Classroom Motivation and Management Skills - The teacher understands individual and group motivation and behavior and creates a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation
Principle five of the Idaho Core Teaching Standards deals with classroom management and management skills. My first artifact for standard five are the classroom map of Mr. Smith's classroom that I made on my first day in the school and my observations. The other half is a map of my ideal classroom and the reasons why I organized it the way I did. The way teachers organizes their classroom, or their classroom map, can have an impact on all these things. The organization of the classroom creates the environment in which students will be learning and interacting. Teachers and students spend a lot of time in the classroom, therefore the classroom map should be pleasing in appearance and create a positive feeling. This can be done through the use of different colors as well as having space for students' work to help them feel connected to their surroundings. The way this environment is organized can help a teacher maintain students behavior as well as encourage positive learning. Classrooms can affect the behavior of students based on where they are placed within the classroom. Students who generally misbehave can be placed next to the teacher's desk, by responsible students, or in the front of the classroom. These locations may help to control or lessen the student's bad behavior and encourage positive behavior.
Placement of students within the classroom is also important in terms of keep students engaged. A teacher must know exactly what a student will be looking at when in their seats. It could be other students, the teacher, a computer screen, a colorful picture, or a blank wall. All these things can impact how engaged a student is within the classroom. A classroom can be organized to make it easier to achieve instructional goals as well as maintain student's behavior. A classroom should be organized to meet the needs of what will be going on within its doors. It should be designed for both function of the class, as well as being flexible enough to meet multiple demands placed upon it by both the students and the teacher. Whether students are feeling inspired or excited by their surroundings, or tired and bored can impact how much they are learning. Students should feel they are members of a learning community and feel safe within their classroom. This will encourage them to view school as a positive environment which will hopefully encourage positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
My next artifact is my Courage to Teach paper. This paper is a reflection of Parker Palmer's ideas about paradoxical teaching and creating a community within the classroom. This sense of community can help students overcome their fears about school and be more motivated to participate and interact with their education. It also encourages them to interact with their environment creating positive social interaction with their peers and the teacher. These interactions can help promote self-motivation and further the students engagement in their learning making it fall right into place in standard five.
The final artifact is my opening of school paper. This paper is a reflection on how Coach prepares his classroom before the school year, and ho w he maintains his classroom management. It is a great example of classroom motivation and management skills. It illustrates Coach's style of management and how he is able to keep the class orderly by not enforcing too many rules. It fits into standard five and is a great example of one way to organize a classroom. These artifacts can all be used to help me create the optimal learning environment for my students that encourages positive social interaction and keeps them engaged in learning.