Monday, March 30, 2015
Learning and Emotion
In the powerpoint today (sorry it was a little late getting loaded- all up now!) I reviewed the 3 important rules for helping people to learn that Zull describes in Chapter 4. The first two: the learner must have some control and the learner must see how it matters to his/her life, are likely not new to most teachers and we have discussed both already this semester. The third rule however I think deserves some additional discussion: We must expect to encounter emotion (in learning) and we must take it seriously (p.52). How have you seen emotion in learning with your students? How do you think we as teachers take it seriously? If all learning involves emotion, how does this impact teaching?
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I have seen emotion in learning in both positive and negative ways. I have seen how students respond to the teachers emotions and their own emotions. When teachers are upset or angry or students are upset or angry you can see it affect student learning in a negative way. Likewise, when a teacher or student is excited and happy you can see it affect student learning in a positive way. I have a million examples, but I will quickly talk about one student that had many problems at home and with her boyfriend. Half the time she would come into class crying and sobbing and was a complete mess and couldn't focus and distracted everyone around her. I tried everything to help her focus: I talked to her in the hall, sent her to the bathroom, to get water, to the nurse, to the office, etc. and nothing seemed to help. My mentor teacher was a male and I don't think he knew how to handle the situation and I was a student teacher and I felt ill-equipped to handle the situation as well. I still don't know what I would do or if I would do anything differently to be honest, because as a teacher there is only so much I can reasonably do. But it was so sad when she was upset because when this student came to class not upset, she was a joy to have in class and excited and ready to learn and loved to participate in class discussions. So emotion really effected this student's learning, and the other students in the class as well because her emotions were extremely visible to everyone else. It also effected teaching because time was taken away to redirect her.
ReplyDeleteEven though this student had very visible emotions, I'm sure there were other students that were dealing with the same amount of emotions, just not as openly. Sometimes you can tell when kids daydream. Sometimes you can tell when they think a subject or activity is dumb and they do not want to participate. Sometimes you can tell when they are ready and excited to learn. Sometimes you can't tell any of these things because some kids are really good at hiding their emotions. However, all of this effects their learning and our teaching. If they aren't emotionally invested or excited about learning, then odds are they probably won't learn as much.
I am always really impressed with elementary teachers because they deal with students that are very visibly emotional (crying, jumping up and down, etc.) all the time.
As a 1st grade teacher I easily spend more time teaching managing emotions than content. But to be honest, it's really rewarding to see them use the strategies we teach. I have become MUCH better at managing my own emotions in the face of my students emotions. I know that I have a tendency to get SO mad. Internally Im thinking, "I mean come on, all I did was ask you to take a break from your center until you calm down. Why are you throwing chairs. Clearly I was right and you did need a break. Just calm down!" Ha ha but we don't say that. I started thinking more about what might be causing it and encouraging them to use their strategies to calm down. It's not easy, but sometimes I give them hugs even when they're not following the directions, it really helps diffuse. Plus, it helps me feel better too!
ReplyDeleteMeredith, you were so sweet to give kuddos to elementary, but honestly I couldnt do middle/high. At that age the try to "hide" their emotions or be passive aggressive. And I dont feel like you all get the same latitude to stop and deal with students emotion's the way elementary teachers do.
Katy,
Delete4/5ths of the first grade team at one of my schools are first-year teachers. They have faced major struggles this year, mainly because they have not kept the same management strategies in place from August through present. It has gotten very out of hand, to the point where all teachers at the school have been advised not to send crying/screaming/belligerent students (an everyday occurrence in these first grade classrooms) to the office since it sends a poor message to parents in the office registering their children for school there (an everyday occurrence). These students realize that the teachers are not consistent in their practices and take advantage of that. Students have started climbing the bookshelves to sit on the top (6 feet up!), storming over to the teachers desk and laying underneath it, throwing whole bins of crayons/pencils/etc., and tearing up homework. Veteran teachers are lending a hand as often as possible, but to the detriment of their classes. Additionally, there is little to no real learning occurring for most first graders as teachers are fighting fires of students, parents, and administrators at all times.
For many of these students, fear prevails on a daily basis. The teachers get upset when the students are out of hand. Immediately, they take extrinsic rewards away and mark conduct sheets. Parents, knowing there must be consequences, see the conduct marks and punish accordingly. Many students are whipped at home for an 'X' on their conduct, much less two-three X's. As you know, it is extremely difficult to instill intrinsic motivators in first graders, as encouraged by Zull. At the same time, there must be consequences for bad school behavior. Although I teach 1st-5th, I see each of my students for 75 minutes, 2x per week, and Theatre is something they all look forward to and enjoy. I would be interested to know how you deal with belligerent students and if you wait until they are about to go home to mark conduct/move a clip/etc., which is now what these first grade teachers are resorting to so that their days are less eventful. I know that if I was 6 years old and every afternoon, my teacher marked my conduct for something I did 6 hours prior, my amygdala would begin to fear the afternoon!
-Jamie Hipp
Emotion has a major impact on learning. Positive emotions, such as being happy or excited about a topic definitely makes it easier to teach. When these emotions are present in students, they are more apt to fully engage in the lesson. When there is positive emotion being displayed by students, there is a greater chance that they will remain focused, because the students do not have any negative thoughts or feelings to distract them from the task at hand. If students come in with negative emotions such as resentment, fear, or sadness students are going to have a negative learning experience. These students will be less likely to be engaged in the classroom. They are not going to try to do their best. There is even a chance that they will disrupt the classroom because of the effects of these negative emotions.
ReplyDeleteWhen discussing emotions, teachers have a very difficult job. They not only prepare lessons, they also have to be prepared for disruptions that may come up during the course of a lesson. Teachers also have to make sure they keep their emotions in check. They cannot show the students if they are getting flustered or upset about a student acting out. This could cause the teacher to lose control of the class. Also, teachers do not want to get upset in front of their students because in could intensify the fear in students, which could cause them not to be able to focus. This is easier said than done. I learned this very quickly during my first year of teaching. I was teaching first grade and I had a student with a behavior plan. This poor student was emotionally disturbed and honestly very scary. He would throw chairs/pencils/shoes, as well as cuss out me and the administration. I had to learn quickly that I could not show my own fear or anger because it would only upset the rest of my students. There were days where I felt that I did not get much teaching done because I had to spend so much time calming down my students after one of his meltdowns. It was quite the learning experience, but it let me see just how much of a role emotion plays for both teachers and students.
Emotion is very clearly involved in the learning process. I too have many examples from my admittedly brief time student teaching of students feeling overwhelmed by their schoolwork or struggling with issues at home; students breaking down into tears in the middle of class and on the other end, students with an exceedingly happy disposition giggling or laughing uncontrollably.
ReplyDeleteOne such situation occurred when my mentor teacher and I confronted a female student about her declining grades. Apparently this student had told her father that she was not required to complete some assignment even though the entire class was told when it was due. When confronted with this she became extremely distant and began crying and like in Meredith’s case I felt unprepared to handle this sudden onslaught of emotion. Unlike Meredith’s example we had this conversation with her in the hall away from the rest of the class and so her outburst was not a distraction. Eventually she calmed down. My mentor explained to her very calmly that we were not trying to single her out for anything but just needed an explanation for her behavior. She explained we wanted to help get her grades back up.
This was a very enlightening experience. I think it is important when dealing with an overly emotional student to always try and remain calm. If a student becomes emotional and the teacher reacts similarly or becomes angry or frustrated, it only exacerbates the situation. The reaction should always be calming and relaxing as much as possible. This I attempted later on when confronted with a student who, while not crying or freaking out exactly, was in a heightened emotional state nonetheless and feeling angry. I sat with this student and tried to calm him down, asking him to explain why he was so upset. Eventually he relented and explained the problem and calmed down.
I think the emotion affects learning all the time. Throughout the day a student is always feeling some type of emotion whether it be apathy or contentment or sorrow or whatever they’re never just there, stone-faced and heartless. They’re young people with plenty of opinions and ideas and full of emotion. Obviously a student who is happy and content will be easier to teach than one who is angry or depressed.
All teachers could expound on examples of emotion permeating our classrooms for weeks! Emotion governs each of my sixty students, regardless of socioeconomic status, family life, race, gender, or GPA. I feel that emotions are the great equalizer and that so few educators use student emotions to their advantage. In my five years as a teacher, I have found the following to be true:
ReplyDelete1. Each year, it seems that larger numbers of students have trouble managing their emotions, especially anger, and the teacher is not always the best individual to handle this. (I feel that a school psychologist should be employed at every site, and we are doing our children a disservice when we do not allow them access to a professional that can teach them calming techniques)
2. Parents and teachers are rarely on the same page about their child/student's emotion (We need increased communication, and this needs to start early! This is AS important as grades, just look at the positives and negatives of emotion in Chapter 4!)
3. We, as teachers, do not always take emotions seriously. (We all do it...when a student cries often, we want to roll our eyes and just think, "Crybaby!" In actuality, we, as educators, should get to the bottom of this)
4. Happy students = greatness. Better teaching, better learning, more dopamine, deeper retention, greater success/achievement, etc.
We can all have the deepest content knowledge, awesome pedagogical skills, and create well-balanced lessons catering to multiple pathways day after day, but it is all moot if we are not aware of, and caring for student emotion.
-Jamie Hipp
As a teacher I see an emotional response in my students during reading in the morning everyday. Three of my students are pulled out and are taught in different classrooms with different teachers for reading so I am left with two students. I teach one student and my Para takes the other. We teach the same curriculum but our delivery is not the same. Reading is not their favorite subject so as much as I try and stick to the schedule, I just have to realize that some things might not get done that day if I’m noticing a strong negative response from them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started teaching I don’t think I took my students’ emotional response to learning as seriously as I do now. I think it’s probably because of the knowledge that I have acquired over the years in working with different populations of students, I’ve become more attune to their needs. I also had to learn to not take negative emotional responses to learning personally and look for ways to make it less aversive. I try to promote positive emotions such as converting frustration into a drive to learn more.
As teachers we are expected to create an environment that is welcoming and safe as well as educational for our students. So because of that teachers need to take into account how their delivery of information will affect the students. Finding ways to promote a positive emotional response to learning and understand that your strategy may not work for every student that is struggling. A lack of understanding our students’ emotional needs can hinder their future and present response to learning and can hold them back from achievement. On the other hand, promoting positive emotional responses can stimulate a drive to learn more and then in tern use the information they have learned.
Morgan W.