From: Amanda Steil
Email:
Course: CD169; Motivating Children and Adolescents in a Classroom Setting
College: San Jose State
Instructor: Eugene Matusov
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/cd169
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 21 May 1997
Time: 22:23:40
Remote Name: isdn7-14.isdn.dnai.com
Motivating children in the classroom is a very important key to teaching. There are many ways to provide a comfortable environment for children. It is important to remember that deaf children have been constantly reminded of their handicapp throughout their life. First you need to be aware of your students history. Next you need to be constantly improving their self esteem. A teacher also wants to be sure to administer praise, when the child has made an accomlishnment. We also want to set realistic goals for our kids, by not making them too high nor too low. The last point made is to treat all students equally, by giving each one equal responsibility. Together all of these things will create a motivated child. Remember that each child is an individual, and each technique needs to be adjusted properly as one sees fit.
We have learned throughout class that motivation is the key to learning. Motivation also plays a major role with deaf students in the classroom. For a deaf child, it is likely that they have been reminded throughout their entire life of their handicapp. They are likey to have always been labeled as different, and being limited in the way that they can do things. To at one point in their life be thrown into a educational setting may be a shock, and maybe one that they are not ready for. This is especially true if the school is mainstreamed. I have heard many times that you can not expect learning to take place without motivation. It is considered to be the driving force behind learning. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, motivation is defined as, "to stimulate action." Our job as soon to be educators is to stimulate young minds so that they will want to learn. This task is difficult enough with "normal" children. How is it that one is able to create the incentive to learn among deaf children, who already have so many difficulties to deal with?
When a teacher looks at their classroom for the first time, they can always see the students who are motivated versus the students who will be the class "goof off's" right from the beginning. This is seen in the faces of the children who have the desire to learn and are "motivated" to learn. If all students were this way, teaching would be too easy. Especially when dealing with deaf students, who have much failure and few special opportunities behind them. To be realistic an educator is likely to have very few motivated sudents within a deaf classroom.
A motivational environment needs to be created with much effort and careful thought. According to "Teaching Deaf Children", By Danielle Sanders, she thinks that the first thing to do is to be aware of the history of your students. It is important to build trust with your students, so eventually they will feel comfortable with the learning process. "It is important to listen to your students and learn about them, what interests them and what turns them off. It is important to accept their feelings, fears, and frusterations." (Sanders, 1988) I feel that all of these things are necessary to create a comfortable enviornment. An environment where everyone can feel at ease creates a basis for learning.
The main part of motivating students is by helping them improve their self esteem. According to "Today's hearing Impaired Child" by Vira Froehlinger, their is a strong relationship between self concept and scholastic success. "Enhancement of the self concept is a significant method of improving academic performance." One study even exemplified this in a deaf kindergarden classroom. When they rated the child's self concept, this predicted the child's reading achievement in school accurately. (Froehlinger, 1981) Let them often have the feeling of success, so they will be encouraged to finish the task, and learn more. This can be created by building on their interests, and finding things that are interesting and valuable to them. Giving the students something that they want to do, gives them an intrinsic feeling of success. Success gives the child an internal reward, which is a high type of motivation. If a child thinks that they are likely to succeed, they will be encourage to participate in things willingly. If you then have a child who thinks that they will succeed, you have a child with an improved self esteem.
After a task is complete within the classroom, it is important to let your student know what it is that they have learned. Let them know that they accomplished something that they did not know before. They completed a task that was set before them, and it is important that they realize it. A very interesting statement that I read helped clarify how important communication is with a child. "I'm now a more careful listener, not only to what children say, but to how they say it. Because I listen better, my answers are more precise. More visual stimuli are incorporated into my teaching. Each child learns in a unique way, and the combination of stimuli can only enhance the learning process." (Froehlinger, 1981) After reading this, I realized that not only is each child different, but so are their learning styles. We need to listen to our students, and find ways of teaching that works for the individual. If a child is comfortable with the teachers teaching style, they are likely to be more receptive and motivated to learn.
Another way to motivate a deaf child within the classroom is to set realistic goals. If both the expectations for the hearing impaired are either too low or too high, the child is likely to have feelings of frustration, disappointment, and failure. "In the classroom the rule of thumb is to go only one step beyond the expectancy level, and observe how the child performs. Many times this leads to greater individual motivation and progress." (Froehlinger, 1981) When I read this statement, I saw not only motivation taking place, but also the learning process. With this strategy, the child is likely to improve academically, while also feeling its success.
If a teacher has a classroom which is mainstreamed with deaf children, it is important to treat all children equally. While this almost seems obvious, it is often forgotten. It is important to help the child develop responsibility. Encourage them to run erronds for you, and take messages to the office. You want the child to obtain a feeling of self worth. All children love nothing more than to be a teacher's helper. Include your hearing impaired child in this as well. Remember their only set back is to hear. All children need to be given the opportunity to learn to communicate with different people in different situations. If the child thinks that they have your confidence in them, their self image is likely to improve, and so is their motivation.
Mnay of these ideas to create motivation within a deaf classroom, leaves much unsaid. Everything done in a classroom of deaf students needs to be thought out...long and hard. Many things work, and many do not. Each child is different, and so should should each technique. Everything can be adjusted to fit individual teaching styles, and children. I only came up with suggestions that I thought were interesting amongst the much literature about deaf children in the classroon. Finally, I wanted to include a poem that I felt was very relevant to this paper and teachers in general.
DEAF PEOPLE LEARN WHAT THEY LIVE http://www.weizmann.ac.il/deaf-info/selfesteem.html
If a deaf child lives with criticism, He/She learns to condemn.
If a deaf child lives with hostility, He/She learns to fight.
If a deaf child lives with ridicule, He/She learns to be shy.
If a deaf child lives with shame, He/She learns to feel guilty.
If a deaf child lives with tolerance, He/She learns to be patient.
If a deaf child lives with encouragement, He/She learns confidence.
If a deaf child lives with praise, He/She learns to appreciate.
If a deaf child lives with fairness, He/She learns justice.
If a deaf child lives with security, He/She learns to have faith.
If a deaf child lives with approval, He/She learns to like themselves.
If a deaf child lives with acceptance and friendship, He/She learns to find love in the world.
by Mike Wilson.
This entire poem states things that deaf children can learn, just by using their eyes. Our job as soon to be educators is to not just teach reading, writing, and arithmatic anymore. We need to be aware that there are so many other things that kids learn from us, that may just be more important. Hopefully all of these things together will result in a happy child, who is full of motivation.
REFERENCES
Evans, Donald and Falk, William. Learning to be Deaf. 1986.
Froehlinger, Vira. Today's Hearing Impaired Child. 1981.
Roeser, Ross and Downs, Marion. Auditory Disorders in School Children. 1981.
Sanders, Danielle. Teaching Deaf Children. 1988.
Deaf Advocacy http://deafworld.org/dww/pubif/deafadvoc.html
Deaf Culture: A Bugaboos. http://deafworldweb.org/dww/pub/f/bugaboo.html
Acceptance and Self Esteem http://www.weizmann.ac.il/deaf-info/selfesteem.html