Avoiding "Learned Helplessness"

[elleng]

We all have students that just want to "get it right." We all have students that constantly seek the attention of the teacher. "Did I get this right?" "Is this what you want?" Now while it's certainly a good thing to affirm students in their learning, many times we want students to be creative with their learning. We allow them to own their learning and create assessment products where they can show us what they know in new and inventive ways. Because of this, there isn't "one right answer," yet our students are often trained to think that there can be only one.

Similarly, we want students to be reflective, to ask themselves, "How do I know if I'm on the right track?" or "What could I do next?" Instead of coming immediately to the teacher, we want students to experiment on their own. Many of us wonder why students constantly do the opposite instead. I've got news for you. It's our fault. We, as educators, are often responsible for learned helplessness, and we have a responsibility to change it! How can we empower our students to be self-directed learners?

Curate and Create Learning Resources

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/avoiding-learned-helplessness-andrew-miller?utm_campaign=avoiding-learned-helplessness&utm_term=link&utm_content=22652535&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook

[Demeter]

1. Sorry, no

We as a society, as an institution, as an instrument of conformity, DO NOT want creativity, reflectiveness, experimentation, or any of those independent thinking memes.

The teachers who enforce conformity and "one right answer" are either math teachers or doing the job they were paid to do by a nation that shudders at the thought of self-actualizing youth.

[Conch]

3. Ummm, sorry. No.

I am a teacher and a mediocre one at that! I have seen more shitty teachers than I can shake a stick at and I have been at it only five years, this being my sixth.

People look at teaching as if it were somehow different from every other work force in the nation when it is not.

It has nothing to do with a lack of "WANT" for, "creativity, reflectiveness, experimentation,... ." There are just a lot of lazy teachers. They don't "enforce conformity" Jesus what a ridiculous thing to say... they, many...especially after they get a few years under their belt and gain tenure or the equivalent..they just want a pay check.

Not all of them of course or perhaps even most. However, teaching like so many other professions has a great many people who phone it in.

I am lucky (in my opinion, any number of other teachers would have any number of other opinions) in that I am allowed to create my entire curriculum... my class is currently writing vignettes for good or ill. Do you have any idea how much work it requires to allow 75 kids to be creative, reflective, experimental, and independent? I do... I would like to think I allow them all to do just that. But it is an assload of work. It is more work than many people are willing to put in.

It is no different in parenthood in that people probably (maybe not) understand that it is going to take a lot of work to do the job well BUT they actually don't have an accurate idea and when they are in the position to do all that work they cut corners, they try to reach a portion of the students but not all ("you can't save them all&quot .

To think that there is an institutional aversion to independence on the part of the students is nearly conspiracy theory-esque.

It's a lot like parenting... a lot of people prep for it wishing for the best and end up not being good at it unfortunately by the time they or others realize it they are $100,000 in student debt and are getting checks for their un-inspiring work.

Oh and here, check out some of my former kids' work. The current batch are working on their blogs currently.
respectprideganas.blogspot.com

[Proserpina]

4. As a victim of the kibosh put upon creative types, I cannot disagree more

The job of teaching done well is incomparable. I've had a good teacher, here and there. I've had some incredibly bad teachers, too. And the mediocre teachers, who are somewhat lost, overworked, and harassed by the principal, parents and the kids, usually didn't cause any real hardships for an autodidact. It was only in high school that I met teachers who "phoned it in". I think something happened in the profession, a great wave of change. My mother's stories of her career, and her grandmother's, are very different from today's experience. Charter schools, privatizing, all have chopped the foundations out from under universal education.

But it is a rare teacher, indeed, who does NOT enforce conformity, in the mistaken belief that this will help the student navigate life. Conformity is the culture of the USA. For those that do not fit into the prevailing culture, conformity is not an option. Creative people don't fit, nor do the disabled, the immigrant, etc. These strangers have to blast through the existing structures (or abandon the surrounding society) to make their own niches. Or, alternatively, they can lop off parts of their gifts (or their dreams).

[LWolf]

2. The system of high stakes tests,

and the parents who were part of that system set students up for learned helplessness.

It takes time, support, and many steps to get students to the place that they are academic risk takers, that they are self-reflective, that they take ownership.

How can we empower our students to be self-directed learners? Here are a few ways that work for me:

In discussions, whether whole-class or small group, ask open-ended questions and accept responses neutrally. I usually respond with "Okay." Then I turn to someone else and say, "What do you think?" I ask questions to shape the direction they are going, or to get them to expand on their thinking. They know that I'll be asking them to explain their thinking, to provide reason and evidence, and it becomes part of the conversation. They know that they can disagree with each other, as long as they bring evidence and do so respectfully. It's encouraged. Sometimes, if they ask, "Well, what do YOU think," I'll respond by referring to their thinking, talking about the different ideas I've heard, and synthesizing them.

They don't get grades for talking about their thinking; it's the way we process what we are doing.

As a class, we re-write official writing rubrics, using student-friendly language. This gives me a chance to see if they really understand how their writing is scored, and to fill gaps when needed. Once we have agreed on the rubrics, students use them to score themselves before they turn in their papers. Then they compare my scores to theirs; this lets them know if they are really "getting" the expectations.

We spend a great deal of time working on how to ask good questions; on how to recognize low-level and higher-level questions, on how to ask questions for different levels of Bloom's and other taxonomies. They bring those questioning skills to discussions.

They also use those questioning skills to format their own tests. It's a formative assessment just to see if they know what questions to ask, let alone whether or not they can construct well-thought out answers.

They keep portfolios of work that they've self-assessed.

Those are just a few things that grow active, rather than passive, learners. I'm going to go read your article now and what it says.

[Mildred S]

5. Support！

I have the same viewpoint with you, I also think every student should be active, and have their own thought, when they meet difficulties, they should learn to think independently. I believe that if the teacher guide students to do so, they will make great progress in their schoolwork.