Building Confidence In Learning

Building Confidence In Learning

 
My wonderful son is socially confident and academically anxious.  He has a friend who is socially anxious and academically confident. Opposites attract! 
 
Recently my son has not done as well as he hoped in his exams as the pressure of taking them had taken its toll and caused him much anxiety.  After receiving his exam results, he was comparing his intelligence to his friend. Although this is a normal reaction it is a flawed comparison. 
 
Maths, specifically, is not a subject that he enjoys and like a lot of students he is at pains to see how algebra and square routes will serve him in his life.  He will need to re sit his exam and is already concerned that he will fail again.  He will have the same teacher and before I chatted with him, his interest and focus on this subject had not changed.  
 
This is good example of how an un resourceful belief can be accepted and can have a significant influence on our thinking and doing.  As a coach, I have the skills and insight to encourage my son to reframe his thinking and acknowledge the things that he does well and refocus on where his natural abilities/interests lie.  
 
I found inspiration in this quote by Albert Enstein
 
Everybody is a genius but if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid. Albert Einstein
 
My son and I have chatted about the usefulness of maths in everyday life and explored it in relation to his future.  We discussed learning styles and how he can bring his own understanding to life so that it meets his preferred way of learning.  I noticed that as we spoke his voice and body language changed as he even looked more hopeful!! 
 
Since having our recent conversations, my son has begun to change his understanding of how his self-limiting beliefs had reduced his motivation and how they were beginning to limit his options.  He is now focusing on his genereal ability to learn and to transfer that learning across to maths.   His goal is to learn the maths that will be useful to him,
 
Again, my coaching skills and knowledge has served me well, enabling me to respond effectively to my son’s concerns and un resourceful thinking and enable him to build a more resourceful belief.  
 
Ken Robinson presents a really interesting talk on Ted.com on the role of creativity in education.  He wisely says that we need to rethink the fundamental principles on which we are educating our children.  He is a fabulous speaker and funny too!  
 
Here is the link:  
See video

 
Kathy xx