It is time to stop constantly monitoring your children about their studies and inculcate a self-regulatory learning habit in them. While teaching this to your child can initially be challenging, it can have a long-lasting impact on their lives and help them improve their performance.
Here Are Some Ways To Induce Self-Regulatory Learning In Children
Encourage children to set their goals.
Most parents tend to impose their goals on children instead of understanding what the latter aspires to. Children are often burdened with their parent’s expectations, which ultimately restrains them from realizing their own goals.
Parents should encourage children to set goals and devise strategies to achieve them. Remember, you must guide your child to achieve their goals instead of imposing your aspirations on them. Ensure your child has short-term and long-term goals which they can achieve bit by bit. Such a goal-setting strategy is beneficial as children perform better and are more focused when they are on their path to achieving something they want.
Encourage self-monitoring
Parents should encourage children to monitor their progress instead of monitoring it directly. Remember, children need to be confident about themselves, and they can achieve this only through proper self-monitoring. Self-monitoring does not include having a fixed time to study with a proper routine.
Instead, it also includes focusing and tracing one’s transition over time, academic progress, and much more. Thus, self-monitoring is implemented in most Tokyo Montessori schools to help students become aware of themselves and understand their potential strengths and weaknesses.
This also boosts self-confidence. Such a strategy can also help students perform better academically without feeling dejected.
Include project-based learning
Project-based learning plays a vital role in developing self-monitoring skills in students. These projects generally encourage group learning and teamwork, where children are encouraged to communicate with each other by letting go of their biases. The IGCSE curriculum focuses heavily on such a learning mode to enhance self-regulatory skills in children.
While, on the one hand, children learn leadership qualities, they also become more responsible for their actions and learn to take ownership. Hence, project-based learning can help students develop self-regulation in their learning process.
Offer them a democratic learning environment.
Children generally face a rigid learning environment in school, which restrains them from exploring their capabilities. Thus, schools must encourage children to explore new opportunities, their strengths, and their weaknesses. Teachers should step in only when students need them instead of constantly monitoring them.
Such a strategy can help children understand the true meaning of freedom and use it for their benefit. Remember, spoon-feeding children or binding them with strict rules can reduce their confidence, thereby reducing their self-regulation.
Encourage self-reinforcement
While parents or teachers might think rewarding children can encourage them to perform better, they must also encourage self-reinforcement. Doing this can help children feel more satisfied with their own capabilities. For instance, ensure your child rewards himself, even if that is by playing for an extra hour, because of what they achieved. Implementing such strategies can enhance their self-regulatory skills.
Read also: The Importance Of Early Childhood Education
To Sum Up
Self-regulation is exceptionally vital in individuals, and it would be best to encourage this from a young age. While on the one hand, self-regulation can boost confidence and help students perform better; it can also shape them as individuals and strengthen their personalities.
Thus, most schools include self-regulatory practices and skill development in their curricula to ensure proper growth in students. Parents must undertake a similar role too. Remember, a combined effort of teachers and parents can improve children’s performance and help them grow as better individuals.
