Workshop 12 Knowing Our Students

                                   Why a teacher must know his or her students?

A teacher must know his/her students because at the moment of evaluate the instructor could judge whether the written word was legible and evaluate it against some criterion or standard, or perhaps even assign it a grade of some sort. None of these actions would be particularly useful to the beginning student. However, the student could profit by having someone watch the performance and critique constructively to help eliminate errors. In the initial stages, early evaluation is usually teacher oriented. It provides a check on teaching effectiveness, can be used to predict eventual student learning proficiency, and can help the teacher locate special problem areas. The observations on which the evaluations are based also can identify the student's strengths and weaknesses, a prerequisite for making constructive criticism.

- A teacher also must know that  students need to belong, to be valued, and to be appreciated on a daily basis.

- Students' cultures have value in the classroom, and these cultural identities must be validated through  lessons and teaching practices.

- A philosophy that demands high expectations of all students is the beginning of empowering students for success.

The teacher's ability to identify with students or understand the cultural identities of students is necessary for addressing the needs of every student. Therefore, teachers must learn as much as possible about their students so that they can structure activities, build curricular materials, and tap into resources that will help all students be academically successful. "Teachers must empower students to succeed by providing them with a 

Learning environment that respects their culture, embraces their diversity, and celebrates their differences."

Furthermore the also must have the knowledge  of motivation  concepts,  principles,  and  theories  should 

be basic  elements  in  a foundations  course  in  educational  psychology,  but  this  is not  really  what  educational  psychology  should  be  about.  Teachers  need  to  know  how  this  conceptual  knowledge  relates  to  the  classroom  and  to  their  in-  structional  role  in  the  classroom.  Teachers  also  need  to  know  how  to  rely  on  this  knowledge  when  dealing  with  issues  that  involve  motivational  concerns
and  when  making  instructional  decisions.

Some of the elements that affect learning are:

Goals an values:

Perceptions depend on one's goals and values. Every experience and sensation which is funneled into one's central nervous system is colored by the individual's own beliefs and value structures. Spectators at a ball game may see an infraction or foul differently depending on which team they support. The precise kinds of commitments and philosophical outlooks which the student holds are important for the instructor to know, since this knowledge will assist in predicting how the student will interpret experiences and instructions.

Goals are also a product of one's value structure. Those things which are more highly valued and cherished are pursued; those which are accorded less value and importance are not sought after.

Self concept:

Self-concept is a powerful determinant in learning. A student's self-image, described in such terms as confident and insecure, has a great influence on the total perceptual process. lf a student's experiences tend to support a favorable self-image, the student tends to remain receptive to subsequent experiences. lf a student has negative experiences which tend to contradict self-concept, there is a tendency to reject additional training.

A negative self-concept inhibits the perceptual processes by introducing psychological barriers which tend to keep the student from perceiving. They may also inhibit the ability to properly implement that which is perceived. That is, self-concept affects the ability to actually perform or do things unfavorable. Students who view themselves positively, on the other hand, are less defensive and more receptive to new experiences, instructions, and demonstrations.

Time and Opportunity:

It takes time and opportunity to perceive. Learning some things depends on other perceptions which have preceded these learnings, and on the availability of time to sense and relate these new things to the earlier perceptions. Thus, sequence and time are necessary.

A student could probably stall an airplane on the first attempt, regardless of previous experience. Stalls cannot really be learned, however, unless some experience in normal flight has been acquired. Even with such experience, time and practice are needed to relate the new sensations and experiences associated with stalls in order to develop a perception of the stall. In general, lengthening an experience and increasing its frequency are the most obvious ways to speed up learning, although this is not always effective. Many factors, in addition to the length and frequency of training periods, affect the rate of learning. The effectiveness of the use of a properly planned training syllabus is proportional to the consideration it gives to the time and opportunity factor in perception.