The Importance Of Self-Efficacy In The Classroom

For students to have positive attitudes about learning, a teacher has to have a positive attitude about teaching. Woolfolk (2016) defines a teacher’s sense of efficacy as a teacher’s belief that he or she can reach even difficult students to help them learn. “This confident belief appears to be one

Bandura focused on perceived self-efficacy, which he defines as a belief in one’s own capability to organize and execute the course of action required to attain a goal. (Bandura, 1977).

In this chapter, Rivera outlines and describes three existing theories: Bandura’s Theory of Self-Efficacy, Vygotsky’s Constructivist Theory, and Social Interdependence Theory. She also refers to multiple sources and explains their opinions about these theories. She goes one step further to clarify how these theories directly correlate with her research topic.

Throughout this last semester, I have been student teaching at Shawswick Middle School where I was able to take a critical look at myself as an educator. Though the teacher and I did not see eye to eye, this disagreement helped me to better form my own pedagogical beliefs and establish confidence in myself as an educator.

educators better understand and impact their practice. Owing its roots to Dewey’s (1938) theory of

PUTNAM, RALPH T., et al. “Teaching.” Encyclopedia of Education, edited by James W. Guthrie, 2nd ed., vol. 7, Macmillan Reference USA, New York, 2002, pp. 2482–2492. Opposing Viewpoints in Context, link.galegroup.com.catalog.stisd.net:2048/apps/doc/CX3403200615/OVIC?u=j031916004&xid=22bb1e93. Accessed 2017.

Having a high level of self-efficacy is something that is very important to me as a literacy instructor.  Throughout my career, I have made an effort to plan effectively, try new methods and strategies that benefit my students, shown persistence and confidence and not been critical of my students when they make errors.  All of these behaviors tie in with a strong sense of efficacy as stated by Protheroe (2008). I have come to realize that having a balanced literacy program is the key to success for my students.   This comprehensive program provides all of the necessary skills for students to master written and oral language.  Being an upper elementary teacher, the students come to me at a wide variety of levels.  The best educators are able to create classrooms that have flexible routines that include small group instruction along with whole group instruction, centers, and opportunities for students to learn independently.

Another theory that also acquires skill and knowledge through interacting with others like the constructivist learning theory is the self-efficacy theory. Bandura (1989) defined self-efficacy as “beliefs regarding one’s capabilities to organize and execute the course of action required to produce given attainment.” It determines how a person feels, thinks in addition to their motivation and behavior. The students with a high self-efficacy tend to have higher chance to overcome difficulties and challenges that they encountered and consequently lead to a higher academic achievement than the students with low self-efficacy (Zimmerman, 2000). The sense of self-efficacy that students have played a significant role in their academic motivation and

The study is relevant in my literature review for developing because the importance of efficacy in teaching is very important in the way teachers view themselves as educators. Hoy and Spero (2005) found that the efficacy of new teachers declines when they begin teaching, largely due to the realities of confronting the complexities of teaching. Understanding and having continuous professional development can benefit teachers and motivate them to continue in their careers. I would more so interested in using a qualitative method versus

Throughout most of high school I would have considered myself an underachiever. My grades were below average, I wasn’t involved in any school activities other than playing football which I had to quit because of my grades, and wrestling which I quit because I was a quitter. Everyone around me seemed like they knew exactly what they wanted to do with their life and what college they wanted to attend but I didn’t really care about any of that, all I wanted to do was be with my friends and party. I barely made it, graduating with an extremely low grade point average, and a subpar ACT score. I was one of those students that would just float along rather than attempt to excel. The only reason I even graduated with my class is because my father forced me to go to summer school

Teachers have been influenced greatly in their classes by Bandura’s theories in order to meet the needs of various different learning styles. As an educator I have observed some teachers who use a teaching format that does not include students in observational learning and they tend to be less motivated than those students who learn by the observational models. My paper will discuss Bandura’s biography, observational learning models, and self-efficacy in learning.

Our study had many conclusions congruent with the findings found in our review of literature, but a portion of our research explored areas that the other studies did not. Self-efficacy was a factor studied in both Peterson (2009) and McLaughlin, et al., (2008) research studies. Although our research did not report self-efficacy scales, it did look at attributes related to self-efficacy, shown in Table 7, such as leadership, stress coping, and adaptation to change. These three factors each had a strong positive correlation with each other. However, similar to the findings of Peterson (2009), the data failed to show a significant correlation or relation to academic success (Peterson, 2009, p. 413).

Self-efficacy beliefs are an important aspect of human motivation and behavior as well as influence the actions that can affect one's life. Regarding self-efficacy, Bandura (1995) explains that it "refers to beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute

Albert Bandura is the originator of the theoretical construct of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is focus on an individual belief about what is capable of doing under different situation with the skills itself have. Bandura distinguishes between efficacy and outcomes. Self-efficacy is individual’s beliefs about ability to produce certain actions and it is not same as beliefs about actions affecting outcomes, locus of control. Self-efficacy influences person persistence in the face of challenges. Self-efficacy is not only important for the student learner to achieve success, but the self-efficacy of the professional teaching the student, as well as the collective efficacy of the professional community to which that student belongs is imperative for student success (Kennedy & Smith, 2012). The concept of self-efficacy has been applied in the field of education. The effective teaching of teachers generally related to the concept of self-efficacy introduced by Albert Bandura. Efficacy, applied to teachers, has been the focus of a concentrated body of

Self-efficacy is the confident feeling about yourself, or the unshakable belief that one can hold. It reminds me of a statement made by Prof.Lee Peng Yee who teaches mathematics at the National University of Singapore: "If you believe you can catch a bus, you will run for it". Even if the statement is extremely inspirational and helpful, it only works for the people who actually have an understanding about themselves to a certain degree and ready to make the difference.