Standard 5
MOTIVATION AND MANAGEMENT
The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Evidence
Learning Community
I believe a positive classroom environment is built out of respect for between all members of a learning community. Throughout the semester, I stressed the importance of being respectful of all views shared in the classroom as a way to enhance discussions on different topics. Active engagement in all learning is key to the creation of a positive learning community and I always encourage students to interact with other members of the class. Learning does not occur in a quiet classroom; learning is social and teacher instruction should reflect this view. Each individual in the classroom can positively or negatively affect the learning outcomes, including the teacher. I always try to use positive affirmation during each lesson because I want to motivate students to contribute to the learning every day. The majority of the student work included in my portfolio demonstrate learning in a social environment because the assignments required students to work in groups. I constantly reinforced the idea that the students should work cooperatively, and one or two students should not do the majority of the work for a group of three to four students. Overall, I believe most of the students enjoyed the cooperative learning environment created through all the group projects and many now value self-motivation. I did have a few issues with a few students who refused to be involved with a group. I used those opportunities to discuss individual motivation and the benefits of working in a social learning environment.