The Learning Process and Lecturing - Essay Example

Many teachers are usually concerned with the issue indiscipline and managing them in an effective manner. This is especially true for first time teachers and interns. In the case of Paul a middle school teacher, the issue of dealing with his own emotions, which can sometimes be called emotional intelligence, comes into play. A successful teacher is one who can be able to control their own emotions in an effective way and not lose it in front of the classroom (Kiewra, 2002). Therefore the teacher, Paul failed to control his own emotions and handle them in a healthy manner. Letting the student be in charge of a teachers every emotion is a recipe for disaster. Every teacher wants a classroom in which they are in charge. Paul is using the assertive discipline behavior to discipline his students, therefore he has set rules to manage the behavior of students, and there are consequences if such rules are broken. In this classroom case, Kurt is an example of an undisciplined student, who disobeys the set rules and regulations, and comes up with his own. The teacher has no other option but to manage the behavior of the student to ensure harmony is enforced in the classroom. This erratic behavior and exchange of word has made the classroom uncomfortable for both the student and the teacher, therefore it is not conducive for learning. Although the harm has been done, the teacher can still redeem the situation ( Tiberius, 1990). The teacher ought to explain to the class during the next class in a relaxed and friendly manner, by apologizing for not being in control of the situation. He should encourage the children to be co-operative. This situation will call for strict adherence to the rules and regulations, and Kurt must face repercussions for his erratic behavior. Because his emotions are in control, the teacher should negotiate with the students and come up with rules which they themselves find reasonable. The final rules should be hang on the wall and sent to the parents to sign and also take a copy to the school administration. Since Kurt ran away after class, it will be necessary to engage his parents, to ensure discipline is enhanced. In any classroom setting, there are those active learners who are ready to learn and are ready to gain new knowledge and think critically. They make the learning process fun and generate good ideas and outcomes. On the other hand, there are those who are aggressive resister, who basically resist any ideas and knowledge that contradicts what they know in the classroom. The last category of learners, are the apathetic loafers such as Michael who fill the space in the classroom and have little or nothing to contribute to the learning process. Some people may argue it’s not fair to conclude that a student is lazy and apathetic because you do not live inside their bodies and what you can see to be the contributing factors are the external reasons( Tiberius, 1990). Various reasons contribute to a learner being called apathetic, for example they think that learning will not be of much help to them in future or they have trouble at home. Such a student has low self esteem and has probably experienced failure in the past, so they develop an” I don’t care attitude”. In the past, this has worked and people left him alone. The first step to deal with this is to come up with strategies that uplift the student to feel good about him. A good way is to put the student to engage in an activity that will show they are valuable in the classroom. The privilege should be presented as a request rather than a question, so that the student is not in a position to either say yes or no. The student may not look excited, but the teacher should not be discouraged. The teacher should ignore any apathetic behavior from the learner by all means, but always praise any form of good behavior from the student. The solution to such a student has to come from three different sources; teachers, learners and students. Apathetic students should be encouraged to and made to be involved in groups with other learners. Solo work in these groups should be encouraged. Coaching and mentoring will also help, because it will provide some challenging opportunities. Ultimately the wok of the teacher is cut out; to provide the highest environment for high performance, but failure in the class setting should not be seen as a reflection of whether the student will be a failure or not. Lecturing has long been criticized as one of the failures towards facilitating the learning process. What makes lectures boring is that they involve groups which are composed people with different experiences and capabilities, which leaves most students unsatisfied, therefore a waste of time for the learners and educators. Compared to other learning methods such as videotapes, in a lecture once you miss the concept then you cannot rewind to get it. It is not wrong to say from studies, that lectures are a complete waste of time. Students adopt various ways to cope with boring lectures such as daydreaming, doodling and chatting with friends (Tiberius, 1990). The learning process has three stages; attention, comprehension and integration. The last step involves keeping the information in the long term memory. For the lecture to be effective; get the students attention, tell the learners what to pay attention to and make sure not to overload them with information. The first strategy is to get the learners attention. The teacher giving the lecture is like a public speaker and therefore should have the attention of the learners. To grab the attention of the students in ways such as use of verbal and non- verbal expression will not lower the intellect of the lecture. Expressive behavior captures the attention of the learners, because they are captured and drawn into the lecture. What we are saying here is that Shelley should own the room and the stage for learning to be effective. The second strategy is to direct the students attention. Learners will need to get what the teacher is trying to put across through writing, listening, recording and so on. The teacher should prepare a study guide, which has the main points that she is trying to put across. For this to be more effective, guideline questions can be. This can guide note taking. She should say explicitly where the students should focus on. The third strategy is not to overload the system. Learners should be given breaks in between to comprehend the information. During these break students can be asked to ask questions and give a summary of what the lecture was about. This will enable the teacher to know if the lecture was effective. Whenever the break is over, the attention of the learners will be restored. Combining different sensory, for example audio and visual, enhances the learning process. She should give the learners assignments about the lecture to test the level of understanding. Constructivist teaching is a model of learning whereby learning takes place when learners are actively and not passively in the learning process. Learners are responsible for learning and meaning. Knowledge brought about by the teacher is based on what the learner already knows (Bound, 1990). Some characteristics of a classroom where constructivist learning takes place include ; active involvement of learners, democratic and student-centered learning and responsible learning. Students in Rebecca’s physical education classroom should be encouraged to work in groups, with strong emphasis on communication skills, collaboration and exchange of ideas. Students should be encouraged to do activities such as research projects, field trips, and experimentation, film and class discussions. A good physical education leader motivates the students, is able to analyze their performance, give feedback and the way forward to improve performance. She can observe the mile run and provide direction, encouragement and feedback. Learners can also be given “how am I doing button”, for whenever they need assistance (Laffey Tupper, 1997). The students can be encouraged to train in groups when to improve on mile performance, rather than doing it in isolation during certain days of the week in school, or whenever convenient for them. The students should discuss with the teacher to come up with goals to be achieved, discipline and reward measures. The learning process should be interactive and familiar with the learners to enhance performance. The teacher should be the facilitator, therefore part of the group, through active involvement. She should enhance performance through dialogue with the students, share possible means of improving performance. Learners should be challenged. References Tiberius, R. G. Small(1990).Group Teaching: A Trouble-Shooting Guide. Toronto: Ontario Institute for studies in Education press. Bound, . ,& Feletti G.(1990).The Challenges of Problem- based learning. London: Routledge. Read More