麻豆传媒入口

Why do students struggle to ask teachers for extra help? Why do they sit in silence or confusion when raising their hand could bring help? Failure to ask for help can affect students鈥� academic performance, self-esteem, and potentially their access to learning in the future. There are several reasons why students struggle to ask for help, but the good news is that there are many strategies that can help them become stronger self-advocates for their learning.

Students must first recognize that they鈥檙e struggling. This requires honesty and self-awareness鈥攕ome students don鈥檛 think they need help even when formal or informal assessments indicate otherwise.

Once students acknowledge that they鈥檙e struggling, they may feel shame or embarrassment. Many students have told me, 鈥淚 want to be independent and try it on my own. I don鈥檛 need help.鈥� They fear that asking for help signals weakness or failure in their character, though adults could tell them that asking for help is instead a .

Teachers can help students understand how they learn best and empower them to be advocates for their own learning by teaching them how to ask for help.

5 Strategies for Improving聽Students鈥� Self-Advocacy Skills

1. Strengthen students鈥� metacognition: One strategy to help students acknowledge that they need help is to strengthen their self-reflection and metacognitive skills. Teachers and parents often act as external monitors of student progress, but they can begin to shift the responsibility of self-monitoring to children as early as elementary school.

Teachers can encourage and guide students with to think about their learning. After a test, for example, have students answer questions about how they studied, how much time they spent studying, their test grade, and what they鈥檒l do differently for the next test.

Asking about their learning helps students learn to gauge their progress and identify areas where they鈥檙e strong and ones where they need support. Teachers can incorporate metacognitive prompts such as:

• This project required a lot of hard work. How did you prepare for it?
• How do you think you鈥檙e doing in this class? How do you know? How does this compare with graded work you鈥檝e received so far?
• Can you identify one strategy you鈥檝e been using that has helped you to be successful? Can you identify one strategy you want to try using more often?

2. Help students understand that teachers want to help: Asking students of any age why an adult would choose teaching as a career can be an eye-opening鈥攁nd often humorous鈥攁ctivity.

Have students pause and reflect in small groups about why they think Teacher X became a teacher. This is extra fun if Teacher X can visit your classroom to hear the brainstormed ideas. Guide students to the final answer: 鈥淭eachers become teachers because they like to help.鈥�

I鈥檝e used this exercise at the beginning of a year for relationship-building and to show students that I care about them and want to help them. This allows me to talk to my students in a lighthearted way about asking for help.

3. Brainstorm conversation starters: Students who are introverted or shy may feel overwhelmed or anxious about initiating a conversation with their teacher. Practicing or role-playing this kind of conversation can help shy students build confidence. Teachers can also suggest that students use just two words to : 鈥淚鈥檓 struggling.鈥�

Evidence shows that having students brainstorm . After they think of ways to initiate a conversation, have them role-play talking with a teacher. This can be done as a small group activity in the classroom or one-on-one with a trusted teacher, social worker, parent, etc.

Students can approach teachers with conversation starters like:

• I鈥檓 struggling with _____. Can we talk about it later?
• I鈥檓 working hard, but I鈥檓 still not understanding _____. Can you help me?
• I鈥檓 not sure what I need. Can you please talk with me?
• Can you give me advice about _____?

4. Create a secure environment: Students need to feel safe in order to be vulnerable and honest enough to ask for help. Would you speak up and admit you needed help if you thought your peers would laugh at you?

Teachers should encourage a . You can use team-building activities to increase the sense of community in the classroom, create posters that reiterate your classroom rules and values, or hang on the walls.

Another great strategy is for teachers to model self-talk when doing something that requires risk taking. When I make mistakes as a teacher, I use them as opportunities to talk about imperfection and how to be resilient. Students enjoy , and I love it when they catch me too because I get to remind them that everyone is imperfect.

5. Help students see themselves as capable of success: In order to ask for help, students need to believe in their own . If students feel defeated or helpless, they鈥檒l be less likely to seek assistance.

Create opportunities and activities in your classroom for students to identify and highlight their strengths. One activity for elementary classrooms is creating an 鈥淚 Am鈥� bulletin board: Ask each student to create five or 10 鈥淚 Am鈥� statements: 鈥淚 am strong,鈥� 鈥淚 am good at basketball.鈥� Next, have students find images online or in magazines that illustrate their statements and create a collage of words and pictures.

For secondary classrooms, I recommend an 鈥淓xpertise鈥� bulletin board: Students (and teachers) can identify two or three expert-level skills they have鈥斺�淚鈥檓 an expert at spelling,鈥� 鈥淚鈥檓 an expert at geography鈥擨 can name all the state capitals.鈥� Display these on a classroom bulletin board, and when students need help they can check the board to find a classmate鈥攐r teacher鈥攚ho can help.