The particular teacher that I had was wonderful at keeping children engaged. Which I knew would be main part of teaching I just didn't realize that with 20 + students keeping everyone engaged wouldn't be so easy. There are just so many different attention spans, work ethics and personalities to deal with.
First of all this teacher kept a CALM VOICE. Even when the kids were acting up a bit or trying to get a rise out of other students. She was the MASTER at the calm voice, and not letting the kids get her sidetracked. The age group I had varied but they were older (5 and 6th graders), and if it was a subject they really weren't into they tried all kinds of excuses to either get out of class or to get the teacher off of the subject. But through it all the teacher kept calm and would redirect back to the project or subject.
Along with staying calm and redirecting she was great at adding specific encouragement. She would walk around the class when they were all suppose to be working on a project. Watching and walking around the classroom was another trick of the trade. Not just giving them an assignment and sitting at her desk. But along with walking around she would say specifics like, " Johnny (Name change), your brush strokes are great try adding some more color" or "Annie, I can see a hint of personality in his eyes, you think if you added some more wrinkles around the eye we will be able to tell what he is really thinking?" By doing all of the above with the personal comment on there work she was able to keep the students engaged in what she needed to them to focus on.
No comments:
Post a Comment