Classroom Dynamics
One of the most fascinating things I experience as a teacher is classroom dynamics. It never fails to amaze me how the spirit of the classroom changes from class to class and year to year.
You’ve experienced it before: you teach the same lesson to two different classes. In one class it’s the best lesson you’ve ever taught. In the next class the lesson bombs. Have you ever sought to discover the reason behind this mystery?
While I haven’t read any formal research on the topic, I have tried to look into classroom dynamics in daily or weekly teaching reflections. Upon reflection, I found four things that contribute to classroom dynamics:
1. Knowing your students.
When I don’t understand the learning needs of my students my plans can easily bomb. What works in one class may not work in another. I must know my students individually and collectively. How do they learn? What are their interests? Are they fully engaged? Are there any students who would be more focused if they were sitting in a different seat?
If I know my students, I’ll know how to modify the lesson plan according to their educational needs. For the class that yearns for an extra challenge, I’ll tweak my lesson accordingly.
2. Mood
Mood is always a tricky thing to pin down. There are so many factors which contribute to mood that only reflecting in my journal has enabled me to see my blind spots.
I’ve found that the main contributors that affect my mood are: food, sleep and relationships with others.
Food. When I’m eating right or drinking right my energy level is steady and less affected by energy crashes and extremes in mood. Fruits and vegetables for lunch give me the best energy boost. Carbohydrates make me lose steam by the end of the day. If I consume a couple of cups of sugar at lunch I’ll crash and burn the rest of the day. I haven’t drunk a non-diet pop in a year and it’s really helped me not only lose weight, but have more energy since I cut out all that sugar.
If you’re lucky enough to have healthy options at school or work, God bless you. But most schools have unhealthy lunches, packed with starch and sugar. More rice? More fries? More tater tots? No thanks, I want to be tenured.
Sleep. We all know that quality sleep has little to do with a number of hours and more to do with REM. Achieving REM sleep is my goal. REM sleep is not going to happen if I’m stressed out, have a ton of work to do and deadlines to be met. I’ve found that making a dent in that ton of work is better than procrastinating when it comes to sleep. I’ll sleep better having done a satisfactory amount of work for the day.
Caffeine and sugar also disrupt my sleep cycles. I usually limit myself to one cup of coffee or two cups of tea in the morning as my caffeine limit.
Sleep experts also recommend avoiding naps during the day. If you’re tired, it’s better to stay awake until the evening and fall asleep naturally. If your bedtime varies, it’s best to wake up at the same time so your body can get into a rhythm. Once you settle into a rhythm, you can wake up without much effort and without hitting the snooze a couple of times no matter how cold it is.
Relationships. I’m thankful to have good relationships with my loved ones and my students. However, when my relationships with others are superficial, distant and indifferent, it carries over into the classroom. Students can sense when I’m not all there. On the other hand, they can sense when I am engaged. When I put effort into communicating with others, listening to them first and checking up on them frequently, my mind is less burdened and more alacritous. When my personal relationships prosper, my relationships with my students prosper and lessons go well.
3. Too Relaxed
A good lesson plan that I’m too confident in produces mild hubris in me. I depend too much on the lesson and not enough on the human element. If the content is outstanding but my presentation is lacking, the lesson may fall flat. If I have a good lesson plan, my face, my voice and my body language should reflect it.
4. Unclear Instructions
When giving instructions for writing the old five paragraph essay, the teacher has to be specific about what he or she wants from the student. What font size and style? Are gaps between paragraphs allowed? Double-spaced? What format? For math homework, the teacher has to make explicit whether or not the students can look in the back of the book for the answers.
All teachers have given incomplete instructions at some point in their teaching career, even when they double checked the lesson and thought they covered everything. This is why the second time we try a lesson plan is usually the better take. As time goes on, unclear lesson plans are rare. But it’s helpful for students when teachers take a second look at their instructions for ease of use and clarity.
When I reflect on classroom dynamics through simple notes and journaling
Related posts:
[...] miss this insightful article about the nuances of teaching that aren’t often addressed about Classroom Dynamics posted at Technology In [...]
[...] finish their work very early, and we all know some classes are quicker than others depending on the classroom dynamics. I also strive to make my lessons clear for the [...]
[...] the most underated of classroom dynamics is returning assignments. You’re probably thinking there’s not much to it, just give [...]