I am not sure if modern learning institutes are against the concept
of a positive learning environment, but it appears that sometimes these are not
always present. This partially to do with preconceived notions of what is
needed for learning and because the person(s) designing the environment is not familiar
with the ideas.
I am not suggesting that we are all subjected to the pressures
of education such as Nicholas Nickleby when he tried to correct the teacher in
the spelling of “winder”. However, coming from a system where few questions
were asked, there was a lot of reading and sitting straight in your row of
students, it is not altogether surprising. Few educators were concerned with learning
styles or learning environments. In this
section of the course we looked at the idea and its importance for developing effective
education.
Creating a positive learning environment is a student, motivational
technique. It helps inspire adult learners to achieve more and better results.
Of course there are several techniques in which to do this.
I like to use Carol Gerber Allred’s seven step method for this. Granted there are
several methods, but as with most of the topics in this course, to quote all of
the literature would be a bit much.
Anyway, Ms. Allred’s method is as follows:
1. Make
Learning Relevant – this is because text books are made for a large audience,
and it is hard to make them specific to a particular class. Working at the FNTC
this was vital, least we lose the attention of the class at the beginning of
the program. I am not sure if I can call it ‘indigenized’, but we always tried
to incorporate the community into the lesson, so they knew that there was a use
for the skills we were teaching them.
2. Create a
Classroom Code of Conduct – yet another idea that takes time, but in the long
run saves you from having to enforce rules that may not be agreed upon after
the infraction. A good example is cell phone use. If you make it a rule not to
text or surf the web during class, then most classes will self-regulate this.
However, if it is not a rule and it later becomes disruptive to some of the
members of the class, then you become the bad guy for enforcing strange
draconian rules. I prefer the students to be the ‘bad cop’ in these cases.
3. Teach
Positive Actions – this is basic courtesies, but believe it or not, this is not
taught or encourage sometimes. Strange as it may sound, some people cannot see
anything wrong with talking about sex in mixed company, whereas some others
will be deeply offended. Here are some suggestions.
- · Do something positive to make yourself or other feel good
- · Encourage healthy choses (nutrition, exercise, sleep, etc.)
- · Encourage active intelligence (think, make decisions, solve problems)
- · Try self-management skills (schedule, learning styles, environment)
- · Learn to get along with others by promoting fairness, kindness and respect
- · To your own self be true (take responsibility and admit mistakes)
- · Learn to set and achieve goals
4. Instill
Intrinsic Motivation – This one is a bit trickier, but it involves learning to
engage in positive actions.
- · First, we have a thought;
- · second, we act consistently with the thought;
- · third, we experience a feeling about ourselves based on the action. That feeling leads to another thought, and the cycle starts again.
With
repeated reinforcement by the teacher, this simple explanation helps students
understand and improve their behavior in any situation.
5.
Reinforce Positive Behaviors – just like Pavlov’s dog, rewarded good behavior
can train the brain to seek out the good behavior. Although dog food may not be
an incentive for getting your homework done, maybe praise or recognition might
(anything to reward good behavior).
6. Engage
Positive Role Models – this is a learned response idea. If all movie stars
engaged in stellar life styles, then so would some of their fans. The same
could be done with students. Seeing success in people that have done the
program that the students are doing promotes an idea of possible similar success.
There is an aspect of relevance as well in this.
7. Always
Be Positive – this is hard at times, because some of us are hardwired to
complain. However this does not mean that you cannot correct bad behavior in a
positive way. The idea is to eliminate the need for the student to be defensive
and thus assimilate the corrective suggestions.
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