If we’re doing our jobs right, and I’m sure that we’re trying, we should be pushing our students to do things that, put simply, they can’t do.

Not that they aren’t capable of it, but that they can’t do it on their own yet. If we aren’t, we’re only repeating what they’ve already done, what they can already do. That’s not to say that there isn’t space for consolidation, we all know that there is, but we need to be moving students forward and enabling them to do more, to think more.

With this in mind, what does enablement look like? How can we help to  create can-do attitudes in our students?

What Are Our Barriers?

For all of us, teaching is, realistically speaking, an exhausting job, how is it truly possible for us to ensure that all of our students are being pushed all of the time? I’m sure that there are some days when we don’t have a can-do attitude ourselves. Sometimes it’s easier for us to stick with tasks we know students can manage.

More than that, my guess is that, even for the most optimistic and idealistic of us, there are times when we ourselves lose that can-do attitude and feel at a loss. Maybe we lose hope that a particular student can take those next steps, whether that’s academically or behaviourally. I remember, early on in my career despairing about a very tiny year nine student who was about to take his SATs, J. He had so far failed to use a single capital letter or full stop correctly. Ever. I’d spent all year, as an enthusiastic and over-eager NQT desperately going over it ad nauseam but to no avail.

I’ll admit it. I’d given up. So had J.

What Are Their Barriers?

Students come to our classrooms with some many complicated needs that, at times, it’s difficult for them to truly think they can succeed.

Home life or friendship issues are often foundational in some students’ pessimistic approaches to learning. They simply don’t have the emotional resilience and personality perseverance to try something new because they know that they’ll fall to pieces if they fail and they can’t face that.

Embarrassment is a key factor for any teen.

If they don’t see how they can succeed and they perceive that others will notice if they don’t, it’s hard to be brave enough socially to have a go at something new.

My guess is that we’ve all met students who deliberately sabotage themselves before they fail just so that they can be in control of it. You have, right? These are often our vulnerable students, the tough cookies who crumble under pressure. My heart goes out to these guys. They are so without hope that they’d rather know that they could have done better if only they’d ever tried.

Trying is an act of bravery beyond them.

What Are Some Potential Solutions?

So how can we turn these students around? How can we encourage the same attitude in ourselves on a difficult Autumn Wednesday period six, after lunch when our students are all soaking wet, fed up and wanting to get home?

What does enablement look like then?

First and foremost, a can-do attitude is something contagious. We need to ensure that we, as teachers and professionals, believe in our students and we need to tell them that. One of my colleagues in particular inspires me in this way. She takes no prisoners when it comes to meeting her expectations behaviourally but every single one of her students knows that she is behind them every step of the way, and that she believes in them 100 percent. She’s motivating.

She’s also fiercely caring for her students, protective of them and nurturing. She doesn’t baby them, that’s not what nurturing means, but she does ensure that they know she has their back, that they feel safe in her presence.

In the safe environment she creates, they can (and will) take risks. Failure will never be final and the class, as a team, will ensure that everyone gets there together.

Now, this might all sound a little too lovey-dovey or just out of your comfort zone. I think that this is easy to apply to any situation or any teacher, no matter how different we are. Why? Because she does this in a very simple way:

She tells her students directly what she thinks and they believe her.

She tells them that she really believes in them. She tells them that she cares about them and wants the best for them. She tells them that they can be the best versions of themselves and, do you know what? They really are.

More personally, what I’ve found works in creating a can-do attitude, other than creating a safe environment in which students can flourish, is short chunked tasks.

It perhaps sounds too simple but a step by step approach where students can see where they’re going and how they’ll get there works wonders. I think it’s particularly effective if it is used to the point where the approach becomes familiar to them.

And, if nothing else works, try flattery!

Perseverance is Key…

Our perseverance is essential in this. A week before his SATs, J suddenly turned it around. For whatever reason, it suddenly clicked. We’d both kept going in his on-going literacy battle and he nailed it. I’ve rarely been so proud of anyone.

Let’s keep going with all of our students, pushing them and showing them that there’s a strong safety net capable of catching them, that there’s no judgement waiting for them if they fail this time.