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Tampilkan postingan dengan label Week 2. Tampilkan semua postingan

(Creating A Motivating Classroom Environment)
Aji Nur Hakim

Zoltan Dornyei from The University of Nottingham, UK, written a journal title “Creating A Motivating Classroom Environment,” on Chapter 43. In this chapter, Dornyei focused to discuss how to create a motivating classroom management and the various ways that can approach to see the different psychology process in the classroom. The main topic itself divided into four:
1.      Toward a cohesive learner group
2.      Toward a productive norm and role system in the classroom
3.      Toward an optimal leadership style
4.      Adopting a motivational teaching practice

The first discussion is about motivating classroom toward a cohesive learner group. To make motivating classroom environment, students and teacher have to work cooperatively. Especially the relationship between students should be a good relation of groups. “Group cohesiveness refers to the closeness and “we” feeling of a group, that is, the internal gelling force that keeps the group together.” (Dornyei, n.d.). In a cohesive group, an individual feel accepted in the group and regarded in it.

There are some factors that affect cohesive group according to Dornyei and Murphey (in Dornyei, n.d.): learning about each other (sharing personal information); proximity, contact, and interaction (physical distance, situation, and influent behavior); difficult admission (initiations ceremony of groups); shared group history (spending time to hear one’s story); the rewarding nature of group activities (reward to others, individual benefit); group legend (group name, logos, mottoes, etc); public commitment to the group (group agreement, goals, and rules); investing in the group (acts of membership); extracurricular activities (experiences); cooperation toward common goals (cooperative achievement of members); intergroup competition (small group games); defining the group against another (relative to other group); joint hardship and common threat (going through member’s difficulty); and teacher’s role modeling (behavior of teacher).

The second discussion is about motivating classroom toward a productive norm and role system in the classroom. Group norm should not be implicit. The members of groups have to make the explicit norm, so that the wrong behavior or attitudes can be straightened and the consequence is clear. The member who makes a mistake did not direct faulted, because they can learn through their mistake. Group roles itself describe as a member who have a function or position in a group. Every member have to do their roles and contribute to make a better environment, and the most important, avoid conflict. Teacher can help students to make the role which is every students can contribute. “The most subtle way of encouraging role taking is to notice and reinforce any tentative role attempts on the students’ part, and sometimes even to highlight possible roles that a particular marginal learner may assume.” (Dornyei, n.d.)

The third discussion is about motivating classroom toward an optimal leadership style. Teacher as facilitator help students to lead their selves and be democratic to every member. The leader leads the discussion that includes the other member to make decision. They can share what they thought and the other member can give other perspective. Teachers use leadership style to give the students democracy to experiencing their own learning process.

The last discussion is about adopting a motivational teaching practice. Dornyei (n.d.) says that motivating classroom will relate to motivation of groups, whereas, motivation always relate to an individual that examine about one’s behavior or the view of people as an individual. Then, to bring the motivating classroom and the group behavior, it should combine between motivational psychology and group dynamic.

“The motivational character of the classroom is largely a function of the teacher’s motivational teaching practice, and is therefore within our explicit control” (Dornyei, n.d.), which means the main role of managing classroom is the teacher; how the teacher can bring motivational teaching with their control of the classroom. Teacher needs some process or phases to start it.

The first phase called generating initial motivation. Dornyei (in Dornyei, n.d.) has divided five broad group of creating initial students motivation:
1.      Enhancing the learners’ language-related values and attitudes.
Language-related still divided into 3 types:
a.       Intrinsic value, that relate to interest in the process of learning.
b.      Integrative value, that relate to the attitude, the speaker, and the culture brings in the classroom.
c.       Instrumental value, that relate to practical.
2.      Increasing the learners’ expectancy of success
To expect that students can get success in the learning, teacher should motivate them and engage them into learning process. So, students can do best because they are motivated to.
3.      Increasing the learners’ goal-orientedness
It is important to teacher to know what students goal be. It is not merely to mastering the subject, because every student has different learning goals. Teacher has to aware of students, so that they can increase the goal of every student in the classroom.
4.      Making the teaching materials relevant for the learner
Students come to school to get the new knowledge from teacher. If the materials of teaching are not relevant, so that students can not get the meaning of study. Beside, teacher has to follow the curriculum that has been decided by school.
5.      Creating realistic learner beliefs

The second phase called maintaining and protecting motivation. The motivational strategy to make relevant learning in the classroom according to Dornyei (n.d.) is: making learning stimulating and enjoyable; presenting tasks in a motivating way; setting specific learner goals; protecting the learners’ self-esteem and increasing their self-confidence; creating learner autonomy; and promoting self-motivating learner strategies.

The last phase called encouraging positive retrospective self-evaluation. Talking about self-evaluation, it will relate to feedback. The function of feedback itself, that state by Dornyei (n.d.) are offering praise and increasing learner spirit; promote positive self-concept and self-confidence; and reflect the area of improvement.

To make a motivating classroom environment is neither merely difficult, nor easy to do. Teacher has to collaborate to students and make a motivating environment together. Teacher can study more and create the strategies exist to their classroom; but first teacher have to know what type of student they have. At last, the most important of creating motivating classroom is the quality teacher can make. “What we need is quality rather than quantity; some of the most motivating teachers often rely on a few well-selected basic techniques.” (Dornyei, n.d.)

Source:
Dornyei, Z. (n.d.). Creating a motivating classroom environment. Retrieved from http://www.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/best%20of%20bilash/motivating%20classroom%20environment.pdf

A Review: Motivating Classroom


Aji Nur Hakim

Self-awareness, self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-management of emotion are some of the topic in psychology that mostly related to students especially in the classroom. Those four “self” theories are has to be known by all of people, no exception for teachers. Instead, teachers are the most recently person who interact with students. Thats why, teacher must know what the students feel and act on. What are actually self-awareness, self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-management of emotions? What is the relation between those theories?
The first discussion is about self-awareness. According to LeFrancois (in Baylor University’s Community Mentoring for Adolescent Development, n.d.), self-awareness are included self-esteem, self-concept, and self-actualization; which is the view of individuals, the concept that individuals have, and the process of act as individuals.
Self-awareness itself usually related to human being or LeFrançois (in Baylor University’s Community Mentoring for Adolescent Development, n.d.) says emotional well-being; which has means ability to comfort self or control self and relate others. The characteristics of emotional well-being according to LeFrançois, can be shown as follows:
1.      I feel comfortable with myself.
2.      I am not overwhelmed by my emotions.
3.      I can take life’s disappointments.
4.      I can accept my shortcomings.
5.      I have self-respect. I can laugh at myself.
6.      I feel good about the relationships I hold with other people.
7.      I am able to give love and to consider the feelings of others.
8.      I respect the differences I find in other people.
9.      I feel a sense of responsibility to others.
10.  I am able to meet the demands of my life.
11.  I welcome new experiences and new ideas.
12.  I set realistic goals for myself.
13.  I am able to think for myself and make my own decisions.
14.  I put my best effort into everything that I do.

If someone has those kind of emotional well-being, they will definitely have good awareness not only doing good on them selves, but also can control the well-being of others. Self-awareness itself has related to self-esteem, as LeFrançois mentioned before. According to LeFrançois (1996), the component of self-esteem cover self-image (perspective of ourselves), ideal-self (eagerness of ourselves want to), and Pygmalion-self (perspective others to us).
Students’ self-esteem can clearly be seen in the classroom of what they act on, such as when students active or curious about something and makes variety of contacts, means students have high self-esteem; but, if students passive, avoid new experience, and limited contact, they include students who have low self-esteem. (LeFrançois, 1996).

Even self-esteem of one’s is low; there are ways to increase it. As LeFrançois (1996) theory that says the three ways to increase self-esteem are:
a.       Listen self-talk
Self-talk is one way to increase self-esteem. People can start to talk something positive to their selves, so that they can motivate to be better person.
b.      Recognize accomplishment
Make the list of some accomplishment to build the sense of self-worth.
c.       Be assertive
Communicate with others with respect and showing what you want.
d.      Be tolerant
Don’t criticize other, don’t afraid to make a mistake, do tolerant to others especially yourself.
e.       Build a support system
Spending time to people who care about you is also a way to increase self-esteem


The next “self” theory is self-management of emotions. Actually, self-management comes from a core, which is emotional intelligence. “Emotional intelligence (EQ) is the ability to identify, use, understand, and manage emotions in positive ways to relieve stress, communicate effectively, empathize with others, overcome challenges, and defuse conflict.” (Segal & Smith, 2014).

Emotional intelligence itself includes three kinds of attribute: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness, and relationship management. Self-management of emotion is an ability to control own feeling, manage the emotion, and be mixed with others to adapt. If the emotion can not be distributed, it will affect someone’s psychology. ”If you are unable to understand and manage your emotions, you’ll also be open to mood swings, while an inability to form strong relationships can leave you feeling lonely and isolated.” (Segal & Smith, 2014)

It is important to teacher especially to care about students, can start to learn about those “self” theories. All of the theory is important, and between one to other is connected. Like self-awareness which is also include self-esteem.

One way that can challenge yourself to know your self-awareness is to answer this question:
1.                   Did the people who know me is myself?
2.                   Mention the 3 adjective of yourself!
3.                   What do you like about yourself?
4.                   What is the purpose of your life?
Of course the answer of each people is different. For me, I have my own answer regarding to that. First, people who know me is myself. Yes, absolutely. People who know me must be myself. Who else that can know you beside yourself? Even people is know you, the most know what you are, is yourself. Second, my three adjective of myself are quite person, moody, and discipline. I kind of quite person, when I get along with my friends or people I close with, I turn to a cherry person. People who do not know me, might think that I am arrogant, whereas actually I will be cherry person when people start to know me. I am kind of moody person. For example, I can change my happy mood exactly to be bored in one minute. I am kind of discipline person. I never do the assignment late than submission date. I always do the task given to me. I never late to come to school or campus, and I hate watching people who usually late to come.
Third, the most I like about myself is I do not care what people judge about me, whenever they say bad things about me, or critics me, I do not care. I think that people doing unimportant thing by judging or gossiping me behind. Forth, my purpose of living is to make people happy. I want people around me, especially my parents, can proud of me and smile for me. I will do anything to make them proud. I want since my present in this world, I can be useful person. That’s why I do not care about people thinking. I will do what I want and like to do.
Self-esteem and self-management of emotion actually can be built from now. Like the theory said that there are ways to increase those. Some of fact in the society, self-esteem exists since someone born. It might change, but the origin of the trait already exists and will remain there as long as we live. It might change, but there is some long-life process to build and become new person. When people have low self-esteem, people can hurt their selves because they might not proud of their selves and blaming their selves and (maybe) others. No wonder if teacher or anyone have to learn many things include how to treat students who has low self-esteem.
No different from self-esteem, emotion also can be managed from one’s individual. Emotion itself not only includes sad, anger, or other bad temper; but also happiness, cheerful, and other good temper. Even for good temper, it should be manage. Remember, something exaggeration is not good, also if the temper uncontrolled, it will be terrible for physical and spiritual.
As long as people aware to their selves, proud of their selves, and manage the emotion well; they are guaranteed to be better person. If people not yet achieve this level, people should learn more how to control and increase the level. 


Sources:
Baylor University’s Community Mentoring for Adolescent Development. (n.d.). Concepts of self-awareness. Retrieved from http://www.mentoring.org/donwolads/mentoring_435.pdf
Centre for Clinical Interventions. (n.d.). Self-management. Retrieved from http://www.cci.health.wa.gov.au/docs/BB-9-Self-Management.pdf
Segal, J., & Smith, M. (2014). Emotional intelligence (EQ). Retrieved from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/eq5_raising_emotional_intelligence.htm

Self-Awareness, Self-Esteem & Self-Confidence; and Self-Management of Emotion