Building Student Confidence

In the past few years, I have had my share of aiding students with their math homework. Anywhere from college to elementary, I have observed and compared the tendencies of these students. Overall, the students have no issue remembering what they learned, but, if anything, they lack the confidence in their efforts to finding the solution. They answer each solution with uncertainty, looking for any direction from the instructor.

How can we build confidence in our students? It is one thing to have them find the correct answer, but if they continually need our confirmation to find confidence, are we helping or harming at this point? Henry Ford once said “Whether you think that you can, or that you can’t, you are usually right.” This quote helps underlines the importance of having confidence in your own ability, especially in the case of our students. For the remainder of this post, I will discuss a few of the concepts that I have applied to my teaching methods.
Instead of providing an explanation of how to solve the problem, form questions that allow the student to describe the process, helping them consider the question in their own understanding. Asking questions may seem primitive, but good questions can allow students to comprehend and retain the information.

Good questions can also be based in a student’s understanding. For instance, one of the students I helped enjoyed cooking, yet struggled with fractions in math class. By basing my questions and examples on student interests, they were able to base their reasoning in their own terms.

Depending on the relationship one has with the student, it can be intimidating for the student to express thoughts on the subject. Another contributor is the fear of being wrong. More than not, students will mess up when trying something new. In my own experiences, encouraging students to give explanations, even wrong ones, helped them to approach their goal in learning and gain the confidence needed to perform on their own.

Although I have only worked with students one-on-one, I have still seen them grow in confidence as these concepts were applied. Rather than end with some impeccable conclusion, I will end asking for additional ideas, because I wish to continue learning more about this notion. What are other ways we can aid in building student confidence? How does building an individual’s confidence compare to building a class’s confidence? What possible roadblocks are in the way to achieving this goal?