[MUSIC] You are welcome to week two, which focuses on how children learn. In week one, we looked at the lives of children. In week two, we are looking at how children learn, and in this lecture, we will focus on self-confidence and self-esteem. These are terms, I believe, you are familiar with. But what do you understand by self-confidence? What do you understand by self esteem? Be thinking about this. Generally, self-confidence is seen as how you feel about your abilities and can vary from situation to situation. In other words, how you feel can vary in different contexts, and different to other contexts. I may have a healthy self-esteem but low confidence about situations involving a subject I don't like, or activities I feel nervous about. Self-esteem, on the other hand, refers to how you feel about yourself overall, how much esteem, positive self-regard, or self-love you have. Self-esteem develops from experiences and situations that have shaped how you view yourselves today. Interestingly, a lot of young people who appear confident actually have quite low esteem when it comes to valuing their basic selves. This creates difficulties for them because no one suspects that they are insecure underneath, or that they need help. Self-esteem is all about how you estimate yourself, and if a child or a young person or a learner doesn't rate themselves very highly, then others won't either. Self-esteem: self-confidence. Self-esteem - finding yourself. How do you, as a teacher, help a child to value himself, or herself? Low self-esteem can be associated with features such as ill health, disability, negative life events or experiences, parental neglect, difficulty in forming friendships, bullying, abuse both physical and sexual, discrimination on the basis of race, sex, religion, class, or politics, sexual orientation of individuals, and lack of control. So, the big question is, where's the locus of control? Others act, I respond. Others make the decision or is it within the context of I act, I make the decisions. Children and young people with long term low self-esteem generally see the world as a hostile place and themselves as its victims. As a result they feel reluctant to express and assert themselves, they miss out on experiences and opportunities and feel helpless about changing things. All this merely lowers their self-esteem even further, and they end up getting caught in a downward spiral, with the thinking that this is too hard. I give up. I'm just not very good at it. Other people are more clever than me, I don't want to go to school today. Where is the locus of control? Who made the decisions? When it comes to friendships, who takes the initiative? Is it the child? Is it the learner? When it comes to dressing, who makes the decision? Does the child have a say? When it comes to reading, who makes the decision as to what material to read? Does the child have a say? What can you do as a teacher to help the child play an active role in the decision making process within these items? You need to help the child rise to the challenge. Some thoughts for you to consider: Scott Hamilton has this to say, "Adversity, and perseverance and all these things can shape you. They can give you a value and a self-esteem that is priceless." Jack Welch also says, "Giving people self-confidence is by far the most important thing that I can do, because then they will act." Then Helen Keller says, "Optimism is the faith that leads to achievement. Nothing can be done without hope and confidence." Then Lao Tzu says, "Contentment is the greatest treasure. Confidence is the greatest friend." So, as a teacher, your responsibility is to help children, your learners, develop self-confidence and high self-esteem, because they are paramount in the whole process of learning. So, how do you, as a teacher, help children to move from the negative to the positive in terms of self-confidence and self-esteem? How do you respond to a child who believes: I'm not very clever; I can't do it; Nobody likes me; People make fun of me; I don't like the way I look; I never have any fun; Teachers always pick on me. How would you help this child to move from this point to a more positive point? How do you respond to students who say they are not very clever? Why are some children made fun of? Is this something you explore in your class as a teacher? How do you respond to students who feel they are being picked on by you, or treated unfairly in the classroom? Might it be true? Do you have rules, do's and don'ts, or codes of conduct negotiated with and discussed with your students? Think seriously about these questions. They are very important in helping your children to develop self-confidence and high self-esteem. And remember, these two issues are crucial in encouraging children to learn in a classroom. Thank you. [MUSIC]
