Self Esteem of Students with Specific Learning Difficulties - Essay Example

?A brief investigation into the effectiveness of Wave 3 lessons in raising the self esteem with specific learning difficulties within a secondary school. Abstract Much as there has been a recognition of science-based teaching, the implications of research as a guide for instructional reforms has yet to be fully appreciated (Vaugh and Linan-Thompson 2004, p.3). This research project therefore looks towards instructional reforms along the correlation between Literacy instruction not only in improving literacy in general, but also in alleviating the lack of self-esteem in learners. It attempts to establish the necessarily co-dependent nature of elevating a student’s self esteem while raising their literacy levels during a Wave 3 intervention activity. The examination explores theoretical and practical ideas about self esteem among dyslexic learners and makes conclusions based on data gathered through students self-assessment and standardized beginning and end assessment tests. The investigation demonstrates that there is a correlation between the Wave 3 Literacy Intervention Programme and the increase in self-esteem of special learners with dyslexia. After a 10-week programme, majority of the students obtained an average ratio of 3.1 which is the desired outcome for the project. The value of Wave 3 Literacy Intervention is thereby established, while looking forward to revisions by way of enriching the intervention programme, especially for special learners who have undergone the programme several times. Introduction “I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou. This quote, for me, sums up the important position teachers have and the potential influence they have on their students. I may not be a Socrates, Confucius or Jesus, but I do feel I am a great teacher when I can touch hearts and will, in addition to imparting knowledge and skills to prepare a generation of learners for constructive contemporary living. In this present research activity, I become privileged to teach special learners suffering dyslexia. Soon enough, I face the reality that dyslexics find the school an unpredictable battleground in which they are unskilled to exist ( Scott 2004, p. 55). More particularly, Scott notes that ‘for the vast majority of dyslexic children and adults, school has been a place of psychological and often physical torture. Dyslexia is described as a learning disability in children which hinders their ability to read, write, spell and sometimes speak. Manifested to be either mild or severe in children, neurologists perceive that it is “never too late to improve their language skills” (Medicine Net 2012, p.1). Many, although not all, of my specific learning difficulty students come to me burdened with self esteem issues, feeling that they have already failed too many times and fearful that they are about to fail again. While empathy fills me with their suffering, I do not see this condition to be insurmountable, given my awareness of modern approaches to student learning and maturation. At school, failure in literacy has huge knock-on effects for the whole academic curriculum and with all subjects. Failing to read and write is a very public failure (Scott, 2004). Any student with limited proficiency in English including specific disabilities related to literacy runs the risk of being left behind by his or her peers. This brief investigation into the effectiveness of Wave 3 interventions and their potential in raising the self esteem of students is borne not only out of my university studies but a genuine interest in dyslexic students, their need to be heard and how I can best serve them through my practice. It is obvious to me that a student’s self esteem has a direct impact on their learning. Educators define learning as “a long term change in mental representations or associations as a result of experience” (Omrod 2000, p. 10). As a school teacher I can provide that learning experience, being much aware that children’s success may be jeopardized if a problem which can remain in case this is not resolved at the proper time. I am convinced that it is a duty and challenge for me to be part of those who can assist special children in their maturation and growth. Context of study I am working on a 1:1 basis with six students who demonstrate dyslexic tendencies at a secondary school in Somerset. The school has about 500 students, around 35% are currently on the Code of Practice (D.F.E.1994). The special education needs department consists of a SENCO, a specialist literacy teacher, and five part time Teaching Assistants some of whom are attached to individual students, providing in class support and withdrawal of literacy and numeracy work. The six individual students consist of two Year 7s, one Year 8, and three Year 9s, with two girls and four boys. These students were chosen because of the severity of the dyslexia tendencies, the varying degrees of self esteem they demonstrate, and the good relationship that I have with them. Aims and Objectives of this project 1. To establish that Wave 3 intervention lessons can have a positive effect on my students self esteem. 2. To measure the extent of that positive effect through the use of data collected from beginning and end student self assessment using SAIL 2010 self esteem charts and the Rosenberg self esteem scale. 3. To measure the students literacy progress using standardised test WRAT4 both at the beginning and the end of their intervention lessons. 4. To establish a toolbox of self esteem strategies that will positively influence my students in their learning. 5. To work within a 10 week framework of time in accordance with my present Wave 3 interventions. 6. To evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies through the evaluation of the data collected. 7. All students and data to remain within the confines of the school policy thereby complying with the Data Protection of students, whereby only first names will be identified. The following tests were used for data collection: WRAT4 for the literacy levels and the self esteem charts because this is not only a standardised test but the one preferred at our school. The self esteem assessments are taken from the SAIL2010 intervention, and the Rosenburg self esteem scale. All of this data appears as appendices at the end of this essay. What is self esteem? This investigation was planned with a very clear idea of what self esteem is, its influence on achievement and behaviour, and how it can be raised. Self-Esteem Self-esteem is a complex human awareness which escapes easy definition. Often enough, it is used casually and has been mistaken to have the same meaning as Self- concept and Self-image. Actually, Self-concept is a catch-all word defined as “an umbrella term comprising a person’s self image, ideal self and self esteem (Lawrence 2006, p. XVI). It is therefore broadly encompassing, similarly described as an individual’s awareness of his or her own self composed of all the beliefs they have about themselves and all the evaluations they make about themselves – respectively, self image and ideal self” (Burns, 1982, Lawrence, 2006, Hamachek, 1987). On the other hand, Self-image has a more confined meaning as it refers to awareness mainly on mental and physical characteristics alone. Lawrence more exactly describes it as referring to what an individual thinks he or she is—how they describe themselves and as such is mostly subjective (2006). He adds to say that Self- image is formed from the feedback an individual receives from others and from self reflection. To elaborate more on Self-image, to the question “Who are you?” the answer from the point of view of Self-image may come by way of your name, sex, job, etc.. Self image is thus differentiated from the Ideal-self which is the ideal qualities or characteristics one should possess. Psychologists do not necessarily say that a discrepancy between Self-image and Ideal- self is always bad, since this discrepancy may even be a motivating factor for change and development along one’s social, physical and academic skills (2006). It is what an individual feels about the discrepancies between their Self-image and the Ideal- self that is that person's Self-esteem. At this point it is important to note that most people's self-image is not the same as their ideal self but that does not mean everybody has a low self-esteem. It is the individual's feelings about the discrepancy that matters. People with low self-esteem feel that this difference is important and worry about it to such an extent that it influences their actions. Self esteem is not a fixed mark either and we as human beings are constantly engaged in the processes that assess, change, and restructure it. The difference has been established between high self esteem and low self esteem. Esteem is high when a person thinks himself to be worthwhile, but low when the person thinks himself or herself unimportant. Those who have high esteem appear confident and proud while those with low esteem appear indecisive, self critical and usually anxious and unhappy (Coon 2004, p. 511). More than just good feelings about oneself, however, self esteem can be a tool to pushing one’s self to achieving new goals (Brisbane 2000, p. 409). Outside of one’s self, a Significant other is anybody outside one’s self whose opinion is important to an individual. For children, the significant others are usually their parents, some peers and some teachers To reflect, I wish to be a Significant-other to my students, who may consider me important in their lives through my performance as a genuine teacher and guide. Personally, I have assumed the goal of nurturing my own self esteem through positive qualities of personal integrity, self acceptance, respect for the needs of others, and the ability to empathize. Self-Esteem and Academic Achievement Most academics would claim that there is a definite link between self-esteem and academic achievement, although there are others who would disagree. However, I believe that teachers are in a powerful position to influence children’s self-esteem and likewise influence their achievements and behaviour. The research evidence over the last twenty years in both America and Britain is consistent: those who have low academic achievement have low self-esteem. (McNamara and O'Neill, 1995, p. 91). Related to my Language course, academicians believe reading may be the most important skill in the early grades. It has been observed that children who fail in reading for a lengthy period of time may be viewed as developing low awareness of themselves by way of their outward show of lack of self confidence (Lawrence 2006, p. XVI). How students perform in school is linked to how well they think they can perform. (Hamachek, 1987, p. 263) As an intervention, there is viewed the need for sufficient amount of pressure in order to prod the young to care to change, but there should not be undue or excessive pressure since this may have the harmful effect of distress felt by them. If a student has low self-esteem (and therefore a low self-concept) his or her performance is affected and this leads to underachievement (Burns 1982, p.185). For a student to achieve their potential they must have a high self-concept and although this does not guarantee high achievement, high achievement is impossible without it (Hamachek, 1987 and Burns, 1982). It is not that low self-esteem pupils are on the whole less intelligent but that they themselves are central in their thoughts rather than the task. (Burns 1982) It is important to remember this when planning lessons, especially for pupils with special educational needs, who are more likely to receive negative feedback about themselves: No matter how carefully we assess children through observation; how well we match the task to the functioning level of the children; how cleverly we analyse the task, break it into small steps and produce activities designed for the children to succeed, the student who has low self-esteem may well make little or no progress. (McNamara and O'Neill, 1995, p. 91). Beginning early learning, educators see young people able to learn effectively by way of such activities as “ exploring, observing, listening, representing first-hand experiences, planning involving a combination of ideas, feeling and relationships with application of skills and competence (Roberts, R.) Self-Esteem and Behaviour Low self-esteem can lead to disruption for two reasons. A pupil who is doing badly at school is likely to minimise the salience of academic success and attempt to raise their self-esteem through other activities (Burns, 1982). These could be acceptable activities such as football or music or unacceptable activities such as bullying or acting the fool in class. Secondly, if an individual thinks he or she cannot do a task and is 'thick' they are likely to act and behave in ways that are consistent with this, such as avoiding work by talking, wandering about or getting themselves thrown out of the classroom. Curry and Johnson (1990) sees four components of self esteem as this is behaviorally demonstrated, and these are: 1. Positive self-concept reflected in having a secure sense of identity 2. Ability to acknowledge and value our own efforts and achievements 3. Confidence, energy and optimism 4. Promoting positive self-experience Raising Self-Esteem in the Classroom Self-esteem can be raised by letting individuals: receive positive feedback about themselves which they can accept. succeed in tasks that matter to them and in ways where they can attribute that success to themselves. How a teacher gives feedback is important. McNamara and Moreton (1995) suggest that for praise to change self-esteem it must be: specific; accurate; realistically tied to into something the student has actually done. Providing successful experiences for students can help build self-esteem: Success, expected or unexpected, can do great things for one's ego, which in turn elevates self-confidence, which then is translated into higher self-imposed expectations that one strives harder to live up to. (Hamachek, 1987, p. 272) For academic achievement to be a source of self-esteem it must be valued by the individual. This means they must want to succeed in the subject or task, they must recognise that their accomplishment is considered a success by their significant others and they must attribute their success to themselves. This will not happen 'accidentally' - it needs a positive effort on the part of the teacher to: Teach students the skills they need to evaluate and judge their own work; Provide experiences that offer new and different opportunities for self-evaluation; Make clear the values and standards by which students can judge their performance. (For many pupils with special educational needs this means standards for behaviour as well as academic achievement) (Burns, 1982) This is not easy - "There is no action that a teacher can take that a child with a negative self-concept cannot interpret in a negative way." (Burns, 1982). There is no sure way to raise a child's self-esteem. The best a teacher can do is to provide an environment where success and positive feedback (from teachers and peers) will flourish and the chances of failure and negative feedback are reduced. This way the chances of further damaging a child's self-esteem are minimised and the chances of increasing it are maximised. Self Esteem Toolkit for Secondary Students 1. To focus on student accomplishments. 2. Dismiss the “perfection myth”, e.g. Albert Einstein was a genius but not a great speller. 3. Turn negative self-talk into positive, e.g. “I can’t do anything.”, “But you already have, and just look at what you have achieved in this.” 4. Encourage students to think in terms of "anything's possible" if they put their mind to it. Reinforce through positive comments, through inspirational wall posters, and through positive quotes. 5. It is important that students realise that mistakes are a normal, natural, and necessary part of life, and it is through making them that we learn - Mistakes are the portal of discovery James Joyce. 6. Note the area a student tends to excel in and use that as a springboard to the next activity so that the student already feels successful before they tackle a problem area such as spellings. 7. To be genuinely interested in the student and their concerns. 8. To be generous and genuine with praise. 9. To create a safe and inclusive environment so that students can feel safe and a part of the school community. 10. To be human by giving examples of times when things went wrong for me, and to give the example that there are "no silly questions". Testing The experiment is a most common mode of scientific observation useful for structured sciences, including education (Babbie, E. 2007, p. 221). It involves taking an action, in our case a 10-week instructional intervention, and observing the consequences of that action in relation to its effect on the level of self-esteem among learners. Following a simple experimental design, both the literacy and self- esteem levels of subjects are measured by way of a dependent variable (pretesting). Exposure to the Wave 3 Intervention serves as the stimulus representing an independent variable. After the 10-week intervention, literacy and self esteem levels are re-measured by way of the dependent variable (posttesting). Self-esteem The Lawseq questionnaire (reproduced in Lawrence, 1988, p17) was used to measure students’ self esteem together with the SAIL (Somerset Assessment in Literacy) 2010 because they cover different aspects of self esteem. Lawrence writes about the difficulties of accomplishing an accurate objective measure of self esteem which is why I am using the tried and tested questionnaires (Appendix 1 and 2). Wave 3 Wave 3 is specialist teaching on a 1:1 basis where a child is withdrawn from his or her usual classes and taught by a specialist teacher working to enhance reading, spelling, writing and literacy in general. Essential elements of proven literacy methods are used inclusive of phonics, word study, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. It is significant to note that the Wave 3 Literacy Intervention Programme is a scientifically-based intervention designed to provide learning activities drawn from successful practice and objective measurements. It therefore differs from non-scientific learning experience such as through folklore which is transmitted through word-of-mouth and popular knowledge passed from person-to-person. Folklore is proven unreliable for teaching-and learning since not all that can be transmitted are true. Wave 3 has the elements both of craft and science. It is craft in the sense that it has been developed through practice. Such a kind of learning by craft can also be exemplified by human accomplishments as exemplified in early building of houses, migratory travel and folk medicine. As science, Wave 3 displays rigor, system, objectivity and documentation, thus adding confidence as an objective approach to learning. For better understanding, Wave1 has been described as consisting in high quality literacy learning time, while Wave 2 consists in attention focused on special learners who experience learning difficulties and have to catch up with peers. Wave 3 comprises the specific interventional approaches to help these children wherein Sound Discovery is the core (Synthesis Phonics.net, 2011). Sound Discovery is a synthetic phonic programme which engages special learners in phonemic awareness activities such as through syllable split, deleting syllables and segmentation of short and longer words. Phonics and word study follow consisting in learners being guided in learning relationships between letters (graphemes) and sounds (phonemes). Fluency activities follow so that learners can read connected text, reading words more quickly by sight. The use of code knowledge then leads learners from reading to writing. The key features of the writing lessons are closely matched with the Sound Discovery modeled approach to writing. At the beginning, writing activities involve short writing tasks such as labeling of a diagram. Increased detailing, sequential development of ideas follow. Observed and measured outcomes among learners were enthusiasm, motivation, independence and self esteem. There is therefore a perceived removal of barriers to future learning of these special children. In addition, there is the raising of raising literacy levels acquired through the Wave 3 Literacy Intervention Programme. Except for one learner, ratio gain differed among individual learners ranging from 2% which is viewed as a normal rate of progress up to 1.3% and above which reflect significant gain. WRAT3 was used as a complementary assessment instruments for more accurate determination of ratio gain. Through my observation, learners with dyslexia are not necessarily low in intelligence. However, they find difficulty in developing a higher level of intelligence owing to language difficulties. They have demonstrated slowness in reading and learning to spell correctly, coupled with other difficulties associated with finding meaning in words, phrases and sentences. Wave 3 gives stress to right methods and right tools. The emotional attention I provided proved important in creating an atmosphere of engagement. Establishing a warm and accepting relationship, I saw my students potentially improving all through the Wave 3 programme. Conclusions drawn from the data collected and evaluation of project data The 10-week project period included student pre-self assessment of their self esteem and a post-assessment to demonstrate the level of ratio gain at which they progressed. In looking at the data collected there appears to be a direct correlation between the students rising level of self esteem and their increased level of learning. Appendix 1. The Standardized Assessment of Information Literacy or SAOL 2010 Version 3.0 was used for a pre-test and post- test in order to measure the information literacy skills of the special learners prior to the start and after completion of Wave 3 intervention. (Insert graph) The graph shows the efficacy of the WAVE 3 programme as there was generally demonstrated an increase or improvement of the level of information literacy skills among the special learners. On their feeling about books, there is a self-perception of a dramatic increase in feeling good about books by as much as 4.20 points in the case of Erika and 4.10 points in the case of Karen. The rest perceived they felt better about books by as much as two to three times their previous appreciation for books. On being good at reading there is also a perception of increase in reading skills among all special learners with dramatic increase perceived by Cameron and Erika by 4.00 points and Kate by 3.70 points. On being good at writing and spelling, increased positive perception by all the learners is accentuate by a perception of dramatic improvement by Erika by 4.70 points, also Kate and Hannish by 2.00 points. On doing good work in class there is general perception among all learners on being able to sustain or increase high appreciation of class work with Noah giving the highest rating from 8.90 to 9.30 points for his class work. . On getting along well with others in class, again the perception is high before the start and after the implementation of Wave 3 with Hannish and Noah registering the highest post-test rating at 9.90 points. In sum, use of the SAIL instrument showed there is an overall perceived increase by way of improvement in literacy skills with the girls Erika and Kate registering dramatic increase in their perceived skills improvement. Appendix 2. The following graph illustrates the results of the pre-test and post-test assessment of self-esteem of the special learners. (Insert Figure 2) Using the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale instrument, items 1,2,4,6,7 have the equivalence of Strongly Agree for 3, Agree for 2 and Disagree for 1. On the other hand, items , 5, 8, 9, 10 are interpreted by reversed in valence to signify Strongly Agree for 0, Agree for 1, Disagree for 2 and Strongly Agree for 3. Overall, there is self-perception of an increase in self-esteem from rating given by special learner on ten questions. On Question 1 about feeling satisfied on the whole with oneself, minimal satisfaction was maintained before and after Wave 3 with Kate perceiving a dramatic increase in self satisfaction by an increase of 1.40 points. On Question 2 about feeling not good at times, the opposite is true since there was overall a double increase in wellness, especially for Kate whose feeling increased dramatically from a zero feeling to a 1.40 feeling of wellness. On Question 3 about feeling one’s having a number of good qualities, only Charlie perceived he had lowered his feelings about good qualities in himself from 1.90 to .90 points. All the rest generally felt their feeling about personal good qualities in themselves have doubled. On Question 4 about being able to do things as well as others, two male learners felt a depreciation of what they are able to do demonstrated by lowered scores with Cameron’s rating (1.90 to .90) and Hanish’s rating (from 2.90 to 1.90). On the other hand, Kate perceived she improved in doing things as well as others in a dramatic fashion from a .00 to a 1.90 score. On Question 5 about the feeling not having much to be proud of, Hanish perceived less pride in himself after Wave 3, but all the other learners perceived an improved feeling of pride in oneself with Kate posting dramatic surge in a feeling of self pride from .00 to 1.00. On Question 6 about feeling useless at times, Charlie perceived he felt more useless at times after Wave 3 giving a rating from 3.00 to 2.50. On the other hand, all the other learners either felt they sustained a feeling of being useful, or even increased positively in this feeling, again Kate demonstrating a dramatic surge in a sense of being useful from .00 to 1.00 points. On Question 7 about feeling being a person of worth, there is an overall perception of an increase in this positive feeling with Kate perceiving she benefitted most with her given rating from .10 to 1.90. On Question 8 about wishing to have more respect for self, there is overall increase in positive perception among all participants, with Erika posting a remarkable .00 to .90 rating for her wish to have more self- respect. On Question 9 about being inclined all in all to feel being a failure, there is overall feeling of the opposite, that is their feeling of being successful rather than a failure with Kate signifying an improvement from .10 to .90. All the rest of learners signified that they doubled their feeling of being a success rather than a failure. On the final Question 10 about taking a positive attitude to oneself, there is overall and increase in positive attitude with dramatic improvement in attitude by Erika (.90 to 2.40), Charlie (190 to 2.40) and Kate (.10 to 1.40). , In sum, the Rosenberg Self Esteem Scale instrument showed a commendable improvement in self esteem among the learners who participated in the Wave 3 Intervention Programme. While the level of self esteem among learners have not reached optimal level, the increase in perception in self esteem is remarkable, even dramatic for some learners, more particularly for the girl participants, namely Erika and Kate. I think the data gathered through this project establishes for me in my practice the need to use science-based literacy strategies modeled by the Wave 3 programme to help my students overcome the stumbling blocks in their reading, spelling, writing and literacy in general. Simultaneously, I see myself as playing a significant role in raising the self esteem of my students, as a gateway for them to build a bridge from past hurts and failures to present healing and success. It has been a privilege to see some of my students blossom in self confidence and gain in their learning. Others need more time and help in which to be allowed to grow and further develop their literacy skills. The data has made for both an interesting and in some instances a worrying study. The student who concerns me most is Kate who initially scored herself as zero on all but one question in the Rosenburg self esteem questionnaire, despite the fact that her end results show great improvement on this, I intend to be looking more specifically at her in greater depth in my critical reflection essay. In direct contrast Noah has a wonderfully buoyant and positive attitude towards himself despite the difficulties he has had to face with his dyslexia tendencies and difficulties but he has already established many self-help strategies to overcome his problems. Recommendations From the findings, the following recommendations can be made: 1. Maintain the Wave 3 Intervention Program for learners with special issues or needs, including those with dyslexia, at-risk reading problems, or those who simply need additional instruction to attain the level of literacy appropriate for their age and grade. 2. Adopt flexibility in the timeframe for implementation of Wave 3 intervention, such as less than 10- weeks or more than 10- weeks depending on needs of students. 3. Adopt research-based or knowledge based methods the teaching learning process in other courses. 4. Share or echo results of Wave 3 studies with colleagues. 5. Include the participation of parents in the Wave 3 intervention activities. 6. Increase school support for Wave 3 Intervention Programme. References Babbie, E. 2007. The Practice of Social Research. Belmont, CA: Thompson, Wadsworth. Brisbane, H. 2000. The Developing Child. New York: Mc Graw Hill Coon, D. 2004. Introduction to Psychology. Australia: Gateways to Mind and Behavior Curry, N. and Johnson, . 1990. Beyond Self Esteem: Developing a Sense of Human Value. Washington, D.C.: MAEXC MedicineNet.com 2012. What is Dyslexia? Available from htt://www.medicinenet.com/dyskexua/article.htm (accessed 10 April 2012) Omrod, J.S. 2000. Human Learning. Columbus, Ohio: Pearson-Merill Prentice Hall Roberts, R. 2000. Self-Esteem and Early Learning. London: Paul Chapman Sythesisphonics.net2011. Wave 3 Literacy Intervention Program Available from http://www.synthesisphonics.net/pdf/w3-04.pdf (accessed 4 May 2012) Vaugh, S. and Linan-Thompson (2004). Research-Based Methods of Reading Instruction. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development - - Alexandria, Virginia USA: Read More