Educators value the success of all students. Educators care for students and act in their best interests.
This standard I believe centers around getting to know your students so that you get to know what is in their best interests and what will lead them towards success in your classroom and beyond. By taking this knowledge of students and applying it to your instruction and the design of your classroom environment the student’s success can be achieved. Through my EDUC 490 practicum experience and my learning in the education program there are also a few things that I found all students need to achieve success.
Students need to be supported and heard: From my own experiences as a student and by observing students in the classroom I have found that when students are really listened to and made to feel that the teacher cares about them and what they are going through that it encourages the student to put in effort for that teacher. From my own experiences I have always given that extra effort to learn and produce my best work for teachers who have made me feel like an important member of the class, and that my input is valued. On the other hand, when I have felt like a nuisance to the teacher my concern has been on just meeting the base expectations to get by.
Students need an environment that is conducive to study: One issue I ran into in my EDUC 490 practicum was not setting and enforcing expectations equitably on the class which led to a classroom environment that was unruly and distracting too often. I realized that some students were unable at times to hear my instruction or concentrate on work due to the distractions around them. This situation was not conducive to the success of my students, so I had to rebuild those boundaries so that all students had an environment in which they could concentrate and learn.
Students need to be challenged and engaged: In my experience students as well as myself tend to learn more from experiences that are challenging enough to be engaging but not challenging to the point of frustration that causes a lack of effort or abandonment. This level of frustration is different for everyone and can change at any time based on feelings of efficacy and past experiences of success. Because of this variability I have found that using a Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is important to meet all students where they are at. This approach can be used to create learning experiences that are flexible enough to place all students in the zone where they feel challenged and engaged but still can experience success and build their own self-efficacy.
Providing students with a classroom that fits these criteria above as well as getting to know our students can help us guide students through not only the course, we are teaching them but to guide them going forwards. Using these principles, we can build student self-efficacy, confidence, skills, and knowledge which embodies standard one, and builds towards success of all students and is working towards their best interests.