Robert Marzano on How to Build Students’ Self-Efficacy

From the Marshall Memo #437

(Originally titled “Teaching Self-Efficacy with Personal Projects”)

In this Educational Leadership article, Robert Marzano says the best way to help students enhance their self-efficacy is by walking them through these questions on a personal project:

• What do I want to accomplish? One female high-school student wrote, “I want to go to the U.S. Air Force Academy and eventually fly military jets.”

• Who else has accomplished the same goal? Who will support me? This student might identify Nicole Malachowski, the first woman in the elite Thunderbirds, and enlist her own parents as mentors.

• What skills and resources will I need? To enter the Academy, students need a high GPA, a letter of recommendation from a U.S. senator or representative, and physical fitness. 

• What will I have to change about myself? It’s important to identify personal weaknesses that might impede progress and decide how to deal with them.

• What is my plan for achieving my goal, and how hard will it be? These are concrete, realistic short- and long-term stepping-stones.

• What small steps can I take right now? The Air Force-aspiring student might set a two-month goal of being able to run a mile in under eight minutes. 

• How have I been doing, and what have I learned about myself? The student who wants to fly jets might feel proud that she’s on track – or might decide she wants to aim for a ground-based military career. “Such changes in direction are a natural consequence of exercising self-efficacy and are also to be celebrated,” says Marzano.

“Teaching Self-Efficacy with Personal Projects” by Robert Marzano in Educational Leadership, May 2012 (Vol. 69, #8, p. 86-87),