Hannah is exhibiting
learned helplessness, which means that she doesn't think she is smart enough to
finish a task by herself. She doesn't have the motivation to do the work, which
is why she sits in her seat. Hannah may have low self-efficacy, and may feel
that there is no way she can improve or become smarter. As a teacher, I would
try to have Hannah do a few problems with me or with another student so that
she has someone to piggy-back her answers off of, or ask any questions she may
have while answering a problem. Then, I would have her set some goals such as
finishing a problem by herself regardless of getting them right or wrong. I
would later move on to having her complete two problems and so on. Her
long-term goal would be to be able to finish class problems with the rest of
the students. By moving slowly, she will build the confidence and have more
motivation to complete problems on her own. Once she gets problems right, she
will begin to have a higher sense of self-efficacy. A teacher can help Hannah’s
intrinsic motivation by appealing to her interests and allowing her to choose
problems or situations that she feels comfortable with. Enhancing her internal
motivation will allow Hannah to do better in the class and excel.
I also thought that small reasonable goals would be a good solution to Hannah's problem. I also liked how you talked about appealing to her interests so maybe you might use real world examples that could help her understand why she needs to learn the material.
ReplyDeleteI think that Zahra does a good job of explaining what the teacher should do in response to the learned helplessness. Having her use peers to work with helps socialize Hannah, and learning from peers is sometimes easier than learning from the teacher. Establishing goals that are made with the teacher and Hannah is key because this will increase her participating and working toward the goal is she made them herself. A teacher should help find intrinsic motivation for a student like Hannah. Working with her and her parents may benefit Hannah, and improve her approach to problems.
ReplyDeleteIs the root of learned helplessness the explanation you give (a judgement about her own intelligence)? Learned helplessness often occurs when someone sees the feedback or consequences they're getting are totally independent of the actions they're taking (if they fail no matter what they do).
ReplyDeleteDo you think letting her work with another person could also hurt the situation by becoming dependent on them?
I like your many suggestions!