Training guide
5. Giving feedback
5.2. Building self-esteem
Activity 3.10: Building self-esteemRead the following scenarios and discuss with a partner how you might respond with appropriate feedback. Try and imagine what it would feel like to be the child receiving the feedback. Scenario 1: Michael is in Grade 4. You have set some Maths problems. Michael is the first to finish, but when you look at his work you realise that in his rush to finish, he has made a lot of mistakes. Scenario 2: The school has received some reading books. You invite your class to choose one to read to themselves in quiet reading time. You notice that Martha chooses one which has very few words on each page. You know that she is quite a good reader and you would like her to challenge herself more. Scenario 3: You asked your class to answer some questions in English about a story you read to them. David wrote some very good detailed answers, but he made many mistakes with his spelling. |
Praising students when they give good responses in your class helps to build their self-esteem from an early age. Another way to improve learners’ self-esteem is to help them recognise their own skills. Plan an opportunity to do this next week. Here are some techniques you could use:
- ask your learners to describe different kinds of things they enjoy doing, both at home and in school
- ask them to think about which activities they are particularly good at
- organise them into groups. Then ask each pupil to identify three special skills they have and share these with the group
- ask them individually to write about these skills and draw pictures of themselves doing each activity. Display them on the wall.