Intrinsic Motivation
To create a learning environment for my students, I want to motivate my students to learn intrinsically. According an article by Linsin, “the whole idea of having a strong community is that we want our students to act without prompting” and I hope that students in my classroom will feel the same way. I do not wish to force my students to learn what I teach them, or to be motivated extrinsically. I want them to learn at their own pace and at their own comfort levels so that they are more willing to learn.
Students’ Hard Work
During my practicum, I had the opportunity to teach my students about chemistry. Through the unit, I decided to give them a cross-curricular activity integrating art and science in creating a class table of elements. The students were intrinsically motivated to create an art piece related to their specific element, while searching for information about that element. They were very excited about the assignment and when the finished product came together, they were ecstatic.
Supportive Environment
As an educator, we are there to provide help and not make things harder for them. The classroom should be stress-free not only for students, but for the educators as well. According to the article “The Prosocial Classroom,” “emotionally exhausted teachers are at risk of becoming cynical and callous and may eventually feel they have little to offer or gain from continuing, and so drop out of the teaching workforce” and I do not wish to be stressed or anxious to the point where I cannot handle the classroom setting anymore. Students and teachers spend most of the time in the classroom and little time out of their room, especially in intermediate settings. The classroom is like a second home for a lot of the students and teachers. Some students and educators may have hard times outside of the classroom, but to be able to control the outside sources is extremely difficult. Instead, the educators need to find peace within the classroom environment, or at least positivity. Noddings mentioned in his article that “we adults rarely engage kids in general dialogue. We talk at them, but we less often listen and talk with them.” As an educator, we should be with the students as much as possible, providing them with the opportunity to sit down and talk with the educator. The educator needs to support the students through constant communication.
Relaxation of the Mind
During the stressful times the students go through due to projects and assignments, they start to lose focus in class. I decided that using relaxation music would help calm their minds. I took a few minutes before the day ends to allow the students to close their eyes and relax their minds through listening to relaxation music.
Social-Emotional Development
Allowing for open discussion and constant temperature checks will help keep the educator and the students up-to-date. It also allows for me to reassure the students that their voices are heard by me and if there are any concerns, I will be there for them, solving the issues together. Open discussion allows for students to have the freedom to express themselves on whatever they wish to. Similar to the talking circle that First Nations people practice, the talking circle will allow for students to voice their opinion if they wish and for others to respect what the person has to say. If there are problems occurring in the classroom community, class meetings or talking circles will help bring the problems to place and allow for the students to assess and evaluate each issue and determine how to solve the problem.
The temperature checks will allow for the students to know how the educator is and for the educator to know how the students are. Knowing how everyone is in a classroom setting will allow for the educator to create a supportive and safe environment in addition to building relationships with the students. Students and educators part of the classroom community should be aware of others and to keep in mind that everyone has their troubling times and good times in order to share the pains and the joys together. In order to promote a safe environment, I believe that I will need to take steps in creating the trust bond with the students. Students can be cared for even if they voice their opinions anonymously. Students who feel uncomfortable sharing their opinions in class can write on a piece of paper that will be put in a jar any time of day and the educator can address the issue the next day. Their worries and fears may be about something in class or outside of the class and can be about anything from being hungry, worrying about the work load, or what they did over the weekend.