up a mountain , to use a well worn metaphor! The initial tasks or lessons allow the 'climber' to familiarise themselves with the terrain, get to know their team and perceive how they can contribute to that team. As the journey continues they find their strengths and develop their skills, safe to take risks in the easier landscape. By the time they reach the sheer face, their confidence has built and they are ready to tackle the climb, trusting their leader, their team and themselves.
This is obviously incredibly simplistic and idealistic. Whole other essays can, have been written about the role of the 'team' and the 'leader', but the trust of the student in their own capacities in an academic environment is a significant contributor to their willingness to fully participate in activities in class.
Booth and Gerard (2013) found that students with poor performance academically had no comments to make about their academic self; any comment made about teachers focused solely on their perception of their social behaviour. This is predictably in stark contrast to the high ability group, asked the same questions. When you consider this, these students had no concept of themselves as learners with specific skills within the classroom. The same study also found that students' ratings of self-esteem were a consistent predictor of their performance in specifically English, especially for girls. Significantly, the same study also found a correlation between boys improving their writing and their self-esteem increasing. In the UK, these links between academic performance and self-esteem persist through school (the study compares the difference between the UK and the United States in academic self- perception and performance).
The RSC are currently pursuing further research into the links between literacy, self-esteem and teaching Shakespeare. My research for my PGCert 'Teaching Shakespeare' focused on the relationship between literacy and self-esteem, using Shakespeare as the vehicle for promoting both. The group was a recognisable low ability set: boy heavy, all students with SEN, significant behaviour and attendance issues. To summarise in the extreme, using accessible methods to firstly discuss the basic narrative and relationships in Romeo and Juliet, students were able 'own' the text. There were no wrong answers and all early questions were grounded in their personal experience. As each new concept was introduced, initial discussion was simple and relatable, meaning every student could enter the conversation and feel they had something to say. As lessons progressed, the length of time spent on confidence boosters decreased as students felt more equipped to tackle the challenges of abstract ideas, impact of meter, comparisons of context. Every single student was able to present orally and then write an essay on the role of Tybalt. The results were significant with every student in the group either achieving or exceeding their target grade, up to two grades.
One student whose reading age had been tested as five years below his chronological age accessed C grade skills and told me he was 'good at Shakespeare'.
Never underestimate the worth of spending time investing in the emotional health within your subject. Students have to have enough self belief in themselves to feel they can risk some of it to tackle your preparation for their GCSE.
"Our doubts are traitors and cause us to miss the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt" Measure for Measure.
Self-esteem and academic achievement: a comparative study of adolescent students in England and the United States
Margaret Zoller Booth and Jean M. Gerard, 2013
Phttps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3779915/