Community with Character

Confidence- The feeling or belief that one can rely on someone or something; firm trust.  The state of feeling certain about the truth of something.  A feeling of self-assurance arising from one's appreciation of one's own abilities or qualities.

Teaching our students to believe in themselves is one of the greatest gifts we can give in education.


A Short Story on Self Confidence

There was a business executive who was deep in debt and could see no way out.

Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.

Suddenly an old man appeared before him. “I can see that something is troubling you,” he said. After listening to the executive’s woes, the old man said, “I believe I can help you.”

He asked the man his name, wrote out a check, and pushed it into his hand saying, “Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time.”   Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come.

The business executive saw in his hand a check for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!

“I can erase my money worries in an instant!” he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed check in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the uncashed check. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the check and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.

“I’m so glad I caught him!” she cried. “I hope he hasn’t been bothering you. He’s always escaping from the rest home and telling people he’s John D. Rockefeller.”

And she led the old man away by the arm.

The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he’d been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.

Suddenly, he realized that it wasn’t the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve anything he went after.

Amazing Actions to “up” your Confidence

• Speak decisively- A person who is self-confident always speaks slowly . Making a decision to speak slowly is one of the best ways to increase your self-confidence.
• Avoid negative thoughts and energy- It is very important to be aware of all the negative thoughts that enter your mind. Negative thoughts make you afraid of doing things with confidence, and hence these should be avoided.
• Prepare yourself- If you are not prepared, you are not confident at all. Prepare yourself well.
• Divide your main goal into smaller goals- Do not go for big achievements in a single shot. Go slowly and achieve your goal. Plan steadily, by splitting your main aim into smaller segments.
• Increase your knowledge- Empower yourself with knowledge. This is one of the best ways to increase your confidence.
• Help others- Helping others will increase your confidence of helping yourself.

Being an educator means more than simply teaching your students their daily lessons. To a large extent, children develop self-confidence in their abilities through their academic environment. When students acquire healthy levels of self-confidence, they are better equipped to face the stress of school and college education. Students with self-confidence pay more attention in class, get along better with their peers and generally have a more focused and inquisitive attitude. You can use a variety of activities and techniques to promote self-confidence in your students.  See some steps below:

Step 1: Provide positive feedback to your students when appropriate. Tell them when they've done a good job on an exam or report. Children thrive on praise and will push themselves to do well if they know you will be proud of them for their achievements. According to Merrill Harmin and Melanie Toth in their book "Inspiring Active Learning: A Complete Handbook for Today's Teachers," validating your students by smiling at them or letting them know you are happy to see them will also help them to feel worthwhile and appreciated.

Step 2: Give only genuine praise. If you provide empty praise, they will not feel as motivated to push themselves harder.

Step 3: Set realistic goals for each student. Recognize that every child is different and has different learning capabilities. Make goals realistically achievable so that children will feel a sense of accomplishment when the goal is completed. Don't make tasks too easy or too challenging.

Step 4: Use teaching strategies that provide an opportunity for equal participation. For example, in a gym class, make sure all students get equal playing time. In the classroom, arrange chairs in a circle so that all students have the opportunity to make eye contact with each other. According to Barbara Gross Davis in her book "Tools for Teaching," inviting each student to participate conveys the message that you value them as individuals with their own unique strengths and weaknesses. Students learn confidence from trying to answer questions and solve problems on their own.

Step 5: Create an open, positive environment for learning. Get to know your students on an individual level. Call them by name when you ask them a question. Give them credit for trying even when they give the wrong answer. According to author Davis, a learning environment where children feel safe to express themselves stimulates curiosity and the desire to learn which, in turn, develops confidence.

Step 6: Show enthusiasm for the subject you are teaching and for your students' success. Students will become bored and apathetic if they sense that you are bored or distracted. If you are enthusiastic about your students' success, your students will also be more motivated to achieve their goals.

 In addition, for our children in our homes many of the same steps apply.  However the primary step is  Love your child. This seems obvious, but it's probably the most important thing you can give your child. Even if you do it imperfectly—and who doesn't?—always dole out plenty of love. Your child needs to feel accepted and loved, beginning with the family and extending to other groups such as friends, schoolmates, sports teams, and community. If you yell or ignore or make some other parenting mistake, give your child a hug and tell her you're sorry and you love her. Unconditional love builds a strong foundation for confidence.

An oldie but goodie article on teaching

A skateboarder with Confidence

Article on 28 ways to build persistent and confident students

Believe in Yourself
I can do anything
Confident Teachers teaching Confident Students

Classroom Activities to Build Self-Confidence

To help students recognize and appreciate their growth try a few of these activities.

Elementary Students 

• Have students draw or paste a picture of themselves on the middle of a piece of paper. Ask students to write or draw all of the things that they like about themselves around their picture. Encourage them to add to the picture every time they think of something new they like about themselves.
• Challenge students to keep track of all of the things that they can do and add to the list throughout the school year (i.e. How high you can count?, How far can you jump?).

Middle School Students

• Challenge students to choose one thing that they would like to get better at and give them a timeframe to accomplish this task. (i.e. one week to get an A on a math quiz, two weeks to be able to do learn a magic trick, etc.) Remind students that they are in competition with themselves, not their peers.
• Have students estimate how long it will take them to complete a task. Students who think it will take them an hour to complete their homework are less inclined to actually do their homework. Once they figure out that a shorter time commitment is required they will be more apt (and confident) to do their work.

High School Students

• Help students see that there is a connection between how hard you work and how well you succeed. Oftentimes, less-persistent high school students think that good students are smarter than them. Open up a discussion in the classroom and talk about how long it took the students who got a good grade on the last exam to study. Sometimes, all it takes is a quick conversation for students to really grasp that everyone has to work hard in order to succeed.
• Offer students time to reflect after each lesson. Ask students what they think went right and what they think caused them stress. Have students share their responses with the class. This is a great way for students to see how their peers overcome their problems, which in turn will help them with their own self-confidence.