Revista simpozionului Eficienta si calitate in educatie 2018 Revista simpozionului | Page 40

from acquiring the third “sad face”. Too permissive, you think? External motivation?
It may be, but it stimulates active participation in class activities, while seeing the
actual emoticon on their note-book has a positive emotional impact on these
“image dependent” teenagers.
4.
Show genuine care and empathy.
I always start my class with a greeting and a “how are you today” question, which
is a precious starter in conversation. It also allows students to switch from
Romanian to English, and, more than once, gives me the insight perspective that
enables the immediate tailoring of the class procedure. Namely, when the English
class is just before or after a difficult test paper, say in Mathematics, I can adapt
the rhythm to their mood and level of energy. Also, when a student is missing on
medical grounds, a short but sincere inquiry on his condition will prove that
“teacher cares and understands”, which will improve the students-teacher
relationship in terms of trust and mutual respect.
5.
Put a smile on and walk.
By this, I mean literally walk. Too often have I seen during the inspected classes a
bored, dull and totally detached teacher monotonously passing from one exercise
to another, with occasional feats of anger when a misfortunate student has not
been attentive or has made a mistake .Instead, walking in the classroom during
individual activities, discretely touching a day-dreaming student’s shoulder or
asking the sleepy (or noisy) student to take over the solving of the ongoing
exercise will help reminding the whole class that attention is needed. As for the
smile, an encouraging and friendly attitude, a calm approach of any disturbing
aspect, and an occasional reminder that any pointless interruption will cause the
prolonging of the regular time (I use to refer to the football rules in such cases)
have proven by far more effective than raising my voice and start scolding them.
6.
Keep the rhythm alert.
As I mentioned before, the millennials tend to have shorter concentration span,
while exceeding in multi-tasking and distributive attention. For this reason, the time
allotted to a specific activity, say a “fill in “exercise should be shortened to no more
than 5 minutes, while more complex activities could last about 10 minutes. A
specified time limit is required when explaining the new task and, whenever
possible, a form of “competition” or “game” might work miracles. The “winner” will
be offered the opportunity to come to the whiteboard and write the correct answers
and, of course, get the much coveted “smiley face”, provided the complexity of the
exercise justifies it.
7.
Let your students have a say.
We all know how stressful and frustrating it is to be imposed a too short deadline or
to get the day overloaded with unexpected tasks. It works for our students, too.
Therefore, whenever it is possible, I ask for their opinion on a project deadline or
the upcoming test and let them choose, say between next Monday and next
Thursday. If there seems to be a difficult common decision to be reached, we
vote...this is an excellent way of practicing civic education and illustrate the
democratic principle of “majority’s decision”. In addition, the whole process will help
students eliminate the feeling they are under too much pressure and stress, and
motivates them to prepare better.
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