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Review, Refine, and Adjust
Teachers should continually seek to refine their lesson plans to ensure that their instructional strategies are moving toward the development of critical thinking in their students. To accomplish this, teachers should monitor class activities on a consistent basis. To keep track of student progress, teachers can keep a teaching diary that identifies those students who actively participated in each lesson activity, and an assessment of their success in terms of student engagement. Reflective comments can be useful when revising or updating instructional strategies. An important outcome of this journal is to take not of those students who are note active participants. This group includes those students who are shy, over-talkative or continuously challenge the teacher.
Effectively handing difficult students is important in keeping the class on track in terms of moving toward the learning objective. When dealing with the over-talkative student, the teacher should stress that the discussion is open to everyone. Teachers should acknowledge the comment but then redirect the discussion to other students, calling them by name if necessary. Should the student continue to disrupt the lesson, a private discussion which highlights the benefits of listening to others will usually correct the situation. Because the over-talkative student may actually be fairly insecure, simply point the situation in a private conversation and work together toward solution.
Handling shy students almost always necessitates an extra dose of encouragement. Try to bring the shy student into the lesson activity early to boost their confidence. Also, encourage these students to discuss how their personal experiences may relate to the lesson content and make frequent eye contact with them so they feel connected. When the problem continues, explain to the student that participation is important and ask if there is are any special concerns which contribute to their reluctance to participate. When the reasons are beyond classroom management, the student should be referred to either tutoring or counseling.
Handling lazy students is also a challenge in fostering an active learning environment. The student must understand that all students will held accountable for learning the material. When a student fails to meet established standards either by arriving late, excess absences, or failure to complete homework assignments, the teacher must address these issues immediately. Should the student need additional help, suggest the use of tutor or encourage an individual session to review the material.
There are those students who will consistently challenge the teacher. When a student disrupts the lesson to discuss irrelevant issues or continually challenges comments made by the teacher, the situation should be immediately addressed. The teacher will need to be blunt and point out the disruptive nature of their behavior. Perhaps the student disagrees with lesson objective; in this instance the student should be made to understand that the objective is not going to change and that they should alter their expectations to derive some benefit from the lesson. Dealing with this type of student immediately is very important so that their behavior does not impact the rest of the class.
It is the responsibility of the teacher to create an environment of equal opportunity in which all students have the opportunity to participate in each lesson and where rudeness, interruptions or unkind criticism of another’s opinion is not tolerated. Setting these expectations during the first days of the school year both verbally and in a “class rules” poster is an effective method for creating a classroom climate that will be conducive to active learning and the development of critical thinking skills. |
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