Teacher controlled vs. student centered classrooms (Prompt 2)

• This statement could be true because when the teacher comes up with the lessons and does all the planning he or she knows exactly what should happen and if that doesn't happen he or she would know what to do to get it back on track. That is the easy part. But when the teacher hands the planning and control over to the students there is no telling where that lesson could go. The teacher would almost have to come up with something on the spot to teach to the kids. You could do this productively though by possibly scaffolding this way of learning. Start the kids off with just one thing they are in control of and as they get used to this give them more and more control over what is being taught. You could say to your students that they need to learn about the Civil War and ask them how they would like to go about doing that. Possibly give them examples of things they could do and then help them do what they picked and still get out of the project what they needed to get out of it.
• I was in a kindergarten classroom and honestly most of everything was controlled by the teacher. The students would do morning work and sometimes they would have to draw on their paper. This they had creative control over. There are also times when the students were able to add their own describing word to a sentence the teacher came up with. But again not too many things were really centered around the students getting to choose what they did.
• I feel that this can take away from the children being motivated to learn because they know the teacher will tell them what they are to be doing. I feel that if these students were told that they were aloud to come up with their own project or activity they would not really know what to do and would expect the teacher to just jump in and tell them what to do. In this way I can see students not really wanting to learn because they know the teacher will just tell them what to do. They know the teacher will always be there to tell them what the next step is.

Blog Post 2

Giving students control can be very difficult.  Students can sometimes take control of a teacher who gives them too much control.  A teacher is looked as the authority figure in a classroom, and if the students are given too much control they can become disruptive and too "big-headed" because of the control they have been given.  Also, if the students are given too much control they can think they know everything, and take instruction from the teacher lightly, leading to the belief of incorrect information.  Handing over some control to the students can be used beneficially by assigning group work for certain topics and having each group become an "expert" on the topic.  At the end of the allotted time, each group will teach the class their part of the topic, ensuring that everyone understands the whole thing.

During math lessons, my teacher followed a very strict process.  After being presented with the topic (teacher controlled) the students were allowed guided practice time where they were allowed to collaborate with fellow students (student controlled).  Finally, they had individual learning time where they were not allowed to collaborate and the teacher was grading their progress (teacher controlled).

The students will feel more passionately about the student controlled work, and take more responsibility for the strides they made.  Teacher controlled lessons tend to have a less excited feel from the students.  I feel that more progress is made with student controlled lessons because of the passion and credit they take for the work.

Teacher Control vs. Student Control

I think teaching with a lot of control is easier than letting the students have some control, because if the teacher has full control, he/she knows exactly what is being taught, and is in control how the information is presented.  When the students are handed some of the control, the teacher now becomes responsible for managing the progress and learning of the students.  The teacher takes more of an observational role rather than a direct instructional role.  In order to effectively hand over some control to the students, I think collaborative learning is essential.  Setting the students in groups and allowing them to collaborate and learn from each other on projects, worksheets and initiating experiences allows for a more well rounded education.  However, the teacher now becomes responsible for making sure each student is presented with the same information.

In my field experience, I observed the teacher in control when leading discussions on a novel.  The teacher would discuss vocab words, as well as, go through subject and predicate grammar books.  The teacher gave control to the students on a group project about the book, but observed the work of each group, making sure that they were all getting out of the book what was needed.

The students are less excited with teacher controlled scenarios.  When given the option to do the project with their friends they are excited about the outcome and really try to do their best work.  They are significantly less excited about doing grammar books or learning vocab words.  While these are necessary, the freedom they experience with the group project is what they love.

Teacher vs Student Controlled Prompt 2

As a teacher, you're the one with the ultimate authority over your classroom. No one is telling you how to manage your classroom except for your administrators. You decide how the students are going to learn. It's easy to set expectations and rules for your students, but what it isn't easy is making sure they meet them 100% of the time. A teacher can reinforce and punish for all good and bad behavior, but the students' behavior may never change if they don't understand the rules and expectations. However, the students can take control of their learning by setting expectations, rules and goals for themselves that align with the teacher's expectations. This may take the whole year to get the students adjusted to what they believe they're capable of, but worth it in the end. They've taken responsibility for their actions and behavior and the teacher just has to make sure they're on track. Since they set the rules themselves, they stated that it was capable for them to do so. Constant discipline shouldn't be necessary if the students are accountable for following their own rules.
The teacher whose classroom I participated in firmly believed in student-control. The students did a lot of collaborative work using their personal computers. They could work on math facts together in the form of a game that would later be tested in a times test. The students were responsible for learning their math facts to pass such tests. However, the teacher would take control when it was time to teach a math lesson. He would explain the process of what they were learning and do practice problems with the class. He didn't have control for long because he required the students to translate the lesson into their personal math notebooks. The students had control because they were responsible for learning the lesson when they transferred it to their own notebook.
There are definite motivation differences when it comes to students taking control of their own learning. A lot of students would simply do the required work in class when the teacher would dictate the lesson, but would never transfer their work to their math notebook. Nor would some students take the initiative to practice their math facts on their own. Maybe this is learned helplessness because they believe they'll never be able to learn without the help/guidance of the teacher.

Teacher Controlled Vs. Student Centered Classrooms Prompt 2

Teaching with a student centered classroom is believed to be more difficult because it is hard to ensure that students will lead themselves to reach the targeted learning goal. It is hard to predict if they are capable of learning everything effectively on their own. It is thought to be easier if the teacher is in control of the learning because the teacher can control exactly what the children are learning and how they are learning it. It doesn't leave much room for unpredictable errors and the teacher can always monitor what is being covered and what still needs to be taught to the students.

In my field experience, the daily math lessons were completely in control of the teacher. The students were expected to sit and listen to the teacher explain a concept and then eventually follow along while she guided them through workbook pages.

I think that it was sometimes hard for the students to be motivated during their math lesson because they felt like they were not really contributing anything. They were just being taken step by step through the workbook pages and the lesson. It was very common for the teacher to have to stop and tell a student to pay attention.

Teacher controlled vs. Student centered classroom

Teaching with all the control is easier on the teacher because they do not have to plan for all possible thought processes that might be brought into the classroom and how each student will come to a unanimous classroom conclusion. One way of making the students feel like they are in control is to offer alternative homework assignments that get at the same information so all students are still learning the same material, but the students got to choose some aspect of what they have to do so they might feel more motivated to finish the homework.
In the kindergarten classroom that I was in for fieldwork each day the teacher would go over the days of the week routine with her students where she stood in front of the class and pointed out what day of the week, what day of the month, and how many days of school they had attended up to that point. This is an example of a teacher controlled interaction because the students would all pay attention to the teacher and the props she was using and recite the information along with her to demonstrate that they knew the information as well. Whenever the students would get ahead of the teacher since this happened every day and became routine for most students the teacher would stop or slow down to make sure everyone was reciting the information together. In this way the teacher maintained her control of the situation. A student centered activity that I did not observe directly but heard about was when the students got to pick stories that they would read on their own.
The students seemed to get bored while reciting the days of the week material, whereas the students would ask me sometimes while doing other activities if it was reading time. The difference here being that the students were more motivated to do something that they had more control over or was centered around their interest and less motivated to do something that they were required to do everyday.

Planning For Instruction (Prompt 2)

One great way of giving the students control and still promote learning is to just allow students to divide up into different sections and teach different parts of a lesson.  For example if you were studying about different geometric shapes.  Give each group a different shape such as one group gets rhombus and another one will get rectangle.  This will give the students some control in order to teach the other students and the teacher can always add or clarify any mistakes the students make.

            Everything seemed to be controlled by teacher except for calendar time.  The teacher made all the students do this by whoever was in charge of the calendar that week.  She also gave different students different jobs for the week.  This allows the students to have some responsibility over a small job that does not have any consequences if not done perfect.

            It is really hard to give a lot of independence to first graders, so the teacher has to help motivate the students herself because they have not fully learned self-sufficiency because they are son young.  However by giving them jobs it allows them to learn that they need to be self-motivated in order for them to want to do their jobs to the best they can.

Prompt 2

It can be much easier to control all teaching than to hand over control to students. When the teacher is in control, she can monitor everything that the students are hearing, quickly reaching all necessary standards. It may take longer to allow students to discover these things on their own. It is also difficult as it can be harder to keep an eye on the behavior and focus of students.

In the classroom where I did my field experience, there was often teacher control of teaching lessons. I think it is a good strategy to have more control when teaching a new concept and then allow students to work on their own or together to practice that skill. This is especially useful in math. It is also important to allow students to sometimes learn new things for the first time by themselves, even if it is more time consuming.

Students will be more motivated when they are allowed some control, since this supports a sense of agency and self-efficacy.

Blog Post 2 Teacher/Student Control

 "Teaching with a lot of control is easy. Handing control over to the students, and planning for every possible outcome, adapting instruction where they take it, is extremely difficult, but worth it." I think that there can be success when students are in control, however I do not think that they should always be in control and their age has something to do with this. The older the child, the more control I can see them having. When the students are in control they are able to strengthen the teacher/student relationship. This creates a learning environment where the students and the teacher has say in it and everyone can feel comfortable. The students can ask questions as can the teachers. The students can work with one another and also strengthen those relationships. Teachers can give control to the student and still support learning by leading the class in what they are supposed to be doing like talking with peers or doing work silently. All of the class rules would still be in affect but the students are freer to choose the lectures or activities that their classmates do. The teacher and students can learn and grow from this process. This would not be an easy process to complete.

In my classroom the children were only in kindergarten so they really didn’t have much control over the classroom and what exercises or activities would be done. When they did their group work they did have choices on whether to read a book, play a game on the ipad, or play a word game. The teacher was in charge when they sat on the floor to learn their popcorn words or to read a book, but when It came time for group work they were in control unless they did something to lose that privilege.

When the students were able to choose something they wanted, which most of the time was the ipads, they were more motivated to do the activity. They were more motivated than they are to just read a book. The kids on the ipads paid attention and did their work on there, but the students that were supposed to be reading were more likely to be off task or not paying attention. When the teacher leads the class at the carpet, it was about 50/50 on who was paying attention. For the most part they pay attention, but I did see some kids not participating. 

Teacher v. Student Control 2

This statement is true because although we as teacher want to give students the control to work through problems together, it is often difficult to necessarily trust them to control what they are doing. It's hard to know exactly where a conversation may lead to. For instance while reading a book about homosexuality, some groups may touch on the subject very much while others may jump to a more religious stand point and yet others may dive into laws and government regarding such issues. The directions any conversation can go to are various and it's hard to accommodate for each one, when we as teachers never truly know which alley students may take.

Lots of activities in my fieldwork were controlled by the teacher. For instance, when doing sherades to talk about the definitions of vocabulary words, the teacher told each student how to act it out instead of allowing them to really show if they knew the word or not. Student centered would be how my teacher allowed kids to play games that centered around their reading and gave them the ability to have their own groups and keep each other on task without her being right next to them or in that group.

With the students working together they all get really excited for each other and tend to push each other more than if they were to work by themselves or even the teacher. Although the teacher did try to push the students thinking she was slightly narrow minded about what exactly to do and how to go about certain motivators. Students often times thought about new ways to remember words when working with classmates because they're all the same age and think about similar things so they were able to come up with some pretty cool little tools to remember their words that they might not have with someone older than them.

Planning for Instruction and Teacher Controlled vs Student Centered Classrooms Blog Prompt 2

I think that the statement "Teaching with a lot of control is easy. Handing control over to the students, and planning for every possible outcome, adapting instruction where they take it, is extremely difficult, but worth it"shows that there can be a balance of challenges and simple tasks in the classroom, which includes having control as the teacher but also allowing children to have control as well. Children benefit from taking control in the classroom because it allows the teacher and student to build a positive relationship. The teacher is showing that he/she has a high level of trust in his/her students and cares about the students as individuals. Also, the teacher is helping create a supportive learning environment in which students feel comfortable taking risks, and help students feel that they belong and are accepted. Giving control to students also helps students form good relationships with one another by giving them opportunities to work together and to get to know one another better. Giving control to students, planning for every possible outcome, and adapting instruction where they can actually take control is difficult yet creates a positive environment within the classroom. Classrooms do not need to be perfect and mistakes must be made by both teachers and students in order to learn and grow. In order to productively hand over control to students while still support learning, teachers can manage the classroom with how the children sit and the cues that are given which means "everyone is silent" or "talking is aloud," but at the same time allowing the children to choose their activities and lead group lessons as well, but still enforcing the classroom rules.

In my fieldwork experience, since the students were so young in first grade a lot of the control was the teachers. However, during silent reading time the students were allowed to choose their spot if they chose appropriately and would not be distracted by their peers. The teacher would lead the main math and reading comprehension lesson, but when it came to the calendar time, the children were in control and led the class in group discussion about what the day and date was and how many days of school there have been counting by tens and ones with groups of sticks.

Most of the time the children were more motivated during calendar time because their peer was the one leading the group. Math was always a duller lesson because the students did not enjoy being lectured about math, but when it came to answering questions they would race to raise their hands first to answer it and be noticed in the classroom. I think that the balance was good in this classroom because motivation was kept constant as the control was being switched from teacher to student and back to teacher.

Teacher controlled vs. student centered classrooms (Prompt 2)

It is difficult to hand control over to students and to plan and adapt for every situation because it takes a lot of time and effort to do this. Planning for every situation could be infinite. A teacher might plan for multiple outcomes, but the students together only have 1 or 2 differing outcomes. This method is worth it because you can be fully prepared and can help each student individually. You could hand over some control to students by allowing them to create a presentation for the class. You could give them a topic to focus on, but it is up to them to create a way of presenting the material to the class. With this method the students have control over how to present the material, but the teacher is supporting learning by giving them a specific topic to focus on.

The elements I saw that were controlled by the teacher were worksheets, lectures, and readings. The teacher gave the students required material to complete so it was controlled by the teacher. The elements I saw that were centered around the students were the class projects, games, and computer activities. These were normally activities where the students could create something, show their individuality, and to make choices.

In the teacher controlled elements I observed a lot of boredom and frustration. The students wanted to learn their own way, and did not always want to do the assignments the teacher gave them. I observed that the students were more motivated and enthusiastic when they got to make choices about what they wanted to do and when they could show their individuality. Students were more engaged in learning when their interests were put first in the student centered learning.

Student Centered vs. Teacher Controlled Blog 2

Being in charge of up to 30 students’ learning and development is a really important responsibility placed on teachers. Therefore, it is important that teachers are well prepared for every class. They must know their lesson plans inside and out because not everything goes as planned. A teacher should think on her toes at all times, since the outcome of a lesson changes with the students. Teachers hand over control to their students in all their lessons because the students are the ones who are responding to the teacher’s lessons. If the students understand the lesson quickly, the teacher has to modify her lesson plan in such a way to make sure that the students are still engaged. Vice versa, if the students take a while to grasp concepts, then the teacher has to change her teaching style to accommodate the students.

In my field experience, students had control over various things. They were assigned jobs every week, such as paper passer, line leader, lunch counter, desk cleaner, etc. These jobs allowed students to have control over different things in the classroom. They were also able to choose the way they wanted their desks to be placed in the classroom and who they wanted to sit by. The students were also able to use the ELMO projector to show their work. The teacher had control over a variety of things, like how much time each student spent in a certain station, or how much time she wanted to spend going over tests or warm-ups.

Motivation increases when students have control over their situation. They want to do better when they are in charge of something, to show that they are capable of handling something important. However, I do think some control should be left in the teacher’s hands, just so she can maintain some discipline and still give students a reason to continue learning and follow directions.

Teacher controlled vs. student centered classrooms (Prompt 2)

"Teaching with a lot of control is easy. Handing control over to the students, and planning for every possible outcome, adapting instruction where they take it, is extremely difficult, but worth it." 

I think that this statement is very true. It is not hard for a teacher to teacher with a lot of control. Teachers can do a lot of planning ahead of time- such as making lesson plans, creating or printing off tests/quizzes/worksheets, creating projects and activities to do with the class, etc. But no matter how much a teacher plans ahead and teachers with control, one can never exactly prepare for how students will behave during the actual lesson and how they will respond to it. Because of this, it can be very hard to plan for every outcome and hand control over to students. Giving students control puts a great amount of trust in students, trust that the teacher may be cautious to give students. A teacher can hand over control but still supporting learning in many instances, including letting students choose a book or topic for a project, letting them decide their own groups for group activities and projects, and letting them choose some of the class rules and rewards.

In my fieldwork experience, many elements were controlled by the teacher. One example I could think of was their biography book project. Students were allowed to choose what biography they wanted to read and do their project on (student-centered), but the teacher had control over the project (teacher-controlled). Also, if the teacher felt a certain book was above the level of a student, she would recommend a different book for the student, which made it more teacher-controlled.

Giving students control over aspects of their learning fosters intrinsic learning, because students have control of what (and sometimes how) they are learning, making the topic/lesson more interesting and engaging for them. In teacher-controlled lessons/classrooms, students might be less intrinsically motivated and more extrinsically motivated by things such as getting good grades.

Control Blog Post

"Teaching with a lot of control is easy. Handing control over to the students, and planning for every possible outcome, adapting instruction where they take it, is extremely difficult, but worth it."  This statement means that it is easier for teachers to keep complete control of their students than to allow their students to have some control of the classroom as well.  Teachers can hand over some control to the students while supporting their learning by offering multiple options for projects, allowing students to decide if they want to work individually or in groups, letting students chose their own rewards, etc.

In my fieldwork experience, there was a lot controlled by the teacher.  However, I also saw several instances of student-controlled activities.  The best example I can think of was "stations."  Stations were organized as follows: students had 5 tasks they were required to do each week (teacher has control) but the students were allowed to chose in which order they wanted to do the stations, and also the specifics at each station - for example, which story they would read (students have control).  I think this was a great balance of control between the teacher and the students.

I think giving students some control of their own learning helps foster intrinsic motivation because students who are allowed to do things how/when they want will be more motivated to actually do them, and they will enjoy the activity more.  When the teacher gives students directions to read a certain book about animals, they would see it as just an assignment that needed to be completed.  On the other hand, if students were told to choose any book about animals on their own, they would be more inclined to enjoy the story since they chose it and had more control of their learning.  If students are more interested in the material they are learning, they will be more motivated to learn it.

Teacher Controlled vs. Student Centered Classrooms

The statement "Teaching with a lot of control is easy.  Handing control over to the students, and planning for every possible outcome, adapting instruction where they take it, is extremely difficult, but worth it," is one that all teachers should learn and live by.  While teaching is mostly in the teachers' hands, there are aspects that are completely controlled by the students, whether the teacher likes it or not.  Teachers have control over what lessons will be taught and how to teach them, but their students are the ones that control how the lesson actually goes.  Depending on whether they understand the content material, whether they are motivated, and whether they are enjoying the way that the lesson is being taught, for instance, a lesson can quickly need adjustments.  This is why a teacher needs to be completely prepared for every possible outcome.  He or she needs back up plans, in case the first method of teaching the material isn't the most effective for the students.  When the teacher has these alternative plans, this also allows for the students to have control, which is the best way for learning to happen because it ensures that they are gaining the information that they need.

One way that I saw my teacher both being in charge and letting her students take control.  She is in control of teaching all of the material in math class, but then she does math stations to reiterate what they are learning.  To decide what station that each student goes to, she looks at what area they need the most practice in and then makes the decisions based on that.  This is where the students are in control.  Depending on the pace that they are learning, they control where they go and how they spend their time, with the help of their teacher.

For a student-centered classroom to work, the students must be motivated to learn.  If they have no motivation to learn, then the classroom won't run smoothly because they will be controlling it in a way that learning is not a priority.  In this case, the classroom would have to become teacher controlled to get learning done.

Teacher Controlled vs Student Centered Post 2

Handing control to students and planning for every possible outcome as well as adapting instruction is extremely difficult but it is worth it. This is so because you will never be able to predict what students will do with the information you throw at them. They are going to learn by exploring the topic as it relates to who they are, which will be a much more meaningful learning experience.  A teacher taking this approach has to be creative in how she is going to help the students meet the standards. They are learning in the ways they know how, not just following directions. A teacher must determine if they are getting all they need. You can find a balance by handing over some control and still supporting learning. Finding a balance can be done by incorporating big projects into lesson in which students have choice and the freedom to demonstrate their grasp of the concept and relate it to their own life. In my fieldwork, my teacher did this a lot by allowing students to work individually and in groups on larger scale, more creative projects. She also had them incorporated into the learning process and had her students explain the steps to a math problem rather than her teach it. In this example, the teacher controls the lesson to be taught and can jump in where the students have a misunderstanding but they students are able to explain the steps in their own words and relay this information to their classmates. I think motivation would be improved when students have more control in a classroom because they feel like they can control if they do well or not. They do not feel like they are smart or not smart, but their effort affects the outcome. At the same time, a student who has already learned to be helpless would probably not benefit from more control because they feel like when they are in control they are not capable of learning and succeeding. I would also expect students who need more time to grasp concepts to have the freedom to take that time, as well as have a little extra help from their classmates. I think their needs could be met very well using a balance of teacher controlled and student centered classroom.

Module 18 prompt 2

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.  

Teacher Controlled vs. Student Centered Classrooms Prompt 2

This statement, "Teaching with a lot of control is easy. Handing control over to the students, and planning for every possible outcome, adapting instruction where they take it is, is extremely difficult, but worth it." is very true. A teacher can plan how they are going to teach a lesson, they can have goals, and things they want to achieve throughout the lesson. However, they will not know exactly how this lesson will go over until it is actually going on, and the teacher can see how the children are responding. The students are in control of how fast a lesson goes, or how in depth the teacher must go because the teacher is working to convey the information to them. This shows a teacher using the students as a resource, and determining the pace of the classroom. This shows how a classroom grows because a teacher allows the students to learn the material, and build from this. Planning is essential, but it can't be the only method in teaching. A teacher must let the students be in some type of control in order to learn the material. 

In my fieldwork experience, I can see that the teacher is in control of introducing the topics to the class, and beginning the flow of information. A teacher is in charge of starting the learning, and beginning the process of the students understanding. For example, in my class, Mrs. Mullen began by teaching multiplication as repeated addition, and showing how they compare. She started by bringing up something the children know, and relating it to a new concept. She started their minds thinking, and then allowed the students to guide where she focused more of her attention on. The questions of how grouping works or how the repeated addition compares is in the hands of the students. They are responsible by telling Mrs. Mullen what they don't understand, and then she will go into depth based on the student's needs.

Students must be internally motivated to ask questions, and want to learn more about the information presented. They must want to know, and want to ask to be able to ask the questions, and gain the knowledge. Teachers use this internal motivation as a continuation of the lesson because the questions are what fuel the lesson. A math lesson especially flows from questions, therefore, students must be motivated to ask, and to learn in order for the classroom to be managed, and run effectively in a lesson.