PLE #3

When wondering if teaching was what I really wanted to do, I looked a lot at how I could fully invest in my students and have them see and feel that they are smart and can give back a lot to society. How as a teacher could I do that productively? One way that I know will help is building an environment that fosters encouragement from not only myself but the students that interact with each other. Modeling, I believe, is one of the most powerful models of teaching. I always looked to my teachers as role models. I also looked at them for praise. When I felt encouraged, I felt accomplished and smart.
As a pre-intern getting my feet wet in various ways such as being active in various elementary school through my cohort and also by working in an after school program, I see the impact of praise. Praise builds confidence and I believe that when students feel confident in their work it helps them from breaking down others confidence. When I do not feel confident in my work, I like to compare people and when someone is doing better than myself I like to tear them down. Whether it is in my head or outloud, the act of tearing someone down has an odd way of making your problems seem more irrelevant and not as bad as someone else.Erikson shows the importance of confidence in students' ability to learn in his stage theories. With elementary students, they are going through Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt. PBS display this theory well by saying
"Erikson said that children who are deprived of the opportunity to establish independence and autonomy may become oppressed with feelings of shame and self-doubt, which later result in losing self-esteem and being defiant"(PBS).
As an educator,  I wish to have the students obtain this sense of independence and knowing that they are able to be successful in school.
I digress by saying that with all of that being said, I hope to foster an environment that displays uplifting praises and congratulations when someone is on task or able to do an activity and a kind "You can do it! Try again!" when I feel like they are not confident in their progress. So, as a teacher, I will model this in my best ability by showing the kids what it looks like to be uplifting in their groups that they are placed in or in the classroom as a whole.

Develop a full continuum of responses for dealing with the misbehavior of your case.    

In my scenario, a student named Lisa is placed in a group with others who, as a teacher, I notice not working well together or seem to be understanding the material. For the most part, I notice that Lisa is the problem and gets angry if she doesn't get what she wants and also refuses to do her part. She also continuously interrupts others in her group and does not pay attention when her group prepares for class.

 As a teacher, I would begin by fully explaining the exercise that they are about to do. I will make sure that I explain it in detail so that they may not begin the exercise already confused as to what to do.

Along with that, I might see if swapping up the groups every two weeks would help with the bickering. If the kids are not with the same people for four weeks then that might help alleviate the problems.  With that, I will make sure I see which students work best with others and try to place students who focus more in a group with others that do not focus as much to make the other students desire to learn, too. This will also help with her talking too much because the other team members may not respond as likely as people in the other group. 

If there is still bickering and fighting, I will pull Lisa aside and see what the problem is. I will not do it in front of people but make sure that she knows that I want to really know that I am there to help her and help foster a productive learning environment.    

||PBS||