CREATE A COMFORTABLE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT AND YOUR STUDENTS WILL LEARN

Create a Comfortable Class Environment and Your Students will Love to Learn

Summary:

Teaching is a very demanding task, that is why teachers  are  always trying to find the right recipe for putting it into practice. Most of the teachers  think  that being strict and inflexible  will lead them to the consolidation of learning,  because if they do not behave this way, students  will not respect them and the objectives of the subject will not be reached. Let me tell you that inflexible is nothing related to good. We as teachers should give our students the confidence they need for producing in a second language.

I am sure that being a teacher who creates a good environment in the class and is flexible with his students will gain respect and trust worth. It is very far from being a relaxed teacher, I do not mean you to give all ready to your students or  let them control your  class, but making them work and produce in a non-stressing tough way.

This workshop will be focused on showing my colleagues some strategies and techniques that they can put into practice in their classes in order to create a  comfortable  environment and make students learn easily.

Create a Comfortable Class Environment and Your Students will Love to Learn

 Education is one of the pillars of society. If this works well the country advances firmly, if not, the society smashes. At the very beginning it was thought that the best way to learn was punishing the students and keeping them listening to the teacher. For many years long this model of teaching was put into practice over and over again. Even  it worked, it was  necessary to pass through a great transition. The old is becoming obsolete and new is still in the process of emergence. The old ways of learning and teaching is found to be too rigid and  too out-dated.

 There were some psychologists and philosophers   who said that teaching in a tough manner was unhealthy for humans, that they needed to be able to think and express their thoughts and interact to  each other. In this way the teaching and learning process is redefined, now it asks teachers to make their students get involved in a participative way.

 Some of the definitions of learning and teaching process in the earliest ninetieths are :

For Edmund Amidon Teaching is defined as an interactive process, primarily involving classroom talk, which takes place between teacher and pupil and occurs during certain definable activities.

According to Burton,

1) Teaching objective cannot be realized without being related to learning situation.

2) We may create and use teaching aids to create some appropriate learning situation.

3) The strategies and devices of teaching may be selected in such a manner that the optimal objectives of learning are achieved.

4) We must understand principles, goals, objectives of education in right perspective.

5) An appropriate learning situation condition may be created for congenial and effective teaching.

Diana Laurillard  argues that there are four aspects of the teaching-learning process:

(a) Discussion - between the teacher and learner.

(b) Interaction - between the learner and some aspect of the world defined by the teacher.

(c) Adaptation - of the world by the teacher and action by the learner.

(d) Reflection - on the learner's performance by both teacher and learner. (Laurillard, 1993; Laurillard, 1994)

In order to understand the evolution of this process I am mentioning some  learning theories:

Behaviorist

Behaviorist  learning was pioneered by Watson in 1913. He  developed the stimulus-response model in which  He asserted that people learn from observing each other and as a result of this observation produces a behavioral change. The change is driven by the external environment of the learner and requires repetition and reinforcement.

Operant Conditioning

In the late nineteenth century, psychologist Edward Thorndike proposed the law of effect. The law of effect states that any behavior that has good consequences will tend to be repeated, and any behavior that has bad consequences will tend to be avoided. In the 1930s, B. F. Skinner, extended this idea and began to study operant conditioning. Operant conditioning is a type of learning in which responses come to be controlled by their consequences. Operant responses are often new responses.

Humanistic

The humanistic model asserts the basic concern for human growth is learning (Smith 1999). The best- known pioneer of the humanist phenomenon is Maslow, can, thus, be seen as a form of self-actualization, it contributes to psychological health (Sahakian 1984 in Merriam and Caffarella 1991: 133). This learning model links most clearly into the concept of self- directed learning. That we are motivated, responsible for and directed to learn by our own motivation.

 This article will be mainly based on the way teachers should manage their class. I focus on how important it is to keep a healthy environment having a good communication with their students but without losing the control of the group; design a lesson plan by using didactic resources which maintain the students aware and some tips to make students follow the rules.

1.1.  HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT

For Angel Díaz Barriga in his book “Docente y Programa”, a teacher is defined as the intellectual person who represents knowledge and  has the capacity to  rise in his students the interest to learn. A good teacher is the person who treats his students as human beings. It is nothing pleasant to work with “dancers”  where  you, the teacher, is the only person who has  good ideas and the only one who talks. This happens when students feel fear to  the teacher because this one always comes angry and in bad mood or what is worst he always makes them work by answering pages of the textbook without giving a clear explanation.  Working under pressure generates stress and lack of motivation, students get blocked to learn.

1.1.1          KEEP THE CLASSROOM IN GOOD  CONDITIONS.- It is our responsibility to show our students how work in an organized clean environment. If you come into a classroom where there is garbage all over the floor or where the chairs and tables are not properly placed, you should ask your pupils to pick up their trash and put their chairs and tables in order. This way students will see that you are really worried about working in a good condition. It could look ridiculous for some people, but the seriousness of the class  and the respect  to the teacher start there, moreover  you are making them to put into practice their values.

1.1.2          COME MOTIVATED TO RISE MOTIVATION IN YOUR STUDENTS.- When participating in congresses, seminars, workshops or any kind of teacher training, I have observed the way my colleagues behave.  It calls my attention because much of the way we behave, is the way we are as  teachers. How can you ask your students be participative, sit properly, be quiet in the class if you do not do it when you are right in their side? Give them the example. Show motivated to them, encourage them to participate and to feel that learning English is nothing that practice and discipline.

1.1.3          CALL YOUR STTUDENTS THE WAY THEY PREFER TO BE CALLED.- The first thing I do is learning my students names. I always ask them the way they prefer me to call them in the class. I consider this way  you make them feel important when you call them by their names. It is uncomfortable for the students the teacher just point them out by saying: “hey, you the one wearing glasses”. This  strength  confidence, they feel comfortable the same way they feel  home.

1.1.4          INTERACT WITH YOUR STUDENTS .- You are the teacher does not mean you are unreachable, but responsible of making the teaching and learning process could happen. Let your students make you questions if they have any doubt, mark the activities they do by themselves, because if you do  never read or make them see their mistakes they become discouraged due to the lack of attention you show  in their jobs. When making a dynamic or an interactive activity, supervise their work by moving to the place they are located, see what they are doing and cheer them up if they are working well or, on the contrary, if they are not doing the things well, guide them by  telling  them how to do it.   

1.1.5          TAKE YOUR TIME AT HOME AND PLAN YOUR CLASS.- When are  teaching for the first time, it is  for sure that we will spend long hours thinking and designing a lesson plan. We are anxious for going with our students and applying it. However, when we are getting experience we are spending less time at doing this. This is nothing wrong, the wrong thing  is that we are not designing a plan anymore, because we think that the way we have taught a topic is the only one which could work or we can improvise it. It is necessary we to revise and perform our plans, in other way we are producing an unhealthy environment in the class.

M. Marland in his book, the Art of Teaching, He says that a lesson must be organized in a sequence, taking the time into account, the methodology of the activities.

The importance of a model of instruction is not just focus the attention on the resources we are using, but in the results they are making us to get. (GAGO ,Huguet:35 )

 1.1.5.1    USE DIDIACTIC MATERIAL.- Nowadays there are dozens of resources that we can use for making an interesting class. Resource paks from text books,  Flash cards, cds, videos, movies, tv programs, articles, games (bingo, memory, etc), web sites, e-mails, face book, blogs, cell phone recorders, etc.

Try to use unless one of them aver single class, in order to keep your students interested, they love practicing, what they do not love is fill in lots  of book pages containing  grammar activities. I am not saying that working with the book is wrong or that teaching grammar is; what I mean is to vary, since the routine is not part of a good class environment.

1.1.5.2    VARY THE DYNAMICS IN YOUR  CLASS.- We are lucky teachers because in these days we have everything we could need for having success in our courses in our hands. There are books focused on this issue, on the internet web sites suggesting you how to make the group interact in a dynamic way, what is more, there is no congress where you are not advised  some dynamics.

Jeremy Hamer  says that there are two main points to take into consideration in a good plan: The variety of activities and dynamics and the flexibility by using the only required ones.

When planning your class be sure that you have included a variety of dynamics where your students are able to practice and consolidate the topic. Try not repeat or play them more than once in the course.

1.2. SET  THE RULES AND DO NOT BREAK THEM.- There are two factors which will carry success  with them when teaching: Humanity and rules. (Sun Tzu, The Art of War) As I mentioned at the very beginning our students are human beings and they must be treated that way.  Avoid acting with unnecessary  violence.

It is known that rules are  everywhere  and the classroom is not the exception.  Order your students with humanity and benevolence.  Unify them in a strict and firm way.

Sun Tzu says: “When benevolence and firmness are evident it is possible to be sure of victory.”

1.2.1 SPEND THE FIRST CLASS FOR SETTING THE RULES

The first day is the ideal to make agreements and establish the rules in the class. When the commands or instructions are given in a clear way since the very beginning, students will accept and obey them.

If you have told them the way it works, do not change your mind and do something different.  When the orders are confusing and contradictorily changing the students will reject them or will not understand them taking your course to the failure.

So that, the rules must be fair, simple, clear and consequent; this way there will be a satisfaction among the students and as a consequent they will learn.

The ideas above were taken from the book  The Art of War and appropriated to the teaching and learning process.

1.3.2 HOW TO IDENTIFY IF THE THINGS ARE NOT GOING WELL

a)      If you are treating  your student in a far too much  friendly way and now there is a friendship feeling between you and he;  if you have relaxed the things too much, I mean, the discipline; so students will become arrogant and disobedient and it will be impossible to work  with them. He will not take you in a seriously way.

b)      If your students look exhausted and unhappy and they are not working well, it means that you need to revise your plan and change your strategies. Do not wait till the end of the course.

c)       If you are strict at the very beginning, but let your students break the rules and do not punish them, you will lose control and authority; causing a messy class. On the other hand, do not punish your students before they break the rules, just to show who the authority is, because they will feel betrayed. This will cause a negative reaction in your class.

REFERENCES

-          DIAZ Barriga, Angel, Docente y Programa: Lo Institucional y lo Didáctico, Aique Grupo Editos, S.A., 2da. Edición, Argentina, 1992.

-          GAGO Huguet, Antonio, Modelos de Sistematización del Proceso de enseñanza Aprendizaje, edit. Trillas, México, 1990.

-          M. Marland, El Arte de Enseñar, edit. Kapelusz, Argentina, 1970.

-          HARMER, Jeremy, The Practice of English Language Teaching, Longman, London, 1983.

-          B. Griffith, Samuel, Sun Tzu, The Art of War, 1971

-          Laurillard, D. M.,Rethinking University Teaching: A Framework for the Effective Use of Educational Technology. Routledge, London, 1993.

-          D. Abrams & M. Hogg (Eds.), Social identity and social cognition, Oxford: Blackwell Publishers.

-          Merriam, S. and Caffarella, Learning in Adulthood. A comprehensive guide, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1991.