I gave my first test last week. That always scares me terribly because there will be students who struggle and then decide that they cannot possibly do well in my course. One bad test and they give up. They go crawl in a hole, so easily defeated. They become immersed in the wrong stories, stories that begin with, “I’m dumb. I can’t do this.” That breaks my heart. I want them to fight back.
For that reason, I work very hard in the week following the first test to change the narrative. We are a product of our own stories and I want my students to be aware that they can change those stories for their own benefit.
Below is an email that I sent
to my students last night. We are
already preparing for our next test, and I want them to think about the stories
they are telling themselves as a result of the first test. Do they need to change those stories?
**
To: My
Students
From: JH
As a few of you might know, I
spent last summer writing a book about teaching. It
was a project that I enjoyed dearly. I
worked 70-90 hours per week and loved every second. It
allowed me to think deeply about teaching.
What can work for my students (at least some of the time)? How
can I help every student learn better?
The book has been out about six
weeks and I have gotten great responses from readers as far away as Germany and
Canada.
Now, let’s make this about you.
You just had your first test of
the semester.
- Some of you did great.
- Some of you did a bit less than great.
As I have stressed several
times during the past few days, how you ultimately do in this course will
likely depend on your reaction to your first test. Will
the outcome of that first test push you to be a stronger student or scare you
into being a frightened student? That,
to me, is a terribly important question. How
you answer that question may be the most important thing you do during this
semester in my class. Will the
first test inspire you or beat you down?
I am a big believer that we
often succeed in life based on our expectations of ourselves. Below, I am going to provide you
with a few paragraphs directly from my teaching book. The
only thing I’ve changed from the book is the black dot lists (they are now for
students rather than teachers). I’d
like for you to read these paragraphs and consider how they relate to you and
your ability to succeed in my class. Whether
you made 105 or 25 on Test One, YOU CAN DO BETTER. I believe that 100 percent.
The paragraphs below are about
one thing: the stories you tell
yourself, more specifically the stories you tell yourself about your work in my
class. In the book, the actual
stories are for teachers, but the idea applies just as well to you as a student. What stories are you telling yourself
about our course? Are those
stories designed to provide you with optimism and enthusiasm? Or, do they simply scare you and make
you feel hopeless? Do your
stories energize you or defeat you?
You are ALL bright people. Trust me. I
know that. You are capable of
great things. In class, I can
easily picture each of you 10 years from now being a true success. However, if you are going to
fulfill your potential, you need to tell yourself stories that will push you
forward and increase your belief in yourself (right now).
We all tell ourselves stories. The secret is to tell yourself stories
that will make you better.
**
The following is from: Transformative
Education. In case you are
interested, the book is available for free at: https://scholarship.richmond.edu/bookshelf/375/
(Changes from the book are
shown in italics.)
The Power of the Stories You
Tell Yourself. I
listen to audiobooks as I drive around in my Subaru. Whether
fiction or nonfiction, my commute is always more pleasant when accompanied by
the sound of a good book. A few
years ago, I listened to Wild, a memoir by Cheryl Strayed. It is long and complex so I will omit
a detailed synopsis. However,
near the beginning of this autobiographical work, the author comes to believe
she has lost control of her life at least in part because of the death of her
mother. She decides to focus on a
genuinely difficult challenge in hopes of regaining inner peace and stability. In that circumstance, I might have
taken up a hobby such as pottery.
With virtually no experience to
guide her, Strayed chose to walk 1,100 miles alone through the mountains of
California and Oregon on the Pacific Crest Trail. Even
now, the risk associated with that venture strikes me as absurd. Although she faced horribly
frightening experiences during those three months, she ultimately succeeded. She was not the fastest hiker,
actually one of the slowest, but she made it. Along
the way, she encountered enormous challenges but figured out solutions to get
through them all successfully.
One morning I was listening
to Wild as I drove to campus. In
the book at that moment, Strayed was getting ready to begin her incredibly
long, difficult journey. At the
last minute, she lost her nerve and almost quit without taking the first step. In describing her faltering emotions,
she wrote a sentence that is so insightful that I literally pulled my car over
to the side of the road so I could write it down.
Fear, to a great extent, is
born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell myself a different
story from the one women are told.
Shakespeare could not have
written a better line. “Fear, to
a great extent, is born of a story we tell ourselves, and so I chose to tell
myself a different story from the one women are told.” What
an uplifting response to a personal challenge. Those
words have stuck with me like an arrow for years. The
relevance to our lives is even more apparent if we swap out the word “Fear” for
alternatives such as “Hate” and “Envy” and apply the admonition to everyone. Human beings are very much a
product of the stories we tell ourselves.
What holds us back from
reaching our potential? Unless we
are careful, the stories we tell ourselves can create a substantial barrier,
one that prevents us from achieving our desired level of success. As the comic strip Pogo warned
many decades ago, “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
Consider the stories that pop
up in the back of your mind when a problem occurs in one of your classes. Do any of the following possibilities
sound familiar? They do for me
because they have all crossed my own mind at one time or another. In a moment of frustration, doubts
always arise.
- This course is just too hard. The high school I went to was not
very good.
- I’m not as smart as these other students. They make it look easy. They sound so very confident.
- I get nervous when I take a test and I
can never do well. I make
silly mistakes.
- I invariably do badly on important exams.
- Going to college is a waste of time for
me. I’m
not cut out for this.
- I always know the material until I read a
test question and then I panic and my mind goes blank.
- No matter what I try it never seems good
enough.
- I work as hard as I can, and I still
manage to sound totally stupid.
All these stories are absolute
nonsense! Our fears create such
stories to give us easy excuses for avoiding difficulties, to give us
permission to surrender or fail. We
allow ourselves to be held back. Come
up with better stories and you will come up with better results.
Consider the stories you tell
yourself and eliminate any that are drenched in fear. Choose
stories that are positive, optimistic, and productive.
- I really want to do well, and I plan to
change my study habits to enable me to start doing better.
- The teacher believes I can learn this
material. I’ll seek more
help from him as we move forward.
- It might take work, but I know I can
learn this material. It’s
not easy but it is certainly not impossible.
- I can study more, and I can study more
effectively.
- If I take my time and focus, I can do
well in this course. One
test is only a small part of the grade.
- I like the excitement of class. I can turn that excitement into
deeper learning.
- All of these mathematical puzzles are
actually fun to work. I
don’t dread this course.
- I didn't come to college to be
lazy. I came to college to create a better version of me.
- The course has just started so now is the
time to really put out a good effort. I’ll
work to get a bit better every day.
- I can do this. It
is not easy material, but I can do it. I
now understand what the teacher wants from me.
**
Life has so many wonderful
stories if we can just avoid becoming bogged down by negativity.
If you are not doing as well as
you want, start coming up with better stories to tell yourself.
