“Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence”. These are the words of the legendary Helen Keller who through her life showed us that no matter what difficulties we are faced with, a determined and confident mind can always find a way to succeed. But let us examine the predicament of our school-going kids. How confident are they today?
The fear of failure has captured the minds of a large number of them. Naturally, this means a low level of confidence which is extremely detrimental to an individual’s development. What can be done to combat this? A multi-prolonged approach is required with parents, teachers and schools playing their active part.
Today we would like to focus on certain confidence-building initiatives that can be rolled out within the classroom, which is one of the most important centers of activity for a child.
How things stand
How do our classrooms perform today? Undoubtedly, we have great facilities and extremely qualified teachers. Our classrooms help our kids acquire a technical and academic prowess that is unmatched. However, there is a great deal of competition that gets fostered within the classroom. Falling behind peers can virtually destroy the confidence of kids. Such incidents are becoming increasingly common. Thus, it is important that confidence-building measures begin within the classroom.
Teachers as agents
We have the best teachers in Singapore. But we have mostly sought to limit their ambit by stressing too much on academic results. As a result, teachers may not be incentivised or even have the time to cater creatively to the emotional needs and development of children. We require a certain reorientation here. Teachers should be allowed to concentrate more on a child’s emotional development including confidence-building. The teacher needs to be playing a more proactive role. They should also receive more training in these matters.
Moving away from the marks-based system
The problems of the overemphasis on marks is increasingly being acknowledged today. The recent decision to change the PSLE scoring pattern is clear evidence in this regard. This psychological shift that is sought to be achieved should be pushed from within the classroom as well. We need to be telling our kids more often that it is not just their academic performance which determines their worth as a human being. A successful articulation of this can help de-stress our students and make them less tensed about their academic challenges.
Life skills and differentiated talents
The classroom should creatively teach the value of skills that are not necessarily academic. What can be done in this regard?
Within our curriculum, we need to introduce strong courses on life skills which can help enhance confidence, self-esteem, and help our kids develop emotionally.
Within the classroom, we can also endeavour to give visibility to extracurricular talents. Suppose you have a few students who are good at singing. Allot a few minutes within the school time so that these children can perform for the entire class. Yes, you might have school art fests exclusively for such performances but the fact that you are using the classroom ensures that such talents gain more legitimacy in the eyes of the students. Such recognition of extracurricular talents helps in crafting more confident individuals.
The Online Way!
Students who feel that they have not been able to learn their subjects properly are more likely to be less confident. As such creative learning measures should be introduced.
The use of online learning is a great opportunity in this regard. This tool offers flexibility to the learner and results in greater efficiency. Students will be able to master the subjects more easily and become more confident. Within the classroom, online learning tools can be deployed. Teachers can screen videos of the lectures by experts on the syllabus or even related to motivational aspects. Interactive online sessions such as seminars can also be conducted.
“One important key to success is self-confidence. An important key to self-confidence is preparation.” – Arthur Ashe
Let us help our children gain self-confidence by preparing them well for modern-day and future challenges. Most importantly, our classrooms need to play a significant role in ensuring that our kids don’t fall behind on confidence, which is a vital attribute in today’s world! 😊
Exam Smart Tips
Exam Smart Tip #1 – How to Encourage Our Kids to Speak Better?
Exam Smart Tip #2 – How to avoid carelessness?
Exam Smart Tip #3 – Establishing Routines!
Exam Smart Tip #4 – Let’s Read Carefully!
Exam Smart Tip #5 – Beating the Exam Fever!
Exam Smart Tip #6 – How to Eat Right for the Exams?
Exam Smart Tip #7 – How to Avoid a Meltdown?
Exam Smart Tip #8 – Taking Stress out of Tests
Who We Are
Mission statement – “Empower every student to achieve full potential”
88tuition Pte Ltd offers the best PSLE Tuition Singapore for children looking to ace the PSLE exam. With effective learning materials and high-quality explanatory videos by experienced trainers, children are provided with the best online PSLE tuition.
With the basics learnt well, children will be able to grasp advanced concepts easily. Looking for the best PSLE math tuition, PSLE Science tuition and PSLE English tuition in Singapore? 88tuition has got you covered. The online training videos and assessments are designed in a way that children are made to enjoy the learning process.
UEN 201817310C
271 Bukit Timah Road; #03-08; Singapore 259708
