From: Mychele Romo
Email:
Course: CD169 Motivating Children and Adolescents in Educational Settings
College: San Jose State University
Instructor: Eugene Matusov, Ph.D.
ClassWeb: http://www.ematusov.com/cd169
ChildrenObservations: No
Date: 23 May 1997
Time: 18:13:30
Remote Name: ww-te45.proxy.aol.com
When visualizing a traditional classroom atmosphere, the picture that vividly transpires within the memory bank of so many people is one of obvious nature... A teacher standing in front of thirty-five students, chalk in one hand, eraser in the other. Lecturing in a monotonously-toned fashion, inadvertently rocking the children to sleep with general lack of stimulation and illustrative character. The students attentively sit at their desks. Some eagerly waiting to answer all questions the teacher may "throw out" , others fearful that they may be called on , and often look away from the eyes of the "person in charge" because they are overwhelmed with the anxiety of the possibility of having to speak. A handful of students hang on the edge of boredom, either by the absence of challenge or by the simple thoughts of the playground dancing in front of their eyes.
Such a scenario depicts teaching strategies resulting in extrinsically-based capabilities, as well as the basic lack of strategy in general. What is wrong with this picture? Just about everything. A teacher holds so much power in their own hands to be able to guide a child to be inspired, aroused, and prompt them to learn in the classroom setting. The atmosphere of learning should not be constricted to sitting at a desk and memorizing a textbook. Such an environment should be abundant with participation; where curricula runs parrallel to the experience of daily activities that relate to literature, reading, science, mathmatics, cooking, art, and gardening. Lesson plans should be organized as extensions and elaborations of children's current interests and understandings. A classroom needs to be viewed as a community of learners whose palettes are to be saturated with a basis for meaningful learning.
How can such an atmosphere be attained? Maybe one of the most relevant factors is the construction of the curriculum. Organizing a curriculum that provides children with interesting ways to construct their thoughts, how to think about certain things, can encourage the development of the whole child in both social and academic designs.
How do children learn best? Children learn best when the natural order of their learning skills are encouraged. Children learn best when their own physical body and mental ideas are incorporated into daily activities. When a child is given the power to be a part of a system, they naturally begin to foster a sense of belonging and importance to the world around them.
Because education should be an integrated part of the whole child, one needs to consider the effect of grades. Once a child is grade-oriented in their thinking, it's very difficult to stop thinking in such a manner:
"Because motivation is such a critical issue in learning, and because failure is such an idiosyncratic affair, school reformers often miss the forest for the trees. While reformers worry about standards, test scores, and cultural literacy, the real issue is the curriculum. Students who are held to rigid curricula with tests at the end, cannot help but begin to believe that learning means getting a good grade. When a student knows what is expected of him, he will usually conform, and therein lies the problem." http:/www.ils.nwu.edu/e-for-e/nodes/NODE-62pg.html
Motivation comes from self-esteem , self-direction, and self-desire...from wanting to complete a task for the sheer excitement of gaining knowledge. It can be demeaning for children to have monotonous and boring lesson plans. The actual thinking of a child needs to be challenged. How else can a child acquire communication skills that enable them to express their ideas and feelings clearly? Children need to learn how to work through various issues through means of discussion. Their ideas need to be known as extremely valid and respected. This brings about the issue of individual choices within the classroom.
Respectful actions from the teacher involves the acknowledgment of the unique characteristics of individual children and the ways in which the uniqueness is revealed in decisions, choices, preferences and styles of responding and interacting with objects, situations, and people. There needs to be a commitment to children's individuality--where personal goals and values are worthwhile. Teachers cannot always be flexible in response to childrens' individuality, but more consideration can be given to how the teachers acccomodate the childrens' needs and interests.
The open style of learning and teaching, as oppossed to the traditional style, focuses on the child and their relationship in the classroom, where the process of creating and learning is valued.
"(This school) uses developmentally appropriate methods and curricula that address the needs of the whole child in a relaxed, non-threatening atmosphere. Our program recognizes each child as an individual with a multitude of needs and talents. At every level we support and extend a child's natural way of learning, using their own interests to develop an understanding of basic concepts and strengthen their foundation for learning." Excerpt from Washington Open Parent Handbook, 1996
The conept of choices in the learning environment increases the level of motivation. Children are exceptionally capable. Teachers can be learners. The incorporation of the child and the teacher can come together as seeing academic success being the motivating factor in what "drives" them to be compatible. Children learn best when they are responsible for what they learn in the classroom. Children have good, strong ideas. When they are allowed to come up with their own choices, and construct activities they care about, they naturally generate ideas, hypotheses and questons. Small group projects and discussions should be encouraged. Working in small groups can generate intelligent trial and error outcomes.
Mistakes should be viewed as potential learning opportunities, not as negative reinforcement. Discipline in the classroom is too frequently confused with punishment. Discipline should be a form of guidance that provides children with the information and value beliefs to make good decisions and judgements from intrinsically-based "expectations" that come from within. Classroom agreements, designed by the students, even at a very young age, can put the rules into their own hands. Because the children were a part of the decision-making process, the responsibility of caring through with the rules, and respecting them, comes directly back to them.
There needs to be a shift in the power and authority exchanges between teacher and student. True motivation comes from within the teacher, and true motivation can be learned by the child:
"The transfer model limits the teacher to the three roles of selection, presenter, and evaluator. What about the roles of motivator, challenger and critic? What about the roles of brainstormer, manager and leader? Each of these roles leads to a different style of teaching, and each plays an important part in helping students learn a class of knowledge worth knowing. Only the exceptional teacher will summon up the energy and effort required to go beyond what the system naturally supports." http:/www.ils.nwu.edu/e-for-e/nodes/NODE-283pg.html
There is no specific answer when one considers the educational system, classroom structure. or teacher / student role sets within the learning environment. When a student is on-task, they are far more likely to benefit from the quality amount of time they are allotted to finish through with their experience. Well-designed resarch verifies time and time again, that students achieve significantly higher scores when taught through methods that responded to their individual learning styles.
It is no surprise that each child's perceptual specific strengths should be identified, and all their strong qualities should be emphasized and commended. Teachers are so much a part of the process. How they teach and what kind of atmosphere they provide their students, is the stepping stone of many bright futures. Teachers who instill self-esteem in their students, take away the fear and anxiety. The child is free to be creative, because they are willing to meet challenges and to look at risks in a positive manner. The power they possess to accomplish their goals and influence their environments, can be a direct result of exposure to good teaching skills.
"It would be a mistake to think that all great teachers persist in exactly the same ways. Some are stamped out of the DeAngelis Caffey mold: tough and strong, they come out swinging. Others persevere with quiet determination. Roberta Ford of Colorado, for example, is a never-say-never type with an emphasis on "caring enough about (students) to see through or see past all the smoke screens they throw in their own way. It takes caring enough to demand the best from them when they're not so sure they even want to try at all. Sometimes, it takes caring when no one else will." Whether it's the symbolism of a "Funeral for I Cant's" or the "I'll Œcare' enough for both of us" message in a poem Ford wrote about one of her students, the bottom line is still the same. Good teahers - excellent teachers - simply don't give up on any of their students. " Seymour,Daniel & Seymour, Terry (1992)
Improving our schools starts when we improve our classrooms. Improving our classrooms begin when teachers make a positive effort to enhance and regenerate their skills; emphasizing individual competencies and efforts in their students. The classroom needs to be a developmental, child-centered facility....always keeping the interest of the child first and foremost, and always being supportive of their needs. Teachers can offer the children enriching and endless guidance to accomplish whatever they want if they themselves are intrinsically motivated to do so.