SELF- ESTEEM COMES FIRST....

      We've long known that when students feel good about themselves, they are much more likely to become better achievers in the classroom. Fostering can do attitudes and building students' confidence by setting them up for success and providing positive feedback along with frequent praise are essential tools for both teachers and parents. Think about yourself, the more confident you feel, the better you feel about the task at hand and your ability to do it. When  you are feeling good about yourself, it's much easier to motivate ourself to become academically proficient.

      What's the next step? First of all, in order to help improve self-esteem, we have to be careful in the way we provide feedback. Dweck (1999) argues that having a particular goal orientation, (learning goal or performance goal) to base feedback on as opposed to person-orientated praise will be more effective. In other words, avoid using statements like: 'I'm proud of you'; Wow, you worked hard. Instead, focus the praise on the task or process. Praise the student's specific effort and strategy. Dweck (1999) For instance, 'I notice you selected the cube-a-links to solve that problem, that's a great strategy.' I noticed that you didn't make any computational errors this time!' When using this type of feedback, you've addressed both self-esteem and you've supported your motivational level for academic goals.

       Self-esteem is important in and out of the classroom. Teachers and parents can support self-esteem by remembering some of the following:

·                   Always accentuate the positive. Do you ever notice those suffering from a low self- esteem tend to focus on the negative? You'll hear statements like: 'Oh, I was never any good at that. 'I can't keep friends'. This actually indicates that this person needs to like themselves more!  Avoid criticism. Those suffering with low self-esteem struggle the most when given criticism. Be sensitive to this.

·                
                        Always remember that self-esteem is about how much your feel valued, appreciated, accepted, loved and having a good sense of self worth. Having a good self-image.    Understand that as parents and teachers, you play one of the biggest roles in how good or bad a your can feel about yourself - again, avoid criticism. Influence from a parent or teacher can make and break you sense of self-esteem. Don't abuse it.

·                  
                        Expectations must always be realistic. This goes along with setting your up for success. Differentiated instruction is key and goes long way to ensure that teachers know their students and esnures the types of tasks/expectations match your strengths and ability levels.  See the learning in errors or mistakes. Turn mistakes inside out and focus on what was or will be learned from the mistake. This helps you on the positive, not the negative. Remind students that everyone makes mistakes but it's how those mistakes are handled that makes the difference. We need to see them as learning opportunities. Powerful learning can often be the result of a mistake made.

     Self-esteem is an important component to almost everything you do. Not only will it help with academic performance, it supports social skills and makes it easier for you to have and keep friends. Relationships with peers and teachers are usually more positive with a healthy dose of self-esteem. You are also better equipped to cope with mistakes, disappointment and failure, they are more likely to stick with challenging tasks and complete learning activities. Self-esteem is needed life-long and we need to remember the important role we play to enhance or damage we self-esteem.

Reference: Dweck, C. S. (1999) Self Theories: Their Role in Motivation, Personality, and Development. Hove: Psychology Press, Taylor and Francis G

SIMPLE STEPS TO MASTER YOUR USE OF TIME.......

One of the first things that graduate students (and college students too!) learn is that there is never enough time in the day. How can you keep yourself sane when you're overloaded with courses, research, teaching, and a life? Begin with using an academic calendar to keep track of your days. Time management entails more than keeping a calendar, however. It is requires identifying your obligations, carefully considering their importance, and making choices about how to use your time. 

Use Multiple To-Do Lists
At this stage in your life it is likely that one to-do list isn't enough. Use multiple lists to organize tasks by topic or context. For example, you might maintain separate lists for each area of your life, such as home (for grocery lists, bills, and household tasks), social (for lists of friends and family to call, email, or contact on Facebook), and school (obviously, for maintaining lists of school-related tasks, like assignments and meetings with professors).

Break Each Large Task into Actionable Easy Tasks
The trick to making consistent progress on your tasks, especially academic tasks, is to separate each task into all of the smaller component tasks. For example, many students have an item on their academic list called: Write a Paper for X Class. That's one big task. Each time you look at that task it may seem overwhelming, so you glance over it and move on to the next easy task. What's an "easy" task? It's an actionable task - one that has a specific beginning and end and consists of no smaller steps. Easy tasks are less overwhelming because they are clear cut. To make sure that you tackle the big tasks, like writing a paper, it's essential that you break it into small "easy" actionable tasks, such as:

• Review the course textbook for paper ideas
• Run an Internet search on each idea to weed out inappropriate topics
• Choose two topics
• Meet with professor to discuss each topic
• Make a decision
• Brainstorm search phrases and topics for your library and Internet searches….. And so on

Prioritize Your Tasks
Once you prepare your lists you may find that you have much more to do than you ever realized - and feel pressured for time. Breathe. Relax. You don't have to do it all now. Some of it can wait a little while, more of it can wait even longer, and some of it may never get done. That's ok -- if you prioritize your tasks.

What's truly important to you? School work is important, but some tasks are more important than others. For example, suppose your professor assigns weekly short papers. You might feel pressured to complete these small papers before working on your large term paper for the same class. Prioritize! How much are the weekly papers worth to your grade as compared with the term paper? Many students spend a lot of time working on tasks, like short weekly papers, that account for a small percentage of their grade, for example 15%, over working on term papers and big projects that account for a much larger proportion of their grade, such as 50%. Prioritize to ensure that you're directing your effort to what matters. This is true in school but also in your personal life. How important is it that the kitchen floor be spotless?

Seat deadlines for Yourself
Academic work entails many steps. Set a realistic deadline for each step. How do you determine what's realistic? Sit down with a calendar and think about how much time you will spend on your project each day and what you can complete in that time. Use your estimates to set deadlines. Recognize that you may have to adjust your deadlines. We often overestimate the amount of work that we can accomplish. Take this tendency into account by beginning your assignments early.

Be Flexible 
While to-do lists are wonderful for helping you to organize and prioritize your life, remember that there will always be interruptions and distractions. Try to allow time for them

Go with Your Flow
Consider your own biological peaks and lows. Are you a morning person? Or are you at your best at night? Plan your day accordingly. Save your most difficult work for the times when you're at your best.

Say "No." 
Sometimes we take on too much. Whether it's extra courses, job responsibilities, or extracurricular activities, consider how important each is to you before agreeing.

Make Use of Wasted Time
Have you ever noticed how much time you spend commuting, standing in lines, and waiting (for doctors, advisors, etc.)? Carry pocket work to make use of that time that would otherwise be wasted. Carry a short reading assignment or flash cards for studying. Or use the time to write in your planner and  organize yourself. Ten minutes here, fifteen minutes there, it all adds up and you'll find that you can get more done.