Motivational Factors in the classroom part 2

As I have previously stated motivation is such an important part of a students learning. Implementing the developmental learning theory into the motivational aspect of learning is key as it gets students to create their own ideas about the topic at hand which creates a fascination within them. As we have discussed in class if you are about to teach students about something if you get up and give them a physical concrete representation of the material and ask them how they feel about what your doing or what they think is going to happen then this creates a motivation within them to learn, an internal motivator. This is also giving them an original standpoint, a visual, something to start with such as a base. Then once you start to challenge them more by thinking more abstractly they will continue to grasp more and more of the material and will want to apply it to more and more. Developing their learning using this theory means that the students are staying within their ZPD and are actively mentally engaged and thus motivated. Now, obviously there are going to be times when something will not be all that exciting to a student and therefore they will be more hesitant to learn but it is the job of teachers to make the material as interesting as it can be and to accommodate each student by addressing the information in a manner that best fits the students.

I know for me I love working in a group and I always have because I love to give my opinion and to hear others and hopefully build my knowledge from putting all our information together. I also think that when your in a group it motivates you to get the work done and to participate. I really do feel that by incorporating discussion into the classroom it really does allow for students to participate more and to really acquire a new or more advanced outlook on something after hearing others and after talking and others listening to you and building on your viewpoint. I think there are many advantages into incorporating both the DLT and SLT into your classroom and I think that by doing so you will ultimately be endorsing more internal motivation for students without them even realizing it.

Classroom Management Part 2

Now, as a teacher it is ideal to think that no problems will arise within your classroom with students acting our or what not but obviously this highly unreasonable and unrealistic. If a student does start to create some problems in the classroom and begins to influence other students or get them off task then I would as a teacher like to deal with it in the most discrete manner possible because if you make a big deal about it then all of a sudden your now the one getting students of task and this student has obviously achieved their goal in doing so and now knows a way of getting you upset. To deal with this I would simply ignore the students behavior while getting the students to do something differently by getting in groups and discussing something or by having them complete an assignment, but something group related so that it is not extremely quiet and so students are occupied doing something differently, and then I would quietly and as discretely as possible go over to the student and talk to him either there or after class (whichever they would prefer) and then I would address it with them in that matter and hopefully come to some realization on the students behalf and a resolution for the problem together.

Now, another way of acting out as we have discussed in class is the issue of students falling asleep, which I feel is extremely prevalent in our classrooms as I have seen it many times in my practicum as well as when I was in school and still now in college students doing it. How I would deal with it is if it happens once I would just let the student sleep because realistically how much are they getting out of the class whether they are asleep or awake? Now, if this happens all the time then this is a different story, I would in this case probably talk to the student after class or at a different time about maybe why they are so tired, and if the student is comfortable talking about it then I would probably try and talk to the counselor o see if something is going on at home or in this students outside life, or eventually I would try and call home. I ultimately would want to help the student though because obviously there is something going on that is hugely affecting them and I dont want to create more stress, but I would want to be aware so that I can be more helpful.