All Students Can Learn - Essay Example

Running Head: ALL CAN LEARN All Can Learn s All Can Learn Introduction Classroom management is a demanding task to accomplish, which requires teachers to create an environment that encourages learning, creates and maintains an optimistic, dynamic classroom atmosphere favorable to learning. In order to achieve this task, teachers must take into consideration class size, amount of students, and family life in order to produce effective classroom management techniques. Learning can be defined formally as the act, process, or experience of gaining knowledge or skills. Burns 'conceives of learning as a relatively permanent change in behavior, with behavior including both observable activity and internal processes such as thinking, attitudes and emotions'. Building relationships is a key aspect of effective learning, as Burns (2000) considers that learning might not manifest itself in observable behavior until some time after the educational program has taken place. Learning helps us move from novices to experts and allow us to gain new knowledge and abilities. Effective relationships help the teacher gain the student's trust and therefore the students feel more comfortable in being taught by that teacher. It also helps the students gain more repose and therefore creates an effective learning environment in the classroom, which results in the ultimate benefit of the students. Discussion I believe student-learning abilities vary from student to student. The teacher would have to adopt her technique of teaching in order to maximize the productivity of his/her lecture. The teachers can follow an array of approaches in order to deal with the various kinds of learning levels of students in a class. The classroom inquiry approach to teaching enables teachers to contribute to the knowledge base of developing effective classroom practices for inclusive classrooms by engaging in development of individual beliefs on student learning with their peers and participating in a team problem solving approach to generate classroom action. When teachers work development of individual beliefs on student learningly to monitor and improve their classroom practices, this can have positive results and improve their performance. Collaborations and interactions between teachers and university researchers as well as school administrators should also be a part of the inquiry and problem solving process. When teachers generate the knowledge that informs their practice (Canter, 2004), they have more control and leadership in the classroom. Thus, they expand the educators' repertoire of instructional methods to accommodate greater student diversity. When teachers work is conducted in an environment where collaboration and the development of individual beliefs on student learning, they are less likely to feel isolated and overwhelmed by the challenges created by the diversity in inclusive classrooms. The teaching approaches by the teachers make the content meaningful and relevant to students. This is very important as the teacher has to develop a mutually beneficial relationship with his/her student. However, the disadvantage of such means of learning by students could be best explained in opposition to meaningful learning. "Meaningful learning is a process of relating and anchoring new material to relevant established entities in cognitive structure." (Savin, 2006) This meaningful learning depends largely on the teachers. One of primary responsibilities of teachers is to help the students in meaningful learning. It is difficult for learning to take place in chaotic environments. The teacher can build these relationships by effectively communicating their goodwill and encouraging nature to the students so that they feel comfortable in understanding their teacher better. Subsequently, teachers are challenged daily to create and maintain a positive, productive classroom atmosphere conducive to learning. On any given day, this can be quite a challenge. In the teacher's attempts to face this challenge, they mostly find themselves making common classroom behavior management mistakes. Classroom management's importance can be judged by the astute observation that teachers take special note of beginning student learner's behaviors and make good hypotheses about how children use sources of information while learning text. Observing, encouraging, and valuing self-monitoring and self-correcting behaviors are keys to effective literacy instruction for beginning learners in the early grades, as well as for older students who are having difficulty learning how to learn (Borich, 2004) The teaching approach of teachers play a vital role in effective classroom management as teachers learn to notice, value, and teach students to self-correct some learning miscues. Student learner's miscues and self-corrections provide the teacher with a window into what children are noticing and what processes children are using when they learn. Development of a skilled learning process includes an ever-increasing ability to find information in text, to think about that information, and to correct or confirm the learning response. This ability sets the stage for subsequent gains in learning competency. Some ways that teachers can have effective classroom management techniques is to follow effective teaching approaches and to incorporate the following: to develop a better strategy to manage misbehaviors (such as time outs), make classroom rules, and to have a successful plan of action during transition time throughout the course of the days activities. Goals, rules, and procedures should be implemented effectively so that student learning can be maximized. There are two reasons that help to explain why children misbehave: to gain something such as a toy or the teachers' attention and to avoid something such as discipline and/or homework. When a manage approach is not working we need to regain control with the use of verbal redirecting, positive words of encouragement, and reevaluate academic lesson to make learning more age appropriate so children are not easily distracted or bored. In addition, include students in their own behavior change programs through the use of self monitoring which will allow students to record their behaviors. Goals, rules, and procedures can vary from scenario to scenario, but most commonly used approach is Time Out strategy that is misused often and can be an effective tool that will most often redirect misbehaviors. Time out areas should not be considered a place but a process where the opportunity to get reinforced are withdrawn. For the most part, time outs should be done in the classroom where a child is removed and placed in a quiet, non-intimidating area. Conclusion It can therefore be concluded that some subjects are better taught in certain ways with certain approaches. I believe that how well a student personally learnt rests unequivocally with the teachers they encountered. The studies indicate that an innovative and enthusiastic teacher can achieve much more than just good results from the students; a sense of loyalty, willingness to learn and a desire to do well can be developed, along a sense of well being and belonging. References Borich, G. (2004). Effective teaching methods. (5th Ed., pp 362-397) Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education Burns, R. (2000). The adult learner at work, Sydney: Business and Professional Publishing. Canter L. & Associates. (2004). Motivating today's learners. [Videotape series] and Classroom management for teachers Mary John O'Hair, ed., "Educating Teachers for Leadership and Change," in Teachers Education Yearbook III (Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin, 2000). Savin, R. (2003) and (2006). Educational psychology: Theory and Practice Read More