engaging & motivating learners presentation - rss

1

Engaging and Motivating Learners

Aim:

• To identify practical approaches to teaching and tutoring to engage and motivate learners

2

• Awareness of a range of classroom or workshop management techniques to improve motivation and teaching and learning

• Understanding of how to work with individuals to build self-esteem

• Understanding of the use of motivational dialogue techniques

Objectives

3

Classroom or Workshop Management

4

Being an assertive teacher

“A teacher’s response has crucial consequences … it creates a climate of compliance or defiance, a mood of contentment or contention, a desire to make amends or to take revenge.”

(Chesterton, 1924)

5

Classroom or workshop managementself-assessment questionnaire

• Please complete the questionnaire answering YES or NO.

• We will return to the questionnaire and the action points at the end of this session.

6

Teaching styles and learner behaviour

High expectations for learner behaviour

Assertive Style Authoritarian Style

High sensitivity to learners’ needs

Over-indulgent / Permissive / Submissive Style

Neglectful / Passive Style

Low sensitivity to learners’ needs

Low expectations for learner behaviour

7

Ground rules for life

• Share• Play fair• Don’t hit• Remember to flush• Hold hands in traffic• Tidy up after your own mess• Put things back where you found them• Don’t take things that aren’t yours• Say sorry when you hurt someone

8

Ground rules of behaviour

Behaviours unacceptable to STAFF

Behaviours unacceptable to LEARNERS

Behaviours unacceptable to BOTH

Behavioural expectations of STAFF

Behavioural expectations of LEARNERS

Behavioural expectations of BOTH

• Ground rules should be discussed by the teaching team and then by the learner group.

• Areas of common agreement form the ground rules.• Have them typed or written up as a poster.• Some ground rules are non-negotiable.• This is an important exercise in social problem-solving. (Kohn, 1996)

9

A cycle of classroom managementBill Rogers (1998) produced this framework of key principles for successful classroom management.

Prevention (of disruptive

behaviour)

Encouragement (of positive behaviour – correcting as necessary)

Repair and rebuild (the relationship following correction)

Consequences (for unacceptable behaviour – certainty rather than severity)

Exercise:

Work in four groups, each group taking one of the areas of the cycle above.

Each group will develop strategies for their area of the cycle.

Write up the strategies on a flip chart and report back.

10

Prevention

• Teach and establish rights, rules and responsibilities.

• Have a major focus on positive relationships and self-esteem.

• Build rituals and routines for starting and ending lessons and for gaining attention.

• Consider learner states and styles – play to their strengths – differentiate.

• Develop scanning – intervene early and quietly.

11

Encouragement

• Create a relaxed, peaceful environment.• Have high expectations of all learners.• Achieve a 6:1 ratio of encouragement :

correction• Use verbal and non-verbal encouragement.• Give clear instructions, positive feedback

and set realistic targets.• Frequently ask yourself: “Why would

learners want to return to my class?”

12

Consequences

• Discuss when establishing ground rules• Should be fair, reasonable and related to

appropriate behaviour• Emphasise they are in direct response to

learner’s choice• Certainty rather than severity• Offer some negotiation and opportunity to

make restitution where appropriate

13

Repair and rebuild

• Correction can erode relationships and damage self-esteem.

• It’s our job to develop and manage positive working relationships.

• A simple acknowledgement of improved behaviour is often enough.

• A friendly and courteous word as learners leave goes a long way.

14

Learners

• Learners are the most important visitors on our premises – think of them as guests.

• We are dependent on them.• They are our core business.• Always acknowledge their presence – smile,

make eye contact, say hello, talk to them, make them laugh, offer help and advice where appropriate.

• Treat learners as you would like to be treated.

15

Aristotle’s challenge

Aristotle in the Nicomachean Ethics

“Anyone can be angry – that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way – this is not easy.”

16

Anger: four questions

• Is anger the same as aggression?• Is there anger without aggression?• Is there aggression without anger?• How do you deal with your anger?

Work on anger-management strategies for angry learners.

17

Assertiveness trainingPeople adopt different response styles depending on the circumstances. It is unlikely that anyone is

wholly one type or another.

RESPONSE STYLES

NON-ASSERTIVE/SUBMISSIVE

When you allow your boundaries to be invaded; I lose - you win

ASSERTIVE

standing up for your rights without violating the rights of others; I win - you win

AGGRESSIVE/DOMINANT

when you invade or attack someone else’s boundaries; I win - you lose

comprising:

BASIC SKILLS

developing confidence and rights

ESSENTIAL SKILLS

what to say; non-verbal behaviour; what to think; how to integrate these elementsSPECIALIST SKILLS

Handling: disagreementcomplaints criticism aggression

+ +

18

Social skills

Model and teach:• social communication skills• social interaction skills• self-awareness• relationship skills.

19

A sequenced repertoire of strategies for the management of disruptive

behaviour1. Core skills – these are powerful skills, useful in all

discipline transactions.

2. Low level strategies – these are low key but assertive interventions.

3. Medium level strategies – these are direct and assertive interventions.

4. High level strategies – consequences for inappropriate behaviour are applied.

20

ABCA – ANTECEDENTS events that prompt, precede or

trigger behaviour

B – BEHAVIOUR the specific actions of an individual

C – CONSEQUENCES subsequent events that make the behaviour more or less likely to occur

The model is powerful in that it offers the possibility of altering behaviour by changing either antecedent or consequence.

21

Talk strategies

• Don’t say “don’t”.• Use “maybe…… and”.• Use calming tone of voice that conveys respect.• Emphasise you will hear them out when they have calmed

down.• Preface your statement with an understanding of their point

of view, then say, “however, I feel …” then say, “and I suggest” or “and I would like”.

• State your request in positive behavioural terms.• Repeat your statement up to three times.• If negative behaviour continues, state the consequence and

emphasise it is their choice.

22

Non-verbal techniques

• Take-up or face-saving time• Mirroring• Mood matching• Using calming gestures• Non-confrontational positioning• Body buffer zone• Walking away with an angry person• Maintaining normal eye contact

23

Classroom or workshop management self-assessment questionnaire

• Return to the questionnaire.

• In view of what we have learnt, identify key action points.

24

Motivational Dialogue

25

Thinking about learners’ behaviours

In relation to a task, learners may show:

commitment

compliance

disaffection.

26

What is motivation?

The probability that a person will enter into and persist with a process of behaviour

change.

27

Motivational strategies

• Advice How to give it? When to give it?• Barriers Help learners to remove the

obstacles to change.• Choice Provide it in the face of the

necessity of change.• Determination Increase their desire to change.• Empathy Communicate your desire to

understand.• Feedback Provide clear, accurate assessment

of the current situation• Goals Help THEM to clarify their aims.• Helping “Active helping” is NOT “enabling”.

28

Motivational dialogue

A directive, learner-centred style of interviewing which helps people to

1. identify risks and goals

2. explore ambivalence

3. set targets

4. maintain behaviour change.

29

The Wheel of Change

30

Teacher’s task at each stage of change

Learner stage Teacher’s motivational task

Pre-awareness Raise doubt: increase the learner’s perception of risks

Contemplation Tip the balance: evoke reasons to change, risks of not changing

Decision Help to determine the best course of action

Active change Help to take steps towards change

Maintenance Help to identify and use strategies to prevent relapse

Relapse Help to renew the process

31

Motivational dialogue skills

• Effective questioning• Reflective listening• Using non-verbal communication• Summarising for change• Eliciting change talk

32

Skills with the Wheel of Change

33

Effective questions

• Open questions• Do not elicit a

short answer• Do not

predetermine the reply

• Encourage the learner to talk

Opening phrases• In what way . . . • How does this . . . • Tell me about . . .*• Give me an

example of . . . *

34

Reflective listening

• A form of active listening

Useful for:1. checking meaning2. clarifying meaning3. building empathy4. selective

reinforcement

• Always end reflection in a down tone of voice

Can involve:1. repeating key word or

phrase2. paraphrasing a key

idea3. reflecting NVC as

well

NVC: non-verbal communication

35

Closing the communication loop

What the learner says

What the tutor hears

What the learner means

What the tutor thinks

the learner means

REFLECTION

36

Reflective statements

• It sounds like you…• You’re feeling…

• It seems to you that…• So what you’re saying is…

The pronoun YOU is usually the subject of the sentence.

37

Aspects of non-verbal communication

• Posture• Orientation• Eye contact• Use of silence

38

SummarisingDrawing together what has been said and

presenting it to the learner

Useful for:• 1. getting the learner

to take stock• 2. checking or

changing the direction of the conversation

• 3. bringing other information into the frame

• 4. Stalling while you think of the next step

Don’t make it too long

Ask for approval at the end, for example;

• Is that about right?• Is that more or less how

you see things?• Have I understood you

correctly?

39

Summarising for changeOne way of changing the learner’s perceptions

• Spend more time on the reasons for change (or the reasons against staying the same) and less time on the reasons for not changing.

• Use tone of voice and pace of speech to emphasise the seriousness and benefits of change.

• Order the summary by putting the argument in favour of change in the latter part.

• After asking for approval for your summary, ask “Where do you think you should go from here?”

40

Self-motivational statementsor “change talk”

Another way of changing the learner’s perceptions

“People are generally better persuaded by the reasons which they themselves discovered than by those which have come into the minds of others.”

Pascal in the 17th century

41

Types of self-motivational statements

1. Statements of problem recognition

2. Expressions of concern3. Statements of intention to

change4. Expressions of optimism

about change

Increasing significance