helping the helpless

I am a first grade teacher, teaching in an inner-city school, 92% students receive free/ reduced meals. It is sad to say but I already observe many students who have learned to be helpless in new or difficult situations. My students that demonstrate learned helplessness rarely attempt a task independently before asking for help. However, there is a rule in my class which is I will not help a student with something until I have seen that they have at least tried. There are many times I will help after the student independently tried the task, and the student is close to the right answer. I always recognize the student for trying and show where they were right in their work verses the mistakes made. Using the strategy of telling students to independently try first (have them tell you what strategies they tried), and then I will assist seems to work well with my first grade students. Motivation for Achievement recommends strategies teachers and parents can use to help helpless students. Strategy 2.3 recommends teachers establishing an attribution that all students can learn; explain to students that learning does involve effort and using strategies. It is important for teachers and parents cautious of their feedback whether it’s negative or positive because it can effect the individuals self efficacy.
Each time we complete a task that requires some type of effort we relate the attributions for our performance to something whether positive or negative. There are five common attribute biases that individuals relate their performance to. The self centered bias is an attribution that regardless of success or failure one will accept personal responsibility. The “Self Centered Bias person” is aware of their performance, whether its stable or unstable, and relate their performance to something realistic.