“Why” Section – Importance of Students Struggling.

As a parent it can be easy to want to protect your student and make the road easier for them in a number of ways.  Sometimes, however, when you protect your student to make the present easier, you may be making future harder.  Sometimes it is hard to know when to protect and when to “push them out of the nest”.  With regard to their education, I would like you to consider the following to make the choice you feel best for your student and family.

What traits do successful people have?

I conducted some research to determine what is viewed as the biggest factors for success in life? Did you know that these were the factors that often were included in the lists?

• Perseverance / Ability to Overcome / Commitment / Problem Solving
• Self-Motivation, Discipline and Confidence
• Willingness to Take Risks / Lack of Fear of Failure, Rejection and Obstacles
• Healthy Relationships (Support/Friends/Company Kept)
• Confidence

How does, the A.C.E. resource encourages these traits?

The A.C.E. resource already helps families with some of these points.

• The goal cards develop responsibility and self-discipline which leads to self-motivation.
• Through the PACEs multiple revisions of concepts, and the “mini tests” within, the students gain confidence.
• The tests also show whether they have understood the concept or not within the PACE, so they can ask for help or be proactive and revise the content until they have mastered it.
• Having several checkups within the PACE, and being able to correct and re-score, they learn to overcome a fear of failure. Instead they learn that “failing” is just a process to success.

What can parents do in regard to education to encourage these traits?

The aspect I want to discuss today is the benefits of allowing your student to struggle or face challenges particularly in their PACE work.  Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world, so everyone faces adversities, challenges and failure.  I would like to encourage you to begin to allow your student to struggle (and overcome) now, in a safe environment, where you are their safety net, than later and possibly in a situation where you are not able to help.  It is much better for a student to try and fail while you are there to support them and encourage them through it to try again, rather when they are an adult.

Some benefits to allowing your student to struggle are:

• Problem solving skill – Allowing a student to sit and struggle for a short time will incentivize their proactive problem solving skills.
• A deeper understanding of the content – Most things in life require practice, which not only ensures mastery but also, if a skill, provides improvement over time. Therefore, in those instances when we have to work or practice, in order to succeed, we are more likely to remember not only the content, but the process, and the end result.
• Self-confidence – Succeeding after a struggle can, not only lead to an increase in general self-confidence, but also in their confidence to problem solve, ability to master the content, and in their overall ability to succeed.
• Overcome a fear of failure – Parents often don’t want their student to experience the negative feelings of the result of failure, therefore, they do all they can to protect them from failure. However, if you provide opportunities for them to “fail” in a safe environment where you are there to support them through and show them how to use failure as a launching pad to their next success you are setting them up for long term success.  A simple internet search will find a list of famous or successful people who attribute their success to their previous failure.  Many inventors have shown that they were only able to succeed after they have tried and failed multiple times.  For example, Sir James Dyson (creator of the Dyson Vaccum Cleaner) had 5,126 failed prototypes before finding the one he sold all around the world and it is my understanding that he is still innovating and trying to improve the current models.

Strategies to implement:

Some strategies to implement when they struggle to understanding their PACEs are:

• Ask them questions such as:
  • Have you re-read the question and the previous few pages (or sections) of the PACE? (Many struggles come from students not reading the instructions/content or the question correctly.)
  • What have you done to try to understand this concept?
  • Do you need a previous PACE which contained a more detailed explanation of the concept?
  • Where in this PACE or previous PACEs have you solved this concept correctly?
  • Is the reason you are struggling with this because you haven’t memorized an important aspect such as multiplication tables in Math?
  • Can we consult another source to help you learn this concept (such as an internet search, YouTube video etc.)
• Remind them of previous instances where they struggled with something, but kept trying and was able to overcome or master it. This can be outside the academic area like riding a bike or a previous challenging topic.
• Suggest taking a break. Sometimes a student needs to take a break as they are in a negative mental cycle of “I can’t do this” which, after the break they may be able to choose to implement a positive thought of “I am going to keep trying until I succeed.”
• Provide a reward for not only mastering the concept but also for their attitude during the struggle. Everyone benefits from rewards – in fact the only reason most adults work is for the reward of a pay check.  Encouraging a student to keep a positive attitude when faced with adversity or struggles will be of great benefit to them in life.  This can be as simple as a sticker or you may choose to have a chart where several stickers equal a larger reward.  For example, each time a new concept is mastered within a PACE, they receive a sticker, then after 20 stickers, they can receive: screen time or a toy or cooking with Mum or Dad etc.

How to know when the student has struggled long enough?

Finally, I want to ensure that you do not allow your student to struggle on their own for too long.  If they do not feel that they can come to you for help that you will work with them, this can be detrimental to their growing psyche.  The next question becomes, how do you know when they have been struggling for too long?

• Consider the student’s age. The time of struggling will be shorter for younger (or less capable) students.
• Consider the student’s temperament. Some students are more likely to be frustrated more quickly than others.  You know your student, and previous instances when they struggled.  I would just suggest that you consider extending the struggle time slightly each time so they learn the above benefits and self-control.
• Assess the area/level of struggle. Is the struggle an extensive issue with multiple levels or is it that they have just not read or understood the work correctly.
• Consider your patience. If you cannot support with patience, then consider stepping in to help.