This blog is Part 1 of 3.
My aim is to help you think critically about the nature of learners – the children or young adults who you’ll be teaching through the course of your training.
I’ll start that task here and continue it in Parts 2 and 3.
Introduction
Learners are our target audience.
They are who we are trying to help.
They are the reason teachers exist; the subjects at which teaching aims.
Not all learners are the same, far from it.
Although, many learners do have certain characteristics in common.
As you become more experienced, you will begin to see learners who feel familiar, even though you have not taught them before.
This is usually an indication that their behaviour – how they act and think in your lessons – echoes that of a learner you previously taught.
One of the most important things you must remember when working with learners is that, if they exhibit behaviour that is not up to the standard you expect, it is the behaviour that needs to be addressed and highlighted as unacceptable, never the learner.
This can be summed up in the mantra: focus on the behaviour, not the learner.
Working in this way means you don’t fall into the trap of labelling learners (which is both unfair and has negative consequences) or giving learners a sense that you see them as fundamentally bad or wrong.
This message can easily be conveyed by accident if you are not careful, and it can sometimes unintentionally infect your thinking outside lessons.
For example, a learner may stand up and shout out in one of your lessons before being disrespectful when you ask them to stop.
Saying something like: ‘You’re bad for doing that’ or ‘Silly girls do things like that’ immediately personalises the situation and suggests there is an inherent link between who the learner is and the behaviour they are exhibiting.
It is much harder to change if we believe what we do is bound up with who we are.
So, instead, we can take the approach of saying: ‘That behaviour isn’t acceptable’ or ‘Stop doing that, you’re capable of much better behaviour. I should know as I’ve seen it from you.’
In these examples, we note that the behaviour is the focus, giving the learner an opportunity to conceive of themselves behaving differently.
This is not to say we don’t assign blame.
In fact, the opposite.
If we state that the behaviour is the issue, we also indicate that this behaviour is the result of a choice; a choice made by the learner.
On the other hand, if we unwittingly take the line of describing the learner as the problem, we are in fact implying that they cannot be blamed.
This is because it is illogical to blame a person for something they cannot help.
I mention this here, at the start of the chapter, because it is a way of thinking that neatly illustrates the principles underlying the points we will make in the following pages.
These principles are:
- All learners are individuals
- All learners have the inherent capacity to learn, grow, change and develop
- All learners need to be helped to understand the norms expected in wider society
- All learners benefit from having teachers who consistently communicate high expectations
- All learners can make mistakes, and this is one of the most important ways in which we learn
Classroom Management
For many trainee teachers, classroom management is a big concern.
This is understandable.
The link between good teaching and learning and good classroom management is self-evident.
Learners need a stable, positive environment if they are to make progress.
Behaviour that gets in the way of this is problematic. It stifles progress.
It follows that, if you want to excel as a trainee teacher, you need to be able to cultivate a good atmosphere in your classroom.
To put it another way, you need to become skilled in classroom management.
Anyone can do this.
The giddy heights of effective behaviour management are accessible to all.
It is not an exclusive club reserved for charismatic pedagogues or uber-stern taskmasters.
You can dive into behaviour management in greater depth through my Behaviour Management Knowledge Base.
Here, I want to draw your attention to how understanding learners can help you to cultivate a positive, purposeful atmosphere.
The first thing to think about is the interactions you have with your learners.
Ask yourself what they will be seeing and hearing when you enter the classroom and then through the course of the lesson.
Will they be seeing someone who is organised, prepared and in control?
Will they hear someone who is happy to state what they expect and not to falter until it is achieved?
Learners respond to positive messages of all types, including the positive message that you are ready to teach a well-planned lesson and to do so in a way that works for the benefit of everyone.
On the other hand, many learners will react differently if they see you are unprepared, disorganised or uncertain of what you are doing and why you are doing it.
This doesn’t mean the only way to master classroom management is to get everything right.
Far from it.
But it does mean you can help yourself enormously by preparing carefully and developing a professional demeanour.
Simple things to do include photocopying resources the night before, arriving at the lesson early (wherever circumstances permit), having a starter activity ready to go straightaway and learning learners’ names as quickly as possible.
The second thing to think about is what will predispose learners towards viewing you and your lessons positively.
This includes everything mentioned previously, as well as communicating and maintaining clear boundaries, being polite, being positive and upbeat, showing interest in what learners know and think, planning interesting activities and questions, giving learners a degree of choice and control over their learning, and not talking down to or patronising them.
All of this is indicative of what makes people feel good generally.
There isn’t any great secret.
It’s in large part about fostering good relationships by attending to the needs and expectations learners possess.
A case in point is the imposition and maintenance of clear boundaries.
Many learners when first asked will tell you they want to have fun in lessons and to be free to do what they want.
However, nearly all these learners, when pushed, will acknowledge that, realistically, this is not what they want, day after day, week after week.
In fact, most learners want to learn and to be successful.
And most will openly admit that this desire is best met by a teacher who creates a focussed, purposeful atmosphere in which learning is central.
To further reinforce the point, try observing the same learner in two lessons, if you can – one where classroom management is excellent and one where it needs improvement.
Often, you will see what looks like two different learners.
And the one in the first classroom will feel they have achieved more and had a better experience than the one in the second.
Motives and Motivation
Appreciating that all learners have motives and varying degrees of motivation is key if you want to help them enjoy learning and make as much progress as possible.
Human beings are subjects rather than objects.
We have thoughts and feelings that cause us to do things.
This contrasts with objects, such as rocks, that have no consciousness through which to act.
Many motives exist.
Some are familiar – love, greed, a desire for status, – and some are encountered more often through literature and film – obsession, megalomania, saving the universe.
We all have motives.
Some of these are readily apparent; others may be hidden beneath the surface.
Often, we do not pay attention to the motives driving our actions.
Sometimes we identify them, marshal them and use our powers to achieve what it is we desire.
Motivation is heavily influenced by motive.
If a strong motive exists within us, it is likely that this will drive our motivation to do certain things.
Witness, for example, the learner whose motive is to become a doctor.
The motivation they show in lessons and when working at home is a testament to what they are aiming to fulfil.
Similarly, consider the young child who continually pulls herself up using the settee until, eventually, she can stand unaided.
The motive here – to be able to stand up (greater independence) – motivates the behaviour.
All learners are subjects.
All learners have motives, and these motives inform their levels of motivation.
As a trainee teacher, thinking about this fact will help you to empathise with the position in which learners find themselves.
This, in turn, will give you a better insight into how you can motivate them and what you can do in your lessons to help them achieve their goals.
The flipside of this is that you may identify a lack of motivation or an absence of desirable motives connected to learning.
If you make such discoveries (and undoubtedly you will from time to time) you can do something about this.
It could involve finding novel ways to motivate learners or talking to them about motives they might have and linking these to the learning they do in school.
In the latter case, the aim is to help learners see how working hard and doing their best can help them to achieve their goals, even if they do not yet realise this fact.
Being aware of motives also helps you to think yourself into learners’ thought processes.
From here, you can begin to unpick the behaviour you witness and start to reflect on the best way to alter or reinforce it.
For example, let us imagine we have a young child who frequently calls out in class.
After the lesson, we sit down and start to think about the motives underpinning this behaviour.
What does calling out achieve, we wonder.
How does it alter the classroom situation from what would otherwise be the case?
This might lead us to the theory that calling out draws attention and affords a certain kind of status.
We might then conclude that moving the child in question to the front of the class and making a point of working with them at the beginning of tasks will help to fulfil these motives but in a far more positive sense than what we are presently seeing.
Another point to consider when it comes to motivation is the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation.
The latter is inspired by things external to us while the former is linked to things that are internal.
Extrinsic motivation includes being motivated to win a prize or to collect an award.
Such aims are often worthy.
However, motivation tends to drop once the goal has been achieved.
Worse, motivation to achieve the same goal in the future, again and again, tends to be lower.
For this reason, extrinsic motivation often wanes over time.
Intrinsic motivation is somewhat different.
It involves the fulfilment of goals that are internal to us – that form a part of who we are.
For example, a learner may have a desire to work hard because they believe that working hard is important. Thus, their actions are an attempt to both reinforce their conception of what matters and to meet that belief by marrying their actions to it.
For these reasons, intrinsic motivation tends to be more powerful and more sustainable, although it is also harder to cultivate.
To excel in your teacher training, I would suggest experimenting with extrinsic and intrinsic motivation so you can see the effects for yourself.
Having done this, look to develop a sense of intrinsic motivation in the classes you teach.
The easiest way to do this is to build rapport with learners, communicate high expectations and continually reinforce the message that everyone can learn and make progress by applying themselves and listening to feedback.
Acting in this way will help establish a culture in which your learners internalise these messages – helping them to become intrinsically motivated as they then seek to meet the positive expectations you have engendered about who they are and the extent to which they can learn, grow and develop.
Naturally this takes time, but the results will be significant.
Particularly when contrasted to the temporary effects achieved by offering prizes or rewards.
