Communication of High Expectations
Teachers need to actively work to show students that they hold high standards for the completion of student's schoolwork. This message needs to be consistent for all students. High expectations not only encourage students to work hard but it helps them to build intrinsic motivation. Teachers can show students these expectations by communicating clear goals and how students need to reach them as well as creating an environment which respects each student and their ability to complete the work.
I can use this practice in my lesson to help encourage students to do their best. I will set clear goals for the students and I will even set clear objectives so the students know how they will go about reaching the goal. I will also create activities in which the students support each other as well as themselves. The students will need to build each other up and provide supports for each other, verbally or otherwise, in order to achieve on their own. The classroom will be a community where every student feels safe and encouraged rather than put down.
Student Centered Instruction
Student centered instruction also focuses on community. Instead of teachers being the center of the classroom, students should be the center of the classroom. During this type of instruction, learning is collaborative, cooperative, and community centered. This learning encourages students to work together on projects relating to them. Teachers can help to create student centered classrooms by promoting student engagement, share the responsibility of teaching, create inquiry based lessons, and encourage a community setting.
I will use this practice in my lesson mostly by having students share the responsibility of teaching. I will assign groups of students a skill to learn and complete in order to share with the class. Each of these skills will be necessary for the students to complete the goal of the lesson. For example, in order to compare numbers into the thousands, students must first know about the place values into the thousands. One group of students will need to learn the place values and share them with the class. They will need to have an understanding of the location of the ones, tens, hundreds, and thousands place.