Eileen Hernon
Teaching and Learning
I believe all children are naturally curious and excited to learn. Over time, they may be hesitant to engage with activities at school, not because they don't want to learn, but because they don't care about the task at hand or they are afraid to take an academic risk and fail. My job as a teacher, then, is to get my students to care about what I'm teaching and provide a safe, supportive classroom environment where they feel comfortable taking risks.
Getting Students to Care
While student-teaching, I worked with a student who often flat-out refused to complete his work. When I pressed him on why he didn't want to do his work, he would often say something to the effect of, "I don't care about this," or "this doesn't matter to me." While these responses were initially frustrating, they forced me to carefully reflect on how engaging/intrinsically-motivating my lessons were. Were the other students just as apathetic toward the lesson and only participating for my benefit? I thought critically about ways to make my lessons more authentically engaging, and found that there were a few things I could incorporate that increased his (and everyone's) likelihood of participating:
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1. Novelty
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Anytime the kids had the chance to do something "brand new," they were sold. My lessons on the interactive white board always drew them in, because the prospect of coming up to the board and getting to click or drag something was new and exciting.
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2. Relevance
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My students really liked when I could tie in lessons to their own lives. One quick thing I started doing was using the names of students in my class when writing math word problems. It was a small change, but it automatically made the problems more engaging. I would also try to explain to my students how they would use the skills in their lives outside of school. For instance, when we were learning about graphs, I explained that scientists use graphs every day to show their data. Taking a dry topic like graphs and tying it into science--a subject they happened to love--helped the kids care more about creating bar graphs.
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3. Choice
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When I gave my students options, I not only empowered them to make decisions, I also increased the chances they would enjoy the activity. One example that comes to mind is a language arts project-based learning experience we had the kids partake in. The assignment was to choose a piece of artwork from the museum we had visited on a field trip, then create either a poem or a short story about that artwork. After that, they could choose a classmate's writing and create artwork based on it. Every step of that project involved a great deal of choice for the students, and as a result the kids were more invested in their projects and produced high quality work.
Creating a Supportive Learning Environment
Throughout my practicum experiences, I've seen that participating in learning activities can seem risky to kids. What if they make a big mistake? What if they fail? I believe that the best learning happens when kids are willing to take risks, try new things, productively struggle, and yes--fail. To create an environment where students are willing to try a new activity, even if they risk failing, I plan to make sure all students first feel safe and respected (see Community and Behavior Management pages for more specific information on these). I also intend to provide the necessary instructional scaffolds and supports to aid to my students. Last, but certainly not least, I will work to instill growth mindsets in my students so that they welcome challenges and failure as learning opportunities. Once students believe that they'll be supported in their classroom, the stakes won't be so high and they'll be willing to engage with the activities, even if they might make a mistake.