You are what you eat ladies and germs!!
So, tonight in class we worked on stations. Not gonna lie, I was struggling with a few of them… BUT during the chapter 2 activity, I had a#lightningboldtabout what I would write my very first blog post about! YEEEE get #rowdyfarmer in here ladies and gents, it's about to get wild!
Sooooo what is chapter 2 even about?? I'm glad you asked! Chapter two is allll about student engagement and motivation. Not gonna lie, this was my favorite chapter because a few things really hit home for me. Something I wrote down in bright red ink in my beautiful brand-new book was "If there is no hope, there is no motivation!" OK WOW. How applicable is that to every situation in life? What I took from this is- you are what you eat… or what you believe, at least. Students must have confidence that with appropriate effort that they can succeed. What a crazy concept?! If you believe in yourself, you are more likely to do well! Whaaatttt?
I read that sentence, and I was hooooooked. I needed to know more. A little background on me… I've been out of academia for the past year, and motivation is something that is needing to be re-assessed. Jumping back into study mode is no easy feat friends.
MOVING ON!
I read more into the chapter and I swear it was like looking into a dang mirror.
Has anyone ever struggled with self-esteem issues, anxiety or depression? If so, #metoosisterso let’s #talkaboutit ! Even if you haven't struggled with a mental illness, this chapter applies to #youtoo
The book dives into a few theories, and they are without a doubt some of my favorite theories I recall from undergrad.
Self-efficacy theory says a student’s belief about their ability to succeed at a learning task is more important than their actual skill level or the difficulty of the task. The book goes on to say, "If a student is confident in her ability to perform a task successfully, she will be motivated to engage in it." Like I mentioned earlier, this really hit home for me.
Usually when I have a task set out for me, if I feel confident in my abilities, I'll be damned if I don't get it done. If I believe in myself, I am on top of the world! And I'd even say that I'd be upset if I didn't exceed the expectations. (Hint hint definitely an overstriver over here! But we'll get to that later.)
Anywhoooo.. Coming into graduate school is definitely a prime example of self-efficacy theory. Like I said, when I feel confident, I'll be damned if I don't get something done. The first few weeks of grad school was an overwhelming surge of "holy shit I'm definitely not good enough for this", "I'm not smart enough" and "how in the world did I even get accepted to this program???" and my behavior fell right in line with what self-efficacy theory suggests. I'm pretty embarrassed to say, that I played victim to my beliefs.#youarewhatyoubelieveI believed I wasn't good enough, so I didn't put my best foot forward. The next little stage that my brand-new grad student brain went through would fall right in line with attribution theory, which suggests that students attribute success or failure to a variety of factors such as ability, effort, luck, etc. and their belief is shaped by their perceptions of why they have succeeded or failed in the past. I kept reminding myself… Bailey, #itsONLYhard you've done hard before, and you can do it again! Put your big girl panties on and get in the game! After a week or two of daily internal pep talks and putting myself out there, I realized that hey, I might just be cut out for this. So, my belief in my ability began to rise. And let me tell you how GOOD it feels to believe in yourself. 10 out of 10 would highly suggest!
Usually when I have a task set out for me, if I feel confident in my abilities, I'll be damned if I don't get it done. If I believe in myself, I am on top of the world! And I'd even say that I'd be upset if I didn't exceed the expectations. (Hint hint definitely an overstriver over here! But we'll get to that later.)
Anywhoooo.. Coming into graduate school is definitely a prime example of self-efficacy theory. Like I said, when I feel confident, I'll be damned if I don't get something done. The first few weeks of grad school was an overwhelming surge of "holy shit I'm definitely not good enough for this", "I'm not smart enough" and "how in the world did I even get accepted to this program???" and my behavior fell right in line with what self-efficacy theory suggests. I'm pretty embarrassed to say, that I played victim to my beliefs.#youarewhatyoubelieveI believed I wasn't good enough, so I didn't put my best foot forward. The next little stage that my brand-new grad student brain went through would fall right in line with attribution theory, which suggests that students attribute success or failure to a variety of factors such as ability, effort, luck, etc. and their belief is shaped by their perceptions of why they have succeeded or failed in the past. I kept reminding myself… Bailey, #itsONLYhard you've done hard before, and you can do it again! Put your big girl panties on and get in the game! After a week or two of daily internal pep talks and putting myself out there, I realized that hey, I might just be cut out for this. So, my belief in my ability began to rise. And let me tell you how GOOD it feels to believe in yourself. 10 out of 10 would highly suggest!
The self-worth models in this chapter explain my behavior perfectly… "Based on this model, it is easier to understand why some students don’t even try to accomplish a task if they believe there is low probability that they will be successful.. Cough cough #youarewhatyoueat #AMIRIGHT??
Digging into the next section of the chapter, more #lightningboldts went off.
Here's a moment to reflect on you as a person while reading this oh so interesting blog post… What kind of student areYOU? (Success-oriented, overstriver, failure-avoider or failure-accepting?) Feel free to post your answer and maybe an example or two below. (Eassssyyy commment grade here people! Let's #talkaboutit)
I feel like I am somewhere between success-oriented (serious learners who want to perform well) and an overstriver (successful students who will take on challenges but are not entirely confident in their ability and consequently worry constantly about their grades and performance.)
On a good day, I'd like to say I'm a success-oriented student. I know who I am, I know what I'm capable of, and I WILL get it done! A little more background... I grew up as a competitive gymnast- so performance is
ev-ery-thing
to me!!! This taught me as a young athlete that failure is not an option. With that it instilled a fear in me of "not being good enough". Growing up in a sport where you chase the impossible (a perfect 10.0) is hard on a mind and self-esteem, let me tell you.
This attribution caused me to not only be an overstriver in my sport, but in academia as well. It's almost like I'm afraid of failing… anyone else feel like this? Again, feel free to leave a comment below! ;) Something that was a little bit of medicine for me around this fear and need to over strive for the goal and be fearful of not being good enough is a quote I got from a friend of mine. He told me, "Grad school is not a quest for grades… it is a quest for knowledge" WHOA. GOLDEN!!
To sum it all up, I'd like to ask you all a question…
What kind of man or woman are YOU?
I went through a training where we created a contract and hold ourselves to our contract every day to be the best you that you can be. So, with that I'll share mine!
You are what you eat, ladies and gents…
It wouldn't hurt to believe in yourself every now and then.
XO- Ari and B
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