Intro

Table of Contents

Previous Standard

Next Standard

Standard Five - Classroom Motivation and Management Skills

The teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning and self-motivation.

          In schools teachers must teach appropriate group interaction to create a community of learners that will foster the best learning environment for all students.  A teacher can create this by building a community of learners in the classroom that effectively allows students the freedom of making mistakes and learning from them.  Through the use of group cooperation, the class will gain a sense of belonging that will encourage positive social interaction among the students.  This group cooperation process will help students grow not only as a student, but also as a citizen. Once this optimal cooperative environment is in place, the act of learning will be able to be effectively maintained. 
            The knowledge to know how to build this classroom community and this classroom environment comes from a teacher's firm knowledge of INTASC Standard Two.  By having this knowledge of human development and learning, an effective teacher will be able create this environment that fosters positive social interaction and engagement in learning.  Thus, an educator must have a full knowledge of INTASC Standard Two to create the environment needed to demonstrate INTASC Standard Five.  

Rationale of Artifact One

Artifact One

            An effective community can create a trusting environment were the students feel comfortable, and they are able to make the mistakes that are necessary to grow.  I believe that I have displayed my understanding of the importance of building a classroom community in my paper entitled, “Building Community for Classroom Management.”

            In this paper, I described how I would create a positive social atmosphere in my classroom to help my students succeed.  From this open environment, students will be able to self monitor their behavior and be able to actively engage in the learning process. In this paper, I described the importance and even gave an example of how a classroom without group motivation affects one student.

            From this paper, I effectively show my understanding of group motivation and behavior and how it can positively affect students through the development of a firm classroom community.

Rationale of Artifact Two

Artifact Two

            I have also been successful in promoting individual self-motivation through activities in my classroom.  I implemented Literature Circles into the fourth grade class I have been an intern, and the students in that class were required to fill out a “Literature Circle Discussion Form” after completing their conversations. To show my competency in INTASC Standard Five, I am presenting an example of a student discussion form which shows how a student used self-motivation to monitor her Literature Circle which proves that she was actively engaged.

From these forms, the students were responsible for their own engagement in the learning by explaining what the student learned from the conversation or the student’s “Powerful Point”.  The students were also required to self evaluate their performance in the circle which caused them to think about how they were acting in that situation and decide if they could do better next time.  This self-monitoring motivated the students to become actively engaged in the activity.  As you can see from the form, this student understood the concept of Literature Circles; but after her own reflection, she came to the conclusion that she could be more attentive in the circle. 

            This shows that from her own evaluation, she was self-motivated to become more actively engaged in her learning without the teacher even becoming involved. Thus, from this example, I am able to demonstrate that I can produce this kind of atmosphere in my own classroom.