Students Without Self-Confidence

[emtannie]

Neb, thank you for your clarification on this particular student.

Again, I think it is important to stress to this student that a lack of self confidence will kill any career aspirations she may have. EMS is not a place for someone lacking in self-confidence.

Push her, and your class, into leadership positions – have them present topics to the rest of the class; have them be team lead in a group project – this can be as simple as breaking them into groups for discussion, and having each group write down their ideas on a big sheet of paper, then having one person from that group present it to the rest of the class – each person must take a turn being the presenter. This will force this student into taking a leadership role, without singling her out.

Be careful not to avoid constructive criticism; every student has weaknesses, and they need to know what they are, so they can work on correcting them. This student’s weakness is not knowledge or skills – it is the self confidence, and it needs to be addressed, just as a knowledge or skills issue has to be addressed.

You may need to pull this student aside after class to discuss it with her, and give her the tools to improve – things like taking the leadership in class and doing presentations will help with the shyness or whatever reason she has. What are her reasons for taking this course? Where does she want to go with it? Maybe in understanding that, you can convince her to focus more on building self-confidence to attain those goals.

You have 21 students – obviously you can’t focus all your attention on one student. If isn’t fair to you, or the other students for you to do that. You and the other instructors have to decide how much extra time and effort to put into this student. If, after you have discussed her weakness, discussed how she can improve it, and given her time to work on it, and you don’t see effort or improvement, you may be forced to let her fail, not academically, but by letting her find out the hard way that her lack of self confidence will get her nowhere in EMS.

[FireMedic65]

Have them review a section they already know for the class no warning, spontaneous. Only step in if they bomb and then only to refocus them. Often you learn as much by teaching as learning.

Welcome to 5th grade pop quiz.

Sadly, with suck crappy time frames, this won't always be possible. You can't wait around for people to get up to speed. They either know it, or they don't. Try your best to get them on par, but if not.. sorry. Can't wait for you.

[emtannie]

Welcome to 5th grade pop quiz.

Sadly, with suck crappy time frames, this won't always be possible. You can't wait around for people to get up to speed. They either know it, or they don't. Try your best to get them on par, but if not.. sorry. Can't wait for you.

So, what is your suggestion to the OP in helping the student in question? In a previous post, you focussed on poor instruction, and the instructor being the problem.

Joe's suggestion is viable if an instructor is willing to structure a class accordingly and manage time frames. A 3 minute review is not going to kill a class schedule. I don't think his intent was for this review to take a significant amount of time, especially with no prep time allowed. This method does force the student to take on a lead role, which can assist a student with self confidence issues an opportunity to build confidence by putting them in a situation to stretch their skills. This would be fairly easy to implement in a classroom without screwing the schedule.

[FireMedic65]

So, what is your suggestion to the OP in helping the student in question? In a previous post, you focussed on poor instruction, and the instructor being the problem.

Joe's suggestion is viable if an instructor is willing to structure a class accordingly and manage time frames. A 3 minute review is not going to kill a class schedule. I don't think his intent was for this review to take a significant amount of time, especially with no prep time allowed. This method does force the student to take on a lead role, which can assist a student with self confidence issues an opportunity to build confidence by putting them in a situation to stretch their skills. This would be fairly easy to implement in a classroom without screwing the schedule.

He was suggesting reviewing (yes, review is fine). He was also saying that if there are problems, then they should go back and focus on it. USUALLY there is not time for this. American EMS education is too short and therefor fast paced. In a perfect world, a chapter in a book should take several classes to go over. Not read to and using a power point slide show like many schools favor. Actually TEACHING them. The books are just tools to help teach. That is, the problem is EMS in The States. Almost everyone wants the quick and short route to get everything.

[emtannie]

He was suggesting reviewing (yes, review is fine). He was also saying that if there are problems, then they should go back and focus on it. USUALLY there is not time for this. American EMS education is too short and therefor fast paced. In a perfect world, a chapter in a book should take several classes to go over. Not read to and using a power point slide show like many schools favor. Actually TEACHING them. The books are just tools to help teach. That is, the problem is EMS in The States. Almost everyone wants the quick and short route to get everything.

I will agree that there are a lot of issues with EMS education, one of those being the time frame of education.

I don't see where Joe said that if a student has problems with that material, they should go back and review it in class. He said "Only step in if they bomb and then only to refocus them."

Again, let's go back to the OP. The student in question KNOWS the material, and HAS the skills. That is not the problem here. The problems is self confidence. If you review literature on building self confidence in students, one of the most common methods is for that person to take a leadership role in something, usually in presenting a topic in class.

So, since it doesn't appear that you like that approach, what approach would you use to build self confidence in that student who already knows the material and already has mastered the skills?

[joesph]

The route of education I suggested is not uncommon and is used threw out the world. The problem as I understand it is not a lack of skills but a lack of confidence. This is not a impossible problem to overcome, but requires the instructor to teach outside the box. When the student gives a review of the material in front of his/her piers there will be some anxiety but far less then in the field and the intent is to build the students confidence. Their are many people who have the ability to rise above there station but merely lack the nerve. By taking a few minutes to give a student a opportunity to build confidence in the classroom is worthwhile endeavor when you consider that this person could easily pass the course because of their intelligence and yet fail in the field because his/her nerve failed under pressure. We would cheerfully weed out the student that does not comprehend the material but we do not have a mechanism to fail a student that is competent but nervous. Don't forget that Einstein was a crappy student too.

[DwayneEMTP]

The route of education I suggested is not uncommon and is used threw out the world. The problem as I understand it is not a lack of skills but a lack of confidence. This is not a impossible problem to overcome, but requires the instructor to teach outside the box. When the student gives a review of the material in front of his/her piers there will be some anxiety but far less then in the field and the intent is to build the students confidence. Their are many people who have the ability to rise above there station but merely lack the nerve. By taking a few minutes to give a student a opportunity to build confidence in the classroom is worthwhile endeavor when you consider that this person could easily pass the course because of their intelligence and yet fail in the field because his/her nerve failed under pressure. We would cheerfully weed out the student that does not comprehend the material but we do not have a mechanism to fail a student that is competent but nervous. Don't forget that Einstein was a crappy student too.

This is an awesome approach to this student, and as mentioned by Annie, won't take a significant amount of time. In behavioral science it's called 'Proofing.' You teach a behavior until you can predict an 80% success rate or so when repeated and then you put it under pressure to teach it to work in the real world. If they fail regularly at the new level of pressure then you've moved them to fast. This is awesome for creating and then shaping new behaviors.

This chick will have a stroke at the thought of being made to stand in front of the class, but if she truly knows the material will find that it's not as bad as she's imagined. She'll also find that making mistakes is not terminal.

Sorry man, but if you keep posting ideas like this then I'm just going to continue to screw up your negative rating with positive votes. :-) (I hate the spelling but love the creative, 'I'm responsible for this students education' spirit.)

Dwayne

[Dustdevil]

I got nothin.

Ya know, there was a time not so long ago when almost every question asked here begged my input. No matter how many people answered the question, I always felt like I had something else of value, a forgotten pearl of wisdom to add. That day has passed, and I honestly don't know whether I am crying out of joy or sorrow, but I am crying nonetheless.

I am just so happy and proud of the intelligent and supportive community that exists here today. Though not as robust in activity as it was at one time, the quality of this forum is unequalled, and gets better with each passing day. Unless you need a historical perspective from the 1970s, there's just not much that I can add here anymore. The question of this thread has been answered so completely and professionally that it's worth it's weight in gold. Every major point taught in any instructors course, and even in college psychology and education classes, was revealed in these two pages. I may have gone crazy with the positive points in this thread, but you guys deserve them.

Neb.EMT, you've been here about as long as I have, and somehow have managed to only post 42 times, but you have done so with quality. I am pleased that you chose this forum to ask such a great question in, and I sincerely hope that you'll share the results with us as the student progresses, as well as any pointers you have for us after the fact. Best of luck to you and your students. If you find this site helpful, then please encourage them to join us here.

EDIT: Okay, I take it back. I do have something to suggest.

This girl -- since she knows her stuff, but lacks confidence -- sounds like a great candidate for one of my favourite educational techniques: The memory dump. Although you know it, she needs a chance to show herself that she actually does know her stuff. But many students freeze up when they are 'on the spot' so to speak. You can set a more casual atmosphere for her by picking a thing or two that you know she knows well, then just call on her out of the blue to stand up and tell us all everything she knows about X. No pointed specific questions. Nothing she has to work out. No specific facts you're digging for. Just a memory dump. Tell us EVERYTHING you know about X. There's no way to blow an open ended question like that. And generally, once a student gets started, it becomes a pretty significant stream of consciousness as they dump everything they remember, in no particular order. There is no right or wrong. The only failure is to run out of the room without saying anything. Very non-threatening. But it is a legitimate test, and the student will be impressed with their knowledge of the subject, naturally increasing confidence.

Edited April 24, 2010 by Dustdevil

[uglyEMT]

This girl -- since she knows her stuff, but lacks confidence -- sounds like a great candidate for one of my favourite educational techniques: The memory dump. Although you know it, she needs a chance to show herself that she actually does know her stuff. But many students freeze up when they are 'on the spot' so to speak. You can set a more casual atmosphere for her by picking a thing or two that you know she knows well, then just call on her out of the blue to stand up and tell us all everything she knows about X. No pointed specific questions. Nothing she has to work out. No specific facts you're digging for. Just a memory dump. Tell us EVERYTHING you know about X. There's no way to blow an open ended question like that. And generally, once a student gets started, it becomes a pretty significant stream of consciousness as they dump everything they remember, in no particular order. There is no right or wrong. The only failure is to run out of the room without saying anything. Very non-threatening. But it is a legitimate test, and the student will be impressed with their knowledge of the subject, naturally increasing confidence.

Dust makes a great point here and it works. Being a recent student myself I can attest to the lack of confidence. I had the knowledge and skills, during exercises my instructors would sometimes let me run it like a crew cheif would and just observe. Without the "test" pressure I was fine, I felt good about it. Then test time came and I would freeze up. Dont know why but I did. Finally an instructor called me out in class to do this memory dump. I nearly craped my pants with the thought of standing in front of the whole class and talking about whatever the instructor asked. I was a wreck but as I slowly began "dumping" my brain I started feeling more confident in what I was saying which led to more confidence in standing in front of the room.

One thing they did as well (my instructors) is make everyone a "crew chief" during an excersise in rotation. Sometimes the student gains confidence in being able to articulate to the rest of the "crew" and whatching them perform. Have one student do it wrong and see if the "chief" picks up on it and corrects them. Sometimes its then that the confidence comes in. When before they realize it they have steped in and fixed a problem but without thinking about it just doing it.

I know my advise might not mean much do to lack of experience and with the information already posted being so good. But hoepfully a seed can be gotten from my little nugget of experience. I was not a confident test taking student even though I had the knowledge, it was my instructors that brought me out of it. I thank them for it, and I thank you as well for bringing this up about students. Hopefully future students, teachers, instructors will read this thread and be better for it.

[gemini1030]

A lot of good points here.

If I may offer and observation that I noticed doing my clinicals recently. I too suffer from lack of confidence. I see it improving after each shift.

When doing clinicals with a crew that is experienced or an existing partnership the student feels like a third wheel lots of the time. I am not a strong aggressive person so I was never quite sure what my role was in patient care during clinicals. I was so afraid of screwing up it was not funny. Most experienced partners already know what their role is and have a certain rythm. Maybe enroute to a call explain what you expect the student to do. Knowing what the expectations of me in each call helped. Each medic has a different expectation and way of doing things. Letting the student know there expectations may help.

Being with a regular partner has been the most benefical for me. I now am beginning to understand how and why she does things and the things that she expects me to take care of.

If you do not have the confidence it can be very intimidating.

In class I did well on test and practical excercises but still lacked the confidence. Some how in our little group I was nominated into the role of leader or teacher during study groups. I think that did more to help me than anything. In class try having the student teach a skill to a small group. That would be a good place to start. The leadership role will do a lot of good as stated earlier.

Good Luck.