When a teacher is in control of the lesson, they leave the
responsibility on them to complete the necessary tasks of the lesson. It’s easy for a teacher to remain in control
and guide the students through the necessary parts of the lesson. When a teacher hands over the control to the
students, the teacher is putting trust in the students to do the necessary work
and it’s hard for a teacher to plan for possible student outcomes and adapt their
instruction. Handing control over to the
students is worth it because when the students have control over their own
learning they’ll have a higher intrinsic motivation to learn and complete their
tasks. Also handing the control over to
the students builds more effective teacher-student relationships and builds a
sense of community in the classroom. The
teacher isn’t the only one in charge, but the classroom is a community working
together to achieve a common goal. It’s
important for students to see that they can take risks in the classroom. In a classroom a teacher could start off the
lesson by being in control, when the students understand the necessary
components they’re suppose to accomplish, the teacher can give the students control
to work in groups and complete the necessary activities.
In my classroom the elements that were controlled by the
teacher were the ones when the teacher was at the front of the room introducing
a new lesson, and calling on students with raised hands for answers and
input. When the students break out into
stations in which they work together with members of their group and the
teacher trusts that the students do what they’re supposed to be doing, the activities
are student centered.
In the teacher-controlled lesson students are motivated to
listen to the teacher and understand the necessary concepts the teacher is
teaching to them. By asking questions
students can also be motivated to learn more and better understand. If they don’t listen or pay attention they
might have trouble when the teacher puts them in control. When the students’ break out into the student-centered
groups there is more intrinsic motivation among the students to complete the
tasks because they’re in control of the activity and have more choices and
options.
I agree with you that a student is likely to have higher intrinsic motivation when they are in control of the task because they can use their own thinking and creativity.
ReplyDeleteI used a similar example of student-centered classrooms in my own post. I talked about stations as well and how students really responded to that technique because it gave them some more control of their own learning.
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