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Responses to Merrill
•Reflective practice is a hallmark of successful teaching•
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Responses to Merrill
Wordle Response to Classroom Managment 3
Looking back on my education, the best motivation to learn came from the teachers who were passionate about their subject. My speech teacher in high school was the perfect example of this. You could immediately tell she loved to teach this subject because she put her heart and soul into teaching it and was always ready to go above and beyond to help a student. When teachers are excited to teach students are excited to learn! I was always more enthusiastic to learn when I was greeted with a smile when I walked into the classroom. I believe that these same techniques would be effective in today's classrooms because passion is something that never gets old. The best way to be inspired is to see it through another person's eyes :)
ReplyDeleteI also agree with the previous post. The more passionate and involved the teachers are in their subject, the more the students are to show more interest in it. My high school history teacher was very enthusiastic about teaching us. He also tried to make learning as fun as possible without students getting overexcited or out of control. Making learning compettitive also seemed to help. We would play group quiz games where the groups would compete with each other and try to answer the questions correctly first. Whoever had the highest number of questions answered correctly got some sort of prize. The prizes were usually just small trinkets or candy. Even though the prizes weren't anything big it was fun to compete and win something goofy. The students always had fun and seemed to try harder to be right when they were competing in good fun against their peers.
ReplyDeleteI think the biggest thing about getting the students motivated is to be motivated yourself, as that is what my favorite teachers in high school and middle school showed me. By being enthusiatic about their subjects, they made me want to discover what they knew, so that I could see what was so great about it. I remember the teachers that I did not see as the most effective were the ones who did not necessarily express as much emotion in the classroom or do something to make us want to learn what they had to say to us. I think this is one of the biggest parts of teaching, and that it would definitely be effective today. Without a passion for your subject, and a passion for teaching students about what you know, I'm not sure how to really excite and motivate students about learning.
ReplyDeleteTo follow up on my previous post I just wanted to say that I feel enthusiam is the number one way to get students excited to learn. Today I witnessed the two teachers in my field experience being VERY enthusiastic about our lesson and the activities preceeding the lessons. This helped to grab the students' attention and key them into what was happening. Then at the end of the activity the class was able to smoothly transition into the work for the day becuase they were all focused after being so excited about their previous activites. It was probably one of the most enthusiatic openings to a class period I have seen that I can recall.
ReplyDeleteI also think it is important to be motivated yourself in the role of a teacher. It is more interesting and engaging to participate in a classroom with an enthusiastic teacher than with a teacher who doesn't seem interested or motivated about what they are teaching. In Learning & Instruction this week we talked about motivation. Rewards are a good way to get students motivated. Also, encouraging students with positive feedback and comments is a good way to get students excited. I think positive reinforcement is important in encouraging students to be confident and motivated to do their best work.
ReplyDeleteI remember back in elementary school we used to have a reading program that was teamed up with Pizza Hut. How it worked was that reading so many pages of books added up as points. Once you got to a certain points you earned one personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut. This always motivated me to read more in elementary school.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that if the teacher is passionate about what they are teaching that it is a big motivater. It also motivates you if you feel that your teacher actually cares if you do well in there class. I had a teacher who really cared about his students and I always was motivated to do well in that class because I felt that I would let him down if I didn't because he cared.
ReplyDeleteI agree with everyone else about passion. If you as the teacher are passionate about what you are teaching and examplify that in your lessons and structure of your day, you will see the students excited about it as well. This is definitely shown in class with co-teaching and the body language they use when leading. They get excited when technology is used and that is when the students are interested as well.
ReplyDeleteI also believe that another way to motivate students is through appropriate planning. When the teacher puts in the effort to make exciting lessons and spends time to make sure they go well, it is more enjoyable for the students to participate in. Another aspect is immediate feedback. When students' work is returned to them quickly, they are more willing to complete the next task. This also goes with verbal feedback during work time in class. Students work better when they know how they are doing.
ReplyDeleteLooking back now, I really don't recall any ways that my elementary teachers tried to get me motivated. I'm sure there were ways that they did try to motivate me but nothing significant enough to remember. I think that is what has been changing in the ways of teaching sense I was there 10 or so years ago. Educators are finding ways to increase learning and showing the kids that it can be enjoyable. I defiantly agree that one of the best ways to motivate students is to show them you care about what you are teaching.
ReplyDeleteLots of you wrote about being passionate about teaching. That is a good point that is missed by most. Great thinking and hopefully you will be able to continue to reflect on your experience as students to become the best teachers that you can be. Keep thinking and learning as you are life-long learners!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed school when I was younger and so it wasn't really hard to motivate students like me. However, for those who had a little tougher time my teachers use strategies of different hands-on activities to get students up and moving and having fun. A lot of times they would come up with games to introduce the lesson so the students were still learning but also seeing that learning can be fun.The teachers were also really excited about the activity which carried over to the students. I think enthusiasm helps motivate student learning and as long as it is used in the classroom, whether 20 years ago or yesterday, students will be motivated to learn.
ReplyDelete