Should Teachers Get to Know Their Students More Deeply?
APPLIED PAPER ASSIGNMENT
INTRODUCTION:
This paper will be a demonstration of your understanding and application of various concepts that we have learned in class.
The paper should be 3 pages, double-spaced, 12-point font, Times New Roman, with 1-inch margins on all sides. As a reminder, this paper will be submitted through Turn It In, which will inform me of how similar your paper is to your fellow students, to other student papers, to information across the internet, and other published sources. It will be under my discretion to gauge if a particular degree of similarity is considered plagiarism. If so, you will be given a 0 for this assignment and will be subject to appropriate University disciplinary actions.
DETAILS OF THE ASSIGNMENT:
This paper is one that is designed as ‘write as you go.’ This means that as we are covering topics in class, if you find that you can connect a particular topic to your everyday life or something that you see happening around you, you are welcome to begin writing the paper. This way, you do not reach the end of the semester and forget that “really good thing I wanted to write about during that one lecture.”
In this paper you will connect at least 3 topics that we discuss in class to what you observe in real life. For instance, when we discuss our lecture on Conditioning and Learning, this may be of particular interest to you, and you may look for these phenomena as you go about your everyday life. For each topic that you connect you must clearly state in your paper:
• (1) what topic you are referencing (do not just tell me social psychology because there are MANY topics covered in this lecture- be specific about what concept you are referring to)
• (2) provide me with a brief explanation of what you observed in your everyday life that is an example of this topic (this can be a few sentences... remember, I was not there with you observing this, so you need to explain it so that I am able to imagine what you are observing, and
• (3) how what you are explaining is an example of the phenomenon we discussed (this is my way to make sure that you have actually grasped the concept.
This must be written in essay format, not as bullet points answers to my questions
Professor’s Name:
Course:
Date:
Should Teachers Get To Know their Students More Deeply?
The ability to impart knowledge and skills to students across the different study levels depends on a wide range of factors, including the teachers’ ability to identify and understand equally diverse student needs. Students sharing the same classroom may have different needs depending on learning challenges observed by the teachers. The achievement of the desired learning outcomes in a given class demands the development of a good learning environment for all students. Developing such an environment further requires teachers and instructors to employ effective teaching and learning strategies. The fact that classrooms are essentially social groups defined by the varied and unique student needs necessitates the integration of some of the principles of social psychology towards developing effective teaching and learning outcomes. These principles fall under three key domains of social psychology; persuasion or influence, interpersonal relations, and social cognition (Gehlbach 1). The teacher’s ability to identify and understand their students’ needs in classrooms, for instance, is dependent on their capacity to foster good or positive interpersonal relations with them. Teachers who get to know their students more deeply tend to establish a positive rapport with the latter for a more open relationship to improve performance outcomes and participation in class while also enhancing equity in assigned classrooms. Getting to know the students more closely further allows teachers to apply or integrate the principles of social cognition and persuasion domains in their teaching and learning strategies with more ease based on the positive relationships nurtured by the good interpersonal relations in the classroom. Provided herein is a detailed evaluation of the application of some of the elements characterizing the social-psychological domain of interpersonal relations based on daily observations of the classroom setting.
A general observation of different classrooms in the institution reveals that students who have a positive and close relationship with their teachers or instructors have higher levels of achievement across academic and extra-curricular activities. There is one student, for instance, who openly expressed his desire to improve in one of the science subjects to his teacher and boost his chances of winning a scholarship in one of the prestigious colleges in the country. The teacher responded positively to the student’s desire by offering encouragement and commending the student for the positive initiative, thus establishing an open and supportive relationship. The teacher went further ...