Motivation and Classroom Management
When I
first graduated from college and received my first substitute teaching
position, I remember feeling bombarded with emotions of excitement and yet was frightened
at the same time. The students were fifth graders and their attitudes seemed to
undermine my demeanor. I had students who wanted to test me in front of the
other students. At this moment, I wondered if my education courses really
prepared me for the classroom. I made it through a month, before I was offered
a full time position at another school. Least to say, it has now been five
years and I am still a teacher learning something new every day. This week we read
three articles that discussed motivation and classroom management. Motivation
is a stimulus, a force that drives someone. It is seen as an influence over
behavior. Within these articles, the theories of motivation were discussed in
three forms: behavioral, humanistic, and cognitive. Behavioral motivation suggests
that a particular behavior will be followed by reinforcement. Humanistic
motivation describes the social and psychological needs of an individual. Whereas
cognitive motivation is driven by our success and failures and how they may effect
our future goals and expectations.
In the
article, “The Perils and Promises of Praise” by Carol Dweck, it distinguishes
the concepts of growth mindsets and fixed mindsets and how praising a students’
achievements can have a negative and positive effect. Praise is intricately connected to how
students view their intelligence. (Dweck, 2013, pg. 189). In a fixed mind-set, students
tend to reject the opportunities to learn if they might make mistakes. (Hong,
Chiu, Dweck, Lin, & Wan, 1999; Mueller & Dweck, 1998; Dweck, 2013, p.
189). They believe that their ability should bring them success which causes them
to perform in a matter that lacks effort. Whereas, students with a growth
mind-set care about learning and it ignites their intelligence. (Dweck, 2013,
p.189) Every day we praise students for their intelligence and for their efforts.
Sometimes more of one than the other. The article also describes of a study
conducted in which students were praised for their efforts and praised for their
intelligence. It proved that praising students on their effort “process praise”
motivated them to perform and then re-perform using the same necessary effort
to achieve positive results. Our job as
teachers are not to give students all the answers but to help to develop skills
using methods that would challenge them. We can help them gain the tools they
need to maintain their confidence in learning by keeping them focused on the
process of achievement. (Dweck, 2013, p 191).
What
are the worries and concerns of middle school students? As educators we tend to
lose focus on the individual student and sometimes view the class as a whole. We
have to remember that their “social” concerns can also effect our classroom
environment. Students’ motivation to succeed academically may become
overshadowed by their desire to succeed socially. (Cushman and Rogers, 2013, p.
212) In the article, “Middle School students
Talk about Social Forces in the Classroom”, it describes verbatim through
interviews with students about how they feel about certain aspects of the
classroom that may hinder their learning and possible solutions that educators
can take heed to in order to create a more harmonious classroom environment. For
example being fair to each student, listening to student ideas, and helping
students find common ground. Students have a voice and sometimes their words go
unspoken. Collaboration between the student and teacher is imperative to create
a safe and positive learning environment. One solution they provided was to
create a list of classroom rules together as a class and have all the students
sign it. This creates a sense of community within the classroom.
In the
article, “From Ringmaster to Conductor: 10 Simple Techniques Can Turn an Unruly
Class into a Productive One” by Matthew Kraft, discusses methods on how to turn
a circus (crazy class) into a productive learning environment. Where was this
article when I was in college? In my opinion it was very insightful and honest.
Every class is not the same. I was the new teacher in my class this year, I
have some students who tend to try to get over on me versus my co teacher. I tend
to ask why. Is it because she had these same students last year or is my demeanor
too soft? Whereas, I go into the preschool classroom and they abide by the
rules and the day is less challenging. In the article, it suggests ten techniques:
teach a challenging curriculum that is flexible and can be conditioned to suit
various learners; create nonnegotiable rules such as walking feet and use only
two inch voices during instruction and lunch; set clear expectations of conduct
during lessons and transitions; manage transitions wisely by assigning jobs and
offering a small assignment; find a best method to gain attention during unruly
times such as flickering lights or a clapping rhyme; create a behavior modification
system such as the traffic light method; avoid public confrontations with
students, instead set them aside to speak privately; create a sense that
students are responsible for their own actions; and have open communication
with students. These methods allows teachers to show respect and gain respect
from their students. We are not drill sergeants, we are educators.
These
articles allows me to reflect on my teaching methods and reassess them. Am I
creating a learning environment that challenges my students or am I hindering
them. Am I a disciplinarian or a vessel of knowledge influencing our future?
All I can say is that teaching is trial and error, we learn something from our
students every day, and we must apply that knowledge to our classroom.
References:
Cushman,
K and Rogers, L. (2013). Middle School students Talk about Social Forces in the
Classroom. Annual Editions: Educational
Psychology 12/13, 212-221.
Dweck, C. (2013). The Perils and Promises of Praise. Annual Editions: Educational Psychology
12/13, 189-191.
Kraft, M. (2013).
From Ringmaster to Conductor: 10 Simple Techniques Can Turn an Unruly Class
into a Productive One. Annual Editions:
Educational Psychology 12/13, 229-232.
Related Articles:
A Union of Professionals: Classroom Tips.
Huitt, W. (1996) Classroom Management.
Teaching Strategies: Motivating Students. Retrieved from: http://www.crlt.umich.edu/tstrategies/tsms
Hi Kimberly. I agree with many of your reflections on this weeks articles. I am glad I am still early on in my career and feel that I've personally and professionally grown from this class and especially this weeks reading/assignments.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Beth