Post 5 - Creating a Positive Learning Enviroment

        Having a productive learning environment is closely tied with motivation, which does make me feel a little uneasy.  As I stated before, I do have some anxiety about getting a high school class motivated.  If students aren’t motivated, they may become disruptive, therefore throwing off productivity within the classroom.  That being said, I will try my best to motivate my students and get them to a position where they want to learn about the things I will teach them.  I think that a problem with high school students is that they get treated like children too often, or at least they feel that way.  I want to treat them like adults in as many ways as possible and establish a respect between me and them, and between the students themselves.  I will also try to present varied types of activities and lectures that help keep the students’ attention. Another thing I want to do is fine-tune my “withitness” so that my students know that they can’t “pull one over” on me.  From what I have seen, the teachers I’ve had who have the most productive classes are ones where the students know that the teacher cares about, listens to, respects, and understands them, but also relates to students in a way that the students can enjoy and respect in return.

        As for the case study, I personally would have a moment where I give the students a sort of reality check.  Chances are that if they are slacking in my class, they are slacking in all of their classes.  I would want to remind them that final grades are not in yet and if they screw up the remainder of the year, they could regret that when their friends are having a blast over summer post-graduation and they are stuck in summer school making up for their poor decisions.  I would also tie in the long-term repercussions of their choices, such as creating bad habits for the future, whether they plan to go to college, trade schools, straight to work, etc. This may sound harsh, but some students need that kick to wake them up a little bit.  The three unproductive students would need to be taken aside and spoken with if they are refusing to follow rules.  If the students and I cannot come to an understanding, discipline needs to be enforced.  I would turn to specific rules of my school to see where to go next, but even a threat of suspension (or something along those lines) may be enough to get through to them.