How Teachers Keep Students Engaged In The Classroom

Teaching is only one of many roles, that teacher will be involved in. Most of these roles will not engage students.

Education will always be the primary source of student’s success in the workforce, community, nationwide and globally. Teachers carry the weight of ensuring students are learning what is required to become productive members of society. As a teacher, the success of my students is the most important goal. There are so many pedagogies, philosophies, strategies, and materials teachers are able to use to be productive in the classroom. Every teacher has their own preferred

An easy and not so problematic way of getting a better learning process is more one on one tutoring. Kids are being placed in classes together and not all of them learn at the same rate. One child might understand something without complications. Yet, the other might not understand a simple step. With classes with various amounts of kids, not all of them are able to get the attention needed to figure out that one step. If each of them were walked through the process of things individually, there would obviously be a better chance of understanding the content. Arun Alagappan properly stated

Engaging students in the classroom can be a difficult task. Understanding the process of how students learn can help a teacher adapt the lesson to meet the needs of all students. I will encounter students that are not intrinsically motivated so I will need to find different ways to motivate each and every student. Understanding how my students learn can provide me with insights as to how to help each student learn which will minimize classroom management problems.

Hearing the word “teaching” makes me think about something great, such as dedication and contribution. In my opinion, teaching means sharing everything positive to others in order to develop those people, such as knowledge and moral values. Even conveying light advice and motivation can be counted as a worthy lesson. By teaching, the teacher also can obtain a lot of benefits. Firstly, teacher may obtain knowledge that she or he did not know before from the students. Secondly, teacher’s communication skill may be improved by doing intensive interaction with the students. Lastly, teacher may get many psychological values, such as patience, passion, joy, and satisfaction. Considering those benefits, I would like to take every opportunity to teach.

Successful teaching occurs when the teacher is able to select the most efficient method for reaching out to each student’s individual style of learning and inspire students to rise to their highest potential. While the responsibilities of a teacher are extensive (as one can serve as a teacher, a friend, a counselor, a disciplinarian, an entertainer, a facilitator), I believe that students should play a big part in shaping own education as well.

Teachers must hold high expectations for all of their students and recognize that all learners seek challenge, purpose, and affirmation. Students naturally want to learn and teachers must expect them to respond with investment, persistence, an opportunity to display their accomplishments and personal reflection. (Woolfolk, 2011). Teachers must connect new content with the knowledge scaffolding a student already possesses, in a way that encourages focused and engaged learning.

My personal belief is that teaching is not just the profession of spitting out information to students that they in turn regurgitate to me. I think that teaching is a process of life learning for these students. I believe there are four extremely important factors that distinguish a well-disciplined class from others. They include the following factors: classroom environment, expectations and procedures, student-teacher relationships, and active learning.

In the practice of teaching, it is the responsibility of a teacher not only to teach students subject matter, but to teach students in order to enable them to grow and develop as a person. While it is essential for students to have an understanding of academic material, it is also equally as important that when students finish their education they have skills to use in

The film The World in Claire’s Classroom, 2000, shows us an alternative first and second grade classroom dynamic that Claire helps facilitate by her teaching style and beliefs.While certain parts of the film are socially problematic, in regards to some methods when learning about other cultures, Claire practices very progressive teaching methods and concepts that our class has covered. Because of using these varied teaching methods, Claire is also creating a more indepth and engaged learning environment that appears to have a positive impact on her students. Two concepts that I will be introducing and comparing to Claire’s classroom are Self-directed Learning and The Four Aspects of Engagement. Both of these concepts connect to multiple

Active engagement occurs in the classroom when a teacher makes the connection between teaching and learning through pedagogy. The choice of pedagogy must see fit with the content of the lesson which in return will assist the teacher in constructing a more meaningful and supportive learning environment where students’ are more willing to participate and be actively engaged. The most important skill in pedagogies is relating the learning experience to real world situations in which students’ can relate too (Churchill et al., 2011).

Learning is not a skill that is necessarily instinctual or easy, and therefore different approaches must be used to make learning easier and more fun for students. Teaching is not a skill that can be memorized or made repetitive, and so teachers must continue to challenge not only their students, but also themselves. Teachers that become complacent in their jobs are not good teachers. Those who can find a way to make an old lesson new and exciting will have an energized classroom, and will be reenergized themselves.

In my field experience sadly, I have not seen a lot of student engagement. The students do not actively participate in class and most of the time they appear to be disinterested in what their teacher is saying. In this classroom I see many of the students staring off into to space and not paying attention. When the students do this instead of trying to engage and involve her students my cooperating teacher gets on to them. I understand students should be respectful and pay attention to their teacher but as a history major a fully aware history can appear to be boring if the information is not presented properly. When all a teacher does is read directly from the book with little class discussion and interaction it makes it hard for the students to become engaged. When students are not fully engaged in the class it makes it difficult for them to absorb all the information the teacher is presenting to them. The more students are engaged the more they are able to learn.

Take care of motivation, and learning will take care of itself. Learning comes from all forms of understanding. A person whether they are children or adults must take care of themselves in order to focus and maintain what is important. Self esteem in students is especially important when students are learning so when the self-esteem is high the motivation is high thus the learning will excel. One of the key responsibilities as teachers is to become a motivator. Motivation is how people move themselves to do an activity, job or anything that needs to be done. Motivation comes within the person and the interest and the spark of curiosity must be ignited, as teachers we gain motivation by rewards, and grades. Which is why motivation needs to be monitored constantly if we have the motivation than our learners will want to learn.

Throughout the majority of my education, including college, I have felt like a passive member of the classroom. Teachers saw me as a clear slate that needed to be filled with information. I consumed countless facts, and memorized numerous processes, most of them not being my own. This approach to teaching has proven to be unsuccessful to the goals of education. Students are diverse, with their own learning styles and their own knowledge that they bring to the table, and these should be supported and expanded on in the classroom. The goal of education is to support learners and thinkers, and not to condition minds to all think the same ways.