PROMOTING INTELLIGENT BEHAVIOR IN THE CLASSROOM

Six Characteristics of Intelligent Behavior Promotion in the Classroom

Intelligent Behavior

The capacity to acquire and apply knowledge, especially toward a purposeful goal.

Creating, Imagining, and Innovating

All students must be encouraged to learn

Student’s should be discouraged from saying “I can’t”

Students must be encouraged to not rely completely on outside sources

Teachers must offer constructive criticism in a way that the student understands the criticism (and does not take the criticism as how they view themselves)

Students need to learn how to value feedback

Students must learn to value their intuition and realize they are capable of learning anything they put their mind and heart in.

Examples of supporting this characteristic in your classroom

Give writing assignments that let the student express their personality and values

Use open ended questions where there is no right or wrong answer

Use positive reinforcement, for example: when a student is wrong, instead of saying “no” point out something they said right and thank them for giving it a try

Listening with Understanding and Empathy

Psychologists believe that listening to others, empathizing and understanding points of views is one of the highest forms of intelligent behavior.

Empathic behavior is the opposite of egoism (which is important for conflict resolution)

Listening and understanding thinking is used in class discussions, brainstorming activities, think tanks, community meetings, advisory councils, board meetings and even legislative bodies

Sharing thinking, exploring ideas, and broadening perspectives is done by listening to the ideas and reactions of others

Examples supporting this characteristic in your classroom

Conducting class meetings for students to share their opinions and ideas

Reminding students of how this will be valued in the future

Managing Impulsivity

Students start out in school without impulsive control

Impulsive control is to develop an act of thinking before doing

Students can be taught to think before shouting out an answer, wait their turn, raise their hands to be called on before answering, and think before beginning a project on task and before coming to a conclusion without the correct evidence

Research show that the quality of one’s emotional intelligence is a significant prediction of success in the workplace

Examples of supporting this characteristic in your classroom

Routinely expect a show of students hands before acknowledging a response to the question (such as the classic count to five before calling on a student)

Do not encourage shouting out (ignore or correct this student)

Encourage positive reactions to students with impulse control

Show disapproval if a student continues to act out and not use thinking/ impulse skills

Remaining Open to Continuous Learning

Intelligent people are always learning

Intelligent people will openly take in new information

They will not be firm to sticking to only what they know and follow

They will take new ideas from everyone, when offered

Eager to learn and find new ways

Examples of supporting this characteristic in your classroom

Try other peoples ideas

Attend workshops, classes and use what you learned in your classroom

Listen and apply other teachers techniques

Drawing on Knowledge and Applying it.

Students should be drawing on knowledge and then applying it to new situation.

Teachers aim to prepare students for the “real world” in their classroom.

Students should apply school-learned knowledge to real-life situations.

Students should develop skills on how to use knowledge and apply that knowledge to new situations.

Students must practice problem recognition, problem solving, and project-based learning.

Examples of supporting this characteristic in your classroom

Project-based learning in foods/nutrition class, for example; students working on a personal dietary plan and implementing practice in their everyday lifestyle.

 Finding Humor

 

Humor can release creativity and provides high-level thinking skills.

Anticipation and visual imagery are formed.

Creative young people succeed on finding humor when problem solving.

Examples of supporting this characteristic in your classroom

Rewrite a familiar song to incorporate facts your students are learning. (For example, rewrite "Row, Row, Row Your Boat," replacing the simple lyrics with more difficult synonyms from your students' vocabulary list.)

Put up a bulletin board and invite students to bring in humorous portrayals of a subject they're studying. (For example, jokes, cartoons, limericks, and so on.)

Create puns and mix metaphors when discussing a subject of study, and have your students create their own. This exercises their creativity as well as checking for comprehension. In the words of humor educator Joel Goodman, "Humor and creativity are intimately related -- there is a connection between HAHA and AHA."

In teaching for thinking, teachers need to be interested in how students produce knowledge rather than how the students merely reproduce it. Intelligent behavior is performed in response to questions and problems, the answers to which are NOT immediately known. Teachers must be interested in focusing on student performance under those challenging conditions that demand strategic reasoning, insightfulness, perseverance, creativity, and craftsmanship to resolve complex problems.

Resources

• Chapter 3- Secondary School Teaching

• www.ascd.org