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The Classroom Environment: Strategies for Engaging and Supporting the Adult Learner

The Classroom Environment: Strategies for Engaging and Supporting the Adult Learner. Chris Swanson Johns Hopkins University March 16, 2010. Adult Learners. How we Teach. Tenets of Classroom Management. Establish Guidelines Clarify Expectations Classroom Climate. (Balliro, 2005).

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The Classroom Environment: Strategies for Engaging and Supporting the Adult Learner

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  1. The Classroom Environment:Strategies for Engaging and Supporting the Adult Learner Chris Swanson Johns Hopkins University March 16, 2010

  2. Adult Learners

  3. How we Teach

  4. Tenets of Classroom Management • Establish Guidelines • Clarify Expectations • Classroom Climate (Balliro, 2005)

  5. Establish Guidelines • Include in the decision making process • Collaborative itinerary/syllabus • Give control • Suggestion boxes • Flexible scheduling • Multiple assignment formats • Cultivate student responsibility • Students develop rules • Promote a Culture of Learning & Respect

  6. Clarify Expectations • Fear of the unknown • Lesson plans, unit plans, course plans • Reciprocate expectations • The Golden Rule • Time management • Be organized • Facilitate transitions • Know your students • Maintain student records and be efficient with feedback

  7. Classroom Climate Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs

  8. Classroom Climate • Culture of Learning & Respect • Know students’ names • Know students’ motivations • Know students’ learning styles • Heterogeneous grouping • Food and Breaks; For every 1 hour in class = 5 minutes (Hayes, 2005) • Understand comfort level • Assignments • Meeting formats • Precipitating factors

  9. Learning Styles • Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences • Linguistic • Logical-Mathematical • Musical • Bodily-Kinesthetic • Spatial-Visual • Interpersonal • Intrapersonal • Natural • Broad Styles • Visual • Auditory • Kinesthetic http://www.businessballs.com/howardgardnermultipleintelligences.htm

  10. The Truth About Adults • Experience • Opinions • Diversity • Pride • Goal/Task Oriented • Autonomous

  11. Experience • Allow students to pick topics and direct discussions • Use open ended questions to facilitate conversation • Use data and references • Dialogue with students • Play to strengths • Use project based learning activities

  12. Opinions • Recognize adults have opinions, and they are not afraid to express them • Adult learners may pre-judge you, your content, and your style based on a number of factors • Active listening • Establishing protocols and boundaries • Mutual respect • Distinguish fact from opinion

  13. Diversity • Different experiences • Different learning styles • Different motivations • Different “Life Spaces” = different precipitating factors • Culture and experience can influence comfort with material • Universal Design for Learning

  14. Pride • No one likes to be patronized • No one likes to be degraded • Adults are use to being points of authority • Be empathetic, be sympathetic, be fair

  15. Goal/Task Oriented • Adults are conscious about time • Competing priorities • Relevance must be clearly established – avoid “Busy work” • Accept that the content may not be the passion; value is associated with relevance • Make task/broader outcome connections

  16. Autonomous • Most adults are paying for the work • Adults perceive themselves as points of authority • Adults make their choices – better or worse • Projects and work effort should reflect the investment the student has made

  17. Experience “Adults have accumulated a foundation of life experience and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities, and previous education. They need to connect learning to this knowledge/experience base. To help them do so, teachers should draw out participants’ experience and knowledge that is relevant to the topic. They must relate theories and concepts to their students’ prior experience and recognize the value of experience in learning.” - Stephen Lieb, “Adults as Learners,” 1991: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm

  18. Opinion “Adults need to be shown respect. Instructors must acknowledge the wealth of experiences that adult participants bring to the classroom. These adults should be treated as equals in experience and knowledge and allowed to voice their opinions freely in class.” – Stephen Lieb, “Adults as Learners,” 1991: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm

  19. Diversity • “Adult learners have varied experiences and different learning styles. Use a variety of teaching methods to create the best learning environment for each student. Use a variety of different auditory, visual, tactile, and kinesthetic teaching methods. Have groups work on problem-solving activities. Adults are often self-directed, so encourage adult students to work on their own.” - Teaching Postsecondary Today, 2009, www.teachingpostsecondarytoday.com

  20. Pride • “Many adult learners have been out of the classroom for awhile and may lack self-confidence. People will not ask questions if they fear being ridiculed. To provide a sfae learning environment and add to student confidence: Be supportive, encourage questions, and treat each question with dignity.” Teaching Postsecondary Today, 2009, www.teachingpostsecondarytoday.com

  21. Goal/Task Oriented “Adults are goal-oriented. Upon enrolling in a course, they usually know what goal they want to attain. Therefore, they appreciate an educational program that is organized and has clearly defined elements. Instructors must show participants how this class will help them attain their goals.” – Stephen Lieb, “Adults as Learners,” 1991: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm

  22. Autonomous “Adults are autonomous and self-directed. They need to be free to direct themselves. Their teachers must actively involve them in the learning process and serve as their facilitators. Specifically, teachers must get participants’ perspectives about what topics to cover and let them work on projects that reflect their interests. Teachers should allow the participants to assume responsibility for presentations and group leadership. {Teachers} act as facilitators, guiding participants to their own knowledge rather than supplying them with facts.” - Stephen Lieb, “Adults as Learners,” 1991: http://honolulu.hawaii.edu/intranet/committees/FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/adults-2.htm

  23. The Conflict Cycle

  24. Parts of a Conflict • Antecedent • Behavior • Consequence/Response

  25. Antecedent • What happens before the behavior • Environment • Demands • Peers • You

  26. Behavior • Observable action/reaction by anyone involved in the conflict. • In any situation, everyone exhibits a behavior. These can • Escalate • De-escalate • Be Ineffective Newton’s Third Law: For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

  27. Consequence • The reaction to an action • The only chance to end a conflict cycle. • When dealing with a student, YOU possess the greatest likelihood of continuing the conflict.

  28. Best Method Behavior Intervention • Prevention! • How can context be modified? • How can task be modified? • How can options be instituted? • How can outside needs be addressed? • How can strengths be maximized?

  29. Best Way to Handle Problem Behaviors • Prevention!!!!! • Strong classroom structure, lesson plan, and consistent rules, procedures, expectations and consequences are natural behavior barriers.

  30. Surface Management Behavior Techniques • Surface management is a temporary, quick intervention to get through the lesson. • Antiseptic bounce • Planned ignoring • Support through routines • Restructuring • Choices • Praise/modeling • Use concrete “limiters” • Office hours • Humor • Referral

  31. In Conclusion… • “I’ve come to the frightening conclusion that I am the decisive element in the classroom. It’s my personal approach that creates the climate; it’s my daily mood that makes the weather… In all situations, it is my response that decides whether a crisis will be escalated or de-escalated or a [person] humanized or dehumanized.” • Dr. Haim Ginott

  32. References • Balliro, L. (2005). Clues to classroom management in ABE. System for Adult Basic Education Support, Winter, 15-18. • Berk, R.A. (2003). Professors are from Mars, Students are from Snickers. Sterling, VA: Stylus Press. • Hayes, R.L. (2008). Learning about adult learners: Approaches to classroom management with an emphasis on compressed format. FaCIT News for CMU Faculty, 2(11), retrieved March 2, 2009 from Teaching Central: Central Michigan University website: www.facit.cmich.edu/teaching-central/issues/feb08/adult_learners.html. • Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth, (2003). Classroom management. Retrieved March 1, 2009 from www.jhu.edu/gifted/teaching/classroom.htm • Lieb, S. (1991). Principles of adult learners: Adults as learners. Vision, Fall, 23-25. • Teaching Postsecondary Today, (2009). Teaching adult learners. Glencoe-McGraw Hill. Retrieved March 3, 2009 from www.glencoe.com/ps/teachingtoday/webresources.pthml

  33. Contact Information • Christopher Swanson Johns Hopkins University Center for Technology in Education (410) 516-9853 chrisswanson@jhu.edu

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