How to Help Students Commit to Their Learning

Positive social engagement, according to Anita Woolfolk (1998), which of course, also includes education, is enhanced when students understand that choices have consequences (Purje, 2014). One of the keys to achieving this goal, of positive engagement, according to Woolfolk, is through the consistent application of self-management.

Woolfolk highlights that psychologists became interested in self-management behaviors because studies found that students subjected to externally imposed behavioral regimes, who were compelled to conform to a set of behavioral norms, too often refused to behave appropriately.

This research found that when these externally imposed directives were removed, the students did not necessarily transfer these externally imposed behavioral conditions to new situations where self-management was expected.

Therefore, according to Woolfolk, citing Kanfer and Gaelick (1986): “If one goal of education is to produce people who are capable of educating themselves, then students must learn to manage their own lives, set their own goals, and provide their own reinforcement. Life is filled with tasks that call for self-management.”

In terms of universal potential, what all of this means is that for any level of success to be realized (in all disciplines) is that students must want to learn (Purje, 2014).

The Value and Power of Self-Talk

In an attempt to teach self-management to students identified as impulsive, Meichenbaum (1977) found that he could help these students manage and control their impulsive behaviors by using self-talk.

To help impulsive students engage in their learning, Meichenbaum introduced, as noted, the concept and use of self-talk. Before starting any task, Woolfolk (1998), citing Manning (1991, 1996) and Meichenbaum (1977), advised students to “talk themselves through” each step of the task.

For example, if the activity was a writing task, the self-talk could include directives like: “I am sitting still. I am opening up my writing book. I am picking up my pencil. I will now start to write. I am writing.” This self-talk process proved to be successful.

Setting Goals and Self-Management

As a result of this success, the students were now self-managing their thinking, behavior, and learning. As such, because the students were self-managing and learning, the corollary was that this self-managing, internally controlled cognitive ability (and behavior) could be transferred and applied to other classrooms, teachers, and even different locations in the students' lives.

Woolfolk (1998) emphasizes the point that the........

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