Your logo Changing Students Paradigms for Increased Self-Confidence in a Ninth- Grade Advanced Algebra I Classroom. Education : Leadership for Middle Level Science

Background  I was concerned for my students lack of completed home assignments.  Classroom conversation revealed students were feeling frustrated and confused at home but on task and confident during class.  I had used a program previously called The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens by Sean Covey.  I wanted to use this program to improve confidence and self-efficacy in a teacher made survey.

Literature Review Important Facts for me:  Gender was insignificant in determining the frustration and anxiety levels found within boy and girls in math (Tapia, 2001).  In order to change attitudes, we require the best techniques for intervention and stimulation positive self-efficacy (Tapia, 2003).  Soliciting feedback on anxieties and implementing student suggests for dealing with anxiety have greatly improved student’s confidences in other subject areas like Chemistry (Clement, 1999).  Other attempts have been made to do this in similar classrooms using a curriculum redesign rather than a supplemental materials approach. (Morgan, 2003).  Modeling and social persuasion can be very effective in building self- efficacy (Bandura, 2007).  Learning should be student centered and therefore the students need the right skill set to take responsibility for their education (Arendale, 2001).

Pre-Questionnaire – Intervention – Post-Questionnaire  Students were given a teacher created questionnaire designed to ask questions about their attitudes relating to anxiety based on enviroment and confidences they have.  Students were then exposed to severl co-generative dialogue sessions that included mini-sessions / lessons using Sean Covey‘s book.  Students then took the same questionnaire six weeks later. I compared the data to verify improvement in confidences and anxieties within the classroom. The 3 HABITS used Methodology  Be Proactive - This habit teaches students to use their principles explored in the opening to make choices rather than use raw emotion to respond or react to other people.  Begin with the End in Mind - This section focuses students to be goal oriented.  Put First Things First - This habit deals with time management for different types of situations.

Findings Pre Post Diff  More students were able to create an environment at home that was conducive to their homework needs.  Students indicated that someone at home was helping them more frequently the first time they took the questionnaire.  Students felt that completing their homework at home was less of a problem.  Students were less inclined to indicate stress or confusion when completing homework.  There was little to no change in student comprehension in class work or confusion of teacher instruction.  Students indicated that they were now using more resources (such as friends, the teacher and after school tutoring) for help when they are confused or need to work on a concept.

Concerns  Content was not the same throughout the six week mini-sessions. Could cause bias for student’s frustration levels.  Lack of film or audio of co-generative dialogues, prohibited by administration. Used “jottings” method instead for paraphrasing of student / teacher co-generative dialogue.  Teacher created questionnaire was no validated by any means and could be considered a poor measure of student frustrations and/or anxiety levels.  Is this a repeatable study and would my curriculum allow for the full 7 habits to be explored?

Conclusions  Able to improve self-efficacy and confidence levels without a change to curriculum.  Different ways to improve these issues (curriculum redesigns, supplemental materials, support groups).  I am confident in using this literature in other classes (starting next year at an earlier time frame) and using different track levels.  Help other teachers, via professional development, implement this resource within their classrooms.