Locus of Control is what a person believe they have control over. A person can have internal or external locus of control.
Internal Locus of Control: the person believe that he/she can influence events and their outcomes. People with high internal locus of control see their future as being in their own hand and their choices are lead to their success or failure. Individuals believe their ability to change things will make them more confident helping them be more motivated to achieve goals and influence others to achieve their goals. The downside to locus control is that, the individual has to accept responsibility for 100% of failures.
In the Classroom: A student who has internal locus of control will have good self motivation to get the work done needed to be successful. With that being said they will also be extremely hard on themselves making it easy for them get depressed and lose self confidence. If a child works really hard on an assignment and they fail the likelihood they will just give up is very high. So as teacher we need to make sure let our students see success in all that they do, this can be done by giving them encouragement. We need to find things to praise students with to help them stay motivated in class. |
External Locus of Control: the person blames outside forces for everything. The individual believes that he/she has little to no control over what happens. These people tend to be fatalistic, seeing things as happening to them and that there is little they can do about it. They are usually very accepting and passive when it comes to situations that should be viewed as a negative situation. People with external locus of control tend to blame success on luck than their own efforts, making them believe they can not make a difference in any situation.
In the Classroom: Students may feel as if they can not control their emotions and actions. These students may have a hard time controlling thought of negativity and uncertainty because they believe that have no control over their success. Creating them to become depressed and have low-self esteem. As teachers we need to support students who are depressed by giving them the confidence needed to be successful. We need to find what the child reacts to and work it into the lessons and to positively react to any success the child may have. Even if it is something as small as sitting in their seat correctly.