There were a lot of reading materials for this week;
however, I think I could sit here for years reading about how to create an
engaging classroom. There is much information to consider and for some reason
this topic continuously grabs my attention. I love thinking about how I can create
an atmosphere that gets students excited about learning. Students often have
negative feelings towards school that automatically holds a dark cloud over the
thought of school. Why is that? I aspire to have a class that students can’t
wait to come to. I want to see kids show up early to my classes! I know that
many teachers reading this may be thinking “good luck that will never happen.”
Once again I ask “why is that?” Why not challenge ourselves to achieve the
unimaginable. I believe this can be accomplished by being an enthusiastic teacher
in an engaging classroom. However, this is our responsibility as teachers to
develop this atmosphere and so we must put forth the effort if we desire to
witness this positive outcome. In understanding that I am accountable for this
type of learning success, I often challenge myself to “step up the game” in
order to ensure student success.
Each of the readings this week provided insight on a variety
of ideas and thoughts on this topic of developing engaging instruction.
Therefore, I pulled out pieces that I felt stuck out to me most.
Article 1: "Motivating Students by Cultivating Self-Worth" by Jonathan Velez
“In agricultural education, we have the unique privilege of
being able to work with students in a multitude of environments. This affords
us the opportunity to have a greater impact on self-worth than arguably any
other teacher in the school. With this privilege, comes responsibility. We have
the opportunity to impact students, changing the way they view themselves, and
the responsibility to build student self-worth, with the goal of lifelong
motivation.”
First of
all, I absolutely loved this article. It was very motivational and encouraging
for me as a future educator. This excerpt from the article was so empowering
for me because it’s these words that constantly remind me why I want to become
an Ag teacher. We have a variety of environments to work worth and therefore we
can utilize these environments to instill self-worth. Students will be more
motivated in classes where they feel secure and confident that they will
succeed. Wow, what a responsibility we have a teachers! Although a big
responsibility, if we strive to achieve this kind of success in our students
then I believe we are teaching more than just content. We are shaping students
into successful and competent individuals. How many other occupations can say
that? This motivates me to build my own skills so that I can be the best for my
students.
Article 2: "Actively
Teaching: Strategies for Use in the Agriculture Classroom" by
Paula Faulker, and Connie D. Baggett
“According to Mankin et al. (2001),
"Students in agriculture, Kansas State University, were asked to identify
specific teaching styles, classroom environments, grading methods, and
assignment types that motivated them to learn." Mankin et al. found
"the most motivating characteristics in each category were an enthusiastic
and interesting teaching style, an interactive classroom environment, fair
grading methods, and assignment types that provided experience relevant to the
profession. The most cited factor reducing motivation was a long, boring
lecture."
I immediately
thought about the top 5 characteristics of an effective teacher that we talked
about in class. Enthusiasm and variability we two of the top five and it
appears that they also align with this study which focuses on motivation. I believe
an effective teacher encourages motivation among students. How do they do that?
I would think that being enthusiastic and incorporating a variety of interesting
teaching styles would probably be a good start!
I think an engaging classroom also gets students more interested in
class. This article also provides many examples of techniques that have been
used that are successful. I enjoy hearing from teachers that have tried these
techniques and are able to tell us what works and what doesn’t work. As a pre-teacher
this is very helpful information.
Article 3: “Anticipatory
Set/”Hook”Research Base” by Madelyn
Hunter
“By having an activity related
to what will be learned, it shifts their attention to
the
learning process. Anticipatory set can also establish a readiness or
anticipation for
what
is to follow. For the “hook” to do so, it must pique students’ interest.”
After reading this I immediately
reflected on my summer reading “Teach Like a Pirate” by Dave Burgess. This
whole article was almost like a summary of the book. “Hooks” might at first
sound like small tasks that consume time; however, from all my readings I have
found that they are a vital aspect to getting your students focused on the
lesson. Hooks essentially catch your students attention and reel them in for
the lesson. My favorite part is that there are so many hooks that you can
really spice class up every day. It never has to be the same, which adds
variability to your teaching and keeps students excited about your class
because of their curiosity and motivation. In this way your students become more
engaged in your lesson right from the gecko!
This week in class we also
talked about the different types of learners in our classes. Each student is a
different type of learner and I think “hooks” are a great way to engage all
types of learners in our lessons. They can really be directed towards any of
the eight intelligences: Linguistic, spatial, logical-mathematical,
bodily-kinesthetic, intrapersonal, naturalist and interpersonal. These eight
should be considered when designing our lesson plans, but I think they are also
important to consider in our interest approach. In this way we gain the
attention of our diverse learners from the start and prepare them to be more engaged
in the rest of the lesson.
CHECK IT OUT!
"What the new world wants is not job seekers but job creators" ~ Paul Collard
Paul Collard is an expert speaker on "The use of creativity and culture to drive social and economic change, and to boost organisational performance." Although he shares reports based on education in England, he has a lot of resourceful information to share about creativity in the classroom.
One example of what their program did in school was have students who were disengaged in class design their own classroom. He states "It's not about having good ideas, it's having the skills to make good ideas happen.... they (the students) came out believing that they can make a difference to their own lives."
Watch the video to see what kind of classroom the students built!
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