Educators
From the time a child enters the school system, educators play a defining role in their life. Educators become part of the social interaction that is formative of a child's personality traits. This extends to the development and management of PSA. The way that educators choose to interact with students that have high PSA can determine whether they will succeed academically.You can choose to let them come to you if they need help but, the fact that they have CA makes them likely to avoid communicating with you. You may need to be proactive and reach out to them first; many PSA students will not ask for help even if they need it because they are too nervous to talk to you. This has nothing to do with you! For whatever reason, the thought of communicating makes them anxious. If you are an educator, there are steps you can take to let your PSA students know that you are there to help them succeed. On this page, you will find how your actions affect your PSA students as well as intervention/treatment methods that you can use to help your students cope with their PSA .
If you are a student who suffers from high PSA and feel you need extra help succeeding, it is your job to talk to your educator and seek help! In order to succeed in the classroom and professional world, you must learn to initiate communication when necessary. Perhaps they already have some things in mind that can help you. Or, if you see a treatment on this website you would like to try, show this website to them!
If you are a student who suffers from high PSA and feel you need extra help succeeding, it is your job to talk to your educator and seek help! In order to succeed in the classroom and professional world, you must learn to initiate communication when necessary. Perhaps they already have some things in mind that can help you. Or, if you see a treatment on this website you would like to try, show this website to them!
Scary Bits of Information
*1 in 5 eighth graders are at-risk of dropping or flunking out of school before they graduate high school.
*High school students with high CA are less likely to attend college than those with low PSA.
*Students with high CA are 32.7% more likely to drop out than students with low CA .
* Students with high CA typically have significantly lower GPAs than students with low CA.
*Most high CA college freshman dropout before the end of their first semester.
* The longitudinal studies reviewed that found this had an average of 55.25% of students not finish their baccalaureate over the four years they were followed.
*Of the 833 that didn't finish, 722 had moderate-high CA.
*High school students with high CA are less likely to attend college than those with low PSA.
*Students with high CA are 32.7% more likely to drop out than students with low CA .
* Students with high CA typically have significantly lower GPAs than students with low CA.
*Most high CA college freshman dropout before the end of their first semester.
* The longitudinal studies reviewed that found this had an average of 55.25% of students not finish their baccalaureate over the four years they were followed.
*Of the 833 that didn't finish, 722 had moderate-high CA.
Something to Try: Paradoxical Intention
Paradoxical Intention has mostly been used and studied in Psychology. However, it has recently been used in the treatment of PSA. More research is necessary on the effectiveness of this method. Regardless, the study reviewed proved to be quite promising, given its history of use in psychotherapy. This method is also very easy to implement in the classroom and requires no additional costs or resources:
Students can have a variety of mishaps occur when giving a presentation. Some of which include: fainting, hyperventilating, shaking etc. Research has shown that by trying to keep these mishaps from occurring, stress levels are increased with the likelihood of the mishap occurrence. The point of paradoxical intention is to encourage students to just let the mishap occur or try to encourage it even. In doing this, the stress of the event happening is decreased or eliminated and thus, the mishap is prevented.
I must caution educators that wish to try this: If you have any "fainters" in your class, make sure that you have spotters that would be capable of catching the person should they happen to faint. Serious injury can occur to a person if they take such a fall. Perhaps even invite the school nurse or medical professional to class that day, just in case.
Students can have a variety of mishaps occur when giving a presentation. Some of which include: fainting, hyperventilating, shaking etc. Research has shown that by trying to keep these mishaps from occurring, stress levels are increased with the likelihood of the mishap occurrence. The point of paradoxical intention is to encourage students to just let the mishap occur or try to encourage it even. In doing this, the stress of the event happening is decreased or eliminated and thus, the mishap is prevented.
I must caution educators that wish to try this: If you have any "fainters" in your class, make sure that you have spotters that would be capable of catching the person should they happen to faint. Serious injury can occur to a person if they take such a fall. Perhaps even invite the school nurse or medical professional to class that day, just in case.
Intervention Methods
Many of the methods on the treatments page can be adapted to the classroom with little to no additional cost or resources. A few other methods are provided for adaptation in the classroom:
Teacher Effects on PSA
As an educator, you can help increase success rates of high CA students in your class by 45% with your use of verbal and nonverbal immediacy. Creating this kind of warm and nonthreatening climate can also help increase self-perceived competence levels in even high CA students. Other educational factors affecting success rates of students include: ability of professor to provide positive feedback, the general classroom climate(student contribution) and the overall school experience (specifically college).
Three Goals of Intervention:
1.) Reduce the level of students apprehension (see systematic desensitization)
2.) Increase students' self esteem and self-perceived competence (see cognitive modification)
3.) Help students increase communication skills (see skills training)
2.) Increase students' self esteem and self-perceived competence (see cognitive modification)
3.) Help students increase communication skills (see skills training)
Immediacy 101:
This instructional model was taken from Ellis (1995). The article citation can be found in the references page
A.) Provide a clear definition of the specific public speaking behaviors that constitute public speaking competency
B.) Curricular congruence among lecture topics, recitation activities, criteria for evaluation of speeches ( be consistent!)
C.) Small, comfortable recitation sections
D.) Constructive verbal and written feedback on all speeches
E.) One-on-one laboratory support consisting of goal setting and accountability interviews, optional coaching in preparation for upcoming speeches, video feedback, and required private feedback sessions with TAs following each speech
A.) Provide a clear definition of the specific public speaking behaviors that constitute public speaking competency
B.) Curricular congruence among lecture topics, recitation activities, criteria for evaluation of speeches ( be consistent!)
C.) Small, comfortable recitation sections
D.) Constructive verbal and written feedback on all speeches
E.) One-on-one laboratory support consisting of goal setting and accountability interviews, optional coaching in preparation for upcoming speeches, video feedback, and required private feedback sessions with TAs following each speech
Addressing Language Culture
If you have students that feel their speech is not good enough because of their minority dialect, it is likely they will have low self-esteem as a result. To combat this, it is important to remind all students that the United States is a tossed salad and that every one's culture brings something important to the table. Also, it is important to note that because of our mixed heritage, all people speak with a minority dialect. Assure them that minority dialects are acceptable for many purposes besides those that require mainstream professional speech (interviews, speeches, etc.). In order to be successful in life, all students must obtain the skills to practice mainstream professional speech. Here are four tips for teaching students alternate pronunciation taken from Chesebro, McCroskey, Atwater, Bahrenfuss, Cawelti, Gaudino & Hodges (1992).
1.) Teaching students to monitor their speech while speaking reduces interest in learning, inhibits talking, may produce silence and result in resentment towards the professor.
2.) Unconscious acquisition is more effective and appropriate for learning alternate pronunciation than rule-based instruction, so don’t use rule-based instruction for these pruposes.
3.) The less stressful you make alternate pronunciation for your students, the willingly and quickly they will pick it up.
4.) Accomplishing this task comes from exposure, comfort level, motivation, familiarity, and practice in real communication contexts.
1.) Teaching students to monitor their speech while speaking reduces interest in learning, inhibits talking, may produce silence and result in resentment towards the professor.
2.) Unconscious acquisition is more effective and appropriate for learning alternate pronunciation than rule-based instruction, so don’t use rule-based instruction for these pruposes.
3.) The less stressful you make alternate pronunciation for your students, the willingly and quickly they will pick it up.
4.) Accomplishing this task comes from exposure, comfort level, motivation, familiarity, and practice in real communication contexts.
Learning Style and PSA
1.) High trait CAs tend to be Analytic Evaluators and Hands on Experimenters. This means they like to analyze and observe followed by putting theory into practice.
2.) Low trait CAs tend to be Innovative Explorers. This means they prefer independent learning through personal involvement, trial and error and risk-taking.
