It is my job as a teacher to help the students gain confidence in their abilities and transfer their skills outside of my classroom. I believe that there are many ways to teach successfully but there are three ideas that I have found to be the most helpful: creating discussions for students with enough processing time, creating a comfortable environment, and allowing students to reflect on their process.
Throughout my career as a student and a teacher, I have found that class discussions increase learning. By observing other teachers and getting feedback on my own teaching, I have been able to learn a great deal about how I want to teach. One aspect that I found useful was creating discussions and engaging students. Classroom discussions can help students with a few different aspects of their learning: practice in the communication of ideas, finalize understanding of the material, and hear different perspectives or ideas from peers. I have been able to observe both great discussions and poor ones, mostly due to how the instructor is leading the discussion. The instructor should still play an important role with these discussions, not just let the students fend for themselves. Discussion questions should be created for the class by the instructor and/or students, this will keep the class focused and ensure that the content being discussed is appropriate and relates to the class. Have too general of questions can lead to a lack of participation, but too specific or simple can create short answers without much thought. Another aspect of discussion that I thought useful was The St. Martin’s Guide to Teaching and Writing idea of limiting lectures. Students become bored and tune out if a teacher just talks the entire class period. It is important to engage the students in the class and make them feel like they are participating in the learning process and getting a class experience tailored to them and their needs. Discussion groups also allow for a 50% retention rate instead of the 5% retention rate of lectures.
I also think it is important to give students time reflect and respond to the questions before coming together in the large group. Individual free-writes would allow students to interact with all the questions, while small groups would look at one or two different questions per group. Having pre-large group discussions can allow students time to figure out what they think, or test their ideas on a smaller group first. This method can help encourage students to share with the larger group or at least give them a chance to participate in a smaller group if they are still uncomfortable with the large group setting.
In addition, a teacher needs to facilitate an atmosphere where students feel safe, encouraged, and empowered. From my short time in teaching/observing classrooms that English as a second language, I have learned how important it is too create and maintain a comfortable learning environment. With discussions taking up a lot of class time, it is important that students feel comfortable in the classroom and with the other students. A teacher needs to help their students feel confident and safe when speaking up in class. Creating a welcoming environment can be achieved by giving the class a chance to get to know each other and the instructor. A friendly classroom environment in more inviting for students to take intellectual chances and empowering them to speak up. Encouraging/positive remarks for students that do decide to share their thoughts can help maintain their willingness to speak up and encourage them to go further with their comments the next time. This is something I have observed in other teachers’ classrooms and in my own. Simply offering praise for students who share or speak up in class can really help boost their self-esteem. This can be as simple as saying “Thank you for sharing”, “Yes, good point”. These simple remarks can help a student feel comfortable in taking a chance again.
Lastly, I value student reflections. The students need time to think about what they have learned and how they can use these skills in other classrooms or outside of school. University’s and higher education should help people learn and grow skills that can be applied to further their careers. These reflections can be done in many different ways throughout the class: reflections on how assignments connect to class goals, reflections from peer-reviews, reflections after assignments, and reflections about readings. I have found that students will take their readings more seriously and thoughtfully if they have time to do free-write reflections about the assigned readings. It also serves as a way to monitor which students are completing the readings and if they apply the readings to the class work they are doing. Reflections have been a big part of my teaching so far and I have found them to be a great resource, especially at the end of a semester. It is a fun activity to have students go back and read their previous reflections to see how much they have grown. No only in writing their papers, but in writing reflections in general. They can actually look back and see what they used to think about writing compared to how they think about it at the end of a semester. This lets them really see what they have accomplished.
There are many ways to be a successful teacher. I believe that teachers should primarily be there to help and encourage students to learn. They need to feel that their voice is heard and appreciated. Discussions and reflections allow students to share what they have learned with others and themselves, thus allowing them to truly understand their progress. I want to be a teacher that can help students gain confidence in their abilities and thrive beyond my classroom.