Behavior is observable outcome of the teacher that affects the student performance in different activities in institution. Behaviors may be positive or negative and effective and ineffective. A behavior produces the requisite results. Behaviors are the action, which is different at different time. There are three types of behavior, thinking, feeling and doing. The classification of thinking behavior is very important for learning process and it can be divided into three domains. These domains are cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Cognitive behavior consists on knowledge outcomes and intellectual abilities and skills. Affective behavior based on individuals hidden abilities likes, attitude, interests, appreciation and modes of adjustment. Psychomotor domain based on perceptual and motor skills (Shah, 2009).
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An inspiring teacher can increase the knowledge of the student and develop their skills and personal characteristics, which include socioemotional and spiritual realms in addition to cognitive behavior, which is more likely to be fixed. Personal characteristics are rooted in feelings and beliefs, which cannot be observed directly through the traditional methods and are difficult to identify. A teacher should be able to organize the classroom, have complete command of the classroom and ask probing questions (Ros-Voseles and Fowler-Haughey, 2007). Effective teachers have sound knowledge of the subject, take personal interest in each student, establish a caring loving atmosphere and show interest with students. A teacher must know the art of communication. A large number of studies have revealed that interpersonal relation between the student and teacher are very important for the student motivation and achievement in all subjects. Hence healthy teacher-student interpersonal relation is very important and requisite for the students to engage in learning activities (Brekelmans et al., 2002).
Different teachers show different kind of behaviors in the classrooms for example some are distant and other are sociable. Some are well organized and other is chaotic. Teacher’s behavior is believed to have great impact on student motivation and learning. Because motivation is goal directed behavior and it is the energy need to perform task or achieve some goal. Motivation is also thought to be a mediator between the teacher behavior and student learning (Christophel, 1990; Frymier, 1994). By expanding the traditional views of motivation, they construct the new term learner empowerment, which can be defined as the student feeling of competence to perform a task. Moreover, teacher’s behavior influences the student empowerment (Frymier et al., 1996).
In educational psychology, the student motivation is one of the important elements that contribute to the learning process. Several investigations have been conducted that examine the motivational conditions of learning. The underlying implication of student motivation appears to lay the process of “how” students are taught rather “what” they are taught. Motivation has been described as a process that includes the specific directive and stimulating properties. This can lead the students to arousal and investigative behaviors give directions and purpose to their behaviors, allow behaviors to persist and lead to choices of preferred behaviors. A general pattern to the student motivation towards learning often takes the following sequential forms: student energy, volition, direction, involvement and completion. If one of the student motivation break down the entire process may come to a complete halt.
The theory of motivation is difficult to understand because of the false beliefs related to this concept. These five beliefs are following:
It is thought that when students are not willing to involve themselves in class activities or assignments they are unmotivated. Although students are not motivated to learn, they are motivated to do something else. If motivation is not directed towards learning it is directed towards disruptive behavior.
Second, believe is that teacher motivating the student. No one person can claim sole responsibility for motivating another person. Teachers can make learning attractive and stimulating, provide opportunities and incentive allow for development and student interest.
Thirdly it is believed that students must learn in order to survive, make them learn is more impotent then their motivation to learn. However, forced learning today may result in no learning tomorrow.
It is believed that threats can facilitate the student motivation to learn. However, using threats only make the student frightened. In long term, use of threats the student start avoiding the teacher and the subject matter.
Finally, it was thought that the learning automatically improves with increased student motivation. Motivation appears to be the important element that can enhance student desire to learn. It provides the foundation for effective instruction.
Student motivation can be divided into trait or state motivation. Trait motivation is a general enduring predisposition towards learning while state motivation is an attitude towards a specific class. Motivation towards learning is often stimulated through various forms of modeling, communication of expectations, direct instructions or socialization by the teacher. This scheme includes both affective and cognitive behavioral elements. According to this view teachers are active agents within the educational environment and capable of stimulating the student motivation towards learning.
Learning situations can be divided into three phases of the time continuum. At the beginning of the learning process, the student motivation is influenced by attitudes towards the general learning environment, subject, teacher, self and basic personal needs. During learning phase, student motivation is enhanced by stimulating process of learning experience. At the end of learning task, student feedback can provide reinforcement value attached to the learning experience (Christopher, 1990).
In the conceptualization of direct instruction, a loosely defined set of teacher, classroom, and curriculum variables considered to be foremost in explaining growth in student achievement in the elementary grades. The principles of direct teaching include daily review, presentation of new material in a clear manner, guided practice, teacher feedback, independent practice, and weekly and monthly review.
Statement of the Problem
Because of miss behaving teachers still working in our country, student face many problems such as; feel problem to communicate with their teacher, they have problem in understanding the subject, they hesitate to discuss their problem with teachers. The above all problems have negative impact on student learning and motivation. For this reason, there is a need to improve the situation of teacher’s behavior and student’s motivation for learning.
Significances of the Study
It is stated, “Educational system of any country can provide the guarantee of success and prosperity for their nations”. The teachers can bring the qualitative changes in raising the standards of education, which ensures the welfare, progress and prosperity of the nation. For this purpose, it is need to conduct research in the relative field so that the teaching skills can be improved. This research study will help a lot to understand how the behavior of the teachers and student motivation affect the learning process of the students. Teachers who have the interpersonal skills and positive behavior affect the learning and achievement of the student in classrooms. This research will help to understand the professional attitude as it is to believe that professional attitude serves in many valuable ways and knowing these attitudes can serve a lot. Some students are sharp and some students are very lazy in their studies. For this situation, teacher should cooperate with their students, and work for the improvement of students in their study. After this study, we shall know about the behavior of teacher with their students and know about that their teacher given equal importance to each student. We shall also able to know about the student’s motivation for their learning, completion of the study and interest of study, how to success in their life.
Research Objectives
To investigate the behavior of the teachers at the elementary level
To know about the problems of students in their classroom after lecture
To assess student motivation for learning at elementary level
To find out difficulties of the students in their studies
To assess the effect of behavior on learning process of the student
To know about the student-teacher interaction problem because of teacher behavior in class
To observe the effect of teacher behavior on the student motivation for learning
Chapter 2
Literature Review
Behavior
To know the mental process of other person and animal, one has to see what they do and what they do is called their behavior. Behavior is the observable action, reaction, response or a movement made by a person, object or an organism under specific circumstance of mental process. Behavior can be conscious or unconscious. All our behavior is unconscious carried out. Behavior is set by our beliefs and values.
Various authors have defined it in different words:
Taneja (1989) stated that “the meaning of behavior is conduct or carry oneself or behavior is what we do, especially in response to outside stimuli”.
UNESCO (1986) documented that “any thing that an organism does that involves action and response to stimulation.”
Joyce (1980) also defined that “behavior is lawful and subject to variables in the environment”. He further defined that “behavior is an observable, identifiable phenomenon”.
John Watson, one of the first behaviorists, argued that the science of psychology must concern itself only with observable events. Watson pointed out that we cannot observe events such as thinking or feeling, nor can we directly observe “the mind.” He believed, therefore, that psychologist should not try to explain behavior in term of something that cannot be observed (Watson, 1913).
Approaches for Effective Behavior
There are three approaches for the effective behavior and effective institutions. These approaches are described by Sybouts in 1994. These approaches are as follows:
Goal Attainment Approach
The goal attainment approach bases the effectiveness of institution, on its achievement of goals and purposes. Learning objectives, subject content, standardized tests, and national norms are all considered being important. Another concern with using the goal attainment approach is the question of goal ownership and one final consideration is goal expectations.
Process Approach:
The process approach emphasizes the processes and means that administrations and teachers use to heightened student out-comes. Principal focus on process seems to be instructional leaders. They take an active part in classroom instructional programmes and curriculum development and have a clear view of goals to be achieved. Too much important can be placed on process.
Environment Response Approach:
This approach is linked with perception. Principals work to illustrate to members of the school board, parents, and numerous other interest groups that their colleges are successful. This approach is a type of environmental selling programme.
Five Key Behaviors Contribution to Effective Teaching
Approximately 10 teachers show promising relationship to desirable student performance, primarily as measured by classroom assessments and standardized tests. Five of these behaviors have been consistently supported by research studies over the past two decades (Brophy, 1979). Another five have had some support and appear logically related to effective teaching. The first five we will call key behaviors, because they are considered essential for effective teaching. The second five we will call helping behaviors that can be used in combinations to implement the key behaviors. The key behaviors are the following.
1. Lesson clarity
2. Instructional variety
3. Teacher task orientation
4. Engagement in the learning process
5. Student success rate
Teacher Behavior and Effective Learning
In recent year, many co-relational studies have been conducted at various elementary levels. This study includes different types of teachers and students and uses various methods of addressing. There was sufficient replication and overlapping to provide dependable knowledge about relationship between teacher behavior and student learning (Good, 1979).
Previous studies support that “direct instructions” are effective for producing student learning of basic skills (Rosenshine, 1979). The critical aspects include:
Teachers focus on academic goals
Promote extensive content coverage and high levels of student involvement
Select instructional goals and materials and activities and include immediate academically oriented feed back
Create an environment that is task oriented but relaxed
Taken together these studies provide strong support for the following generalizations:
Teachers make a difference. Teacher elicits much more student learning then others and their success is tied to consistent differences in teaching behaviors (Good and Grouws, 1977).
Even so, there is no support for the notion of generic teaching skills, if these are defined as the types of very specific behaviors typically included in performance based teacher education programmes. If any specific teaching behaviors are appropriate in all contexts. On the other hand, when data are integrated at a higher level of generality, several clusters or patterns are consistently related to learning gains.
One of the includes the teachers expectations and role definitions. Teachers who believe that instructing students in the curriculum is basic to their roles who fully expect to conduct such instructions, and who set about to do so in their classrooms, are more successful than teachers allocate most of their time for teaching and spend most of the time accordingly.
Another basic cluster includes such variable as classroom management skills, student engagement/time on task and student opportunity to learn material. Effective teachers know how to organize and maintain the classroom-learning environment that maximizes the time spend in productive activities and minimize the time loss during transition period.
Another cluster indicates supports for the various elements of the direct instructions. First studies of general approaches to instructions consistently revealed that students taught with a structured curriculum do better than those taught with individualized or discovery learning approach and those who receive more instruction from the teachers do better than those on their own do or from one another. Teacher talk in the form of lectures and demonstrations are important, as these are time-honored methods of recitation, drill and practice. The instructions that seems most efficient involves the teachers working with the whole class and small groups in early grades, presenting information in lectures/demonstrations and then follow up with recitation and exercises in which the student get opportunities to make response and get corrective feedback. Teacher maintains the academic focus, by keeping the student involved in the lesson and engaged in seatwork, monitoring their performance and providing individualized feedback. Success rate of answering the question during lectures is high.
When teachers are working with low ability student, they need to move at a slower pace and provide more repetitions and individualized monitoring to make sure that over learning is attained (Brophy, 1979).
Motivation
Motivation refers to “the reasons underlying behavior” (Guay et al., 2010).
Paraphrasing Gredler, Broussard and Garrison (2004) broadly define motivation as “the attribute that moves us to do or not to do something”.
Motivating Students for Learning
Here are some teaching ideas for how to motivate students:
Expectations
Teacher should set a reasonable learning objective for every lesson that allows their students to progress in the classroom. Expect student to achieve the objectives, and their study show that student achieve at higher rates when their teacher have high expectations for them.
Success
Motivate students by showing them that they can be successful in the classroom. Teacher can differentiate instruction to meet the student’s needs by adjusting the corresponding class work to the appropriate levels. Class work can modify in a variety of ways: shortened assignments, extra response time or enrichment activities.
Relevance
Show students how what they are learning matters in real life. This is one of the most effective learning techniques, especially for the older students, as it gives them meaning and purpose for their hard work. Guide student to discuss the new material and allow students to draw on their own experiences to learn and understand new material.
Engaging questions
Lead in with questions that will get the student talking. Encourage student to discuss the topic by bringing what they know about the topic to the classroom discussion. Clarify any questions that arise by encouraging the student to talk to each other first and expand on their pre-existing knowledge.
Incorporate Different Learning Style
Use a variety of teaching strategies in the classroom to facilitate the lesson. Classroom discussion consists of whole group learning. Cooperative group learning allows student to work together on assignments in small groups. Direct instructions allow teachers to model lesson assignment first so student can work independently at their desk.
Rewards And Privileges
Rewards and privileges are great motivational tools for hard work. Teachers can use a variety of them to encourage student motivation for participation. For example a token based economy is a great reward system that let student earn points that can be cashed in for prizes such as pencil, notepads. Motivating students with these methods is particularly effective for younger students.
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Intrinsic motivation is motivation that is animated by personal enjoyment, interest, or pleasure. As Deci et al in 1999 observed, “Intrinsic motivation energizes and sustains activities through the spontaneous satisfactions inherent in effective volitional action. It is manifest in behaviors such as play, exploration, and challenge seeking that people often do for external rewards”. Researchers often contrast intrinsic motivation with extrinsic motivation, which is motivation governed by reinforcement contingencies. Traditionally, educators consider intrinsic motivation to be more desirable and to result in better learning outcomes than extrinsic motivation (Deci et al., 1999). Motivation involves a constellation of beliefs, perceptions, values, interests, and actions that are all closely related. As a result, various approaches to motivation can focus on cognitive behaviors (such as monitoring and strategy use), non-cognitive aspects (such as perceptions, beliefs, and attitudes), or both. For example, Gottfried (1990) defines academic motivation as “enjoyment of school learning characterized by a mastery orientation; curiosity; persistence; task-endogeny; and the learning of challenging, difficult, and novel tasks”. On the other hand, Turner (1995) considers motivation synonymous with cognitive engagement, which he defines as “voluntary uses of high-level self-regulated learning strategies, such as paying attention, connection, planning, and monitoring”.
Theoretical Approaches of Motivation
According to Stipek (1996), early approaches to the study of motivation were rooted in the literature on extrinsic reinforcement. Within this literature, all behavior, including achievement, was believed to be governed by reinforcement contingencies. Proponents of this approach included B.F. Skinner, who identified different types of reinforces. Positive reinforces, or rewards, are consequences that increase the probability of a given behavior they were made contingent on, whereas negative reinforces are consequences that increase the probability of a given behavior by removing or reducing some negative external stimulus. Punishment, on the other hand, refers to unpleasant consequences that decrease the probability of a given behavior. Under this framework, the teacher’s job is clear: to use good grades and praise to reward desired behavior and bad grades or loss of privileges as punishment. As Stipek notes, this approach is limited to the extent that rewards and punishments are not equally effective for all students, and desired behaviors (such as paying attention) are difficult to reinforce. Moreover, the benefits of extrinsic rewards tend to decay over time (Stipek, 1996).
These limitations, coupled with changing perspectives on motivation, ultimately led to yet another transformation of the literature on motivation emerging in the late 1960s and 1970s. This third-wave literature is characterized by the belief that behavior is affected by cognition rather than the consequences of one’s actions (Stipek, 1996). Broussard and Garrison (2004) observe that contemporary motivation research tends to be organized around three questions:
Can I do this task?
Do I want to do this task and why?
What do I have to do to succeed in this task?
Development of Motivation
Although research is based on the motivational levels of the elementary-age children, however motivation fluctuates and develops over time and with age. Initially the intrinsic motivation is quite high in the children (Broussard and Garrison, 2004). Elementary children have very positive self-concept and high academic expectations. However, motivation tends to decline over time when children leave the elementary stage and interest in reading and writing for pleasure decline with age (Guthrie, 2000). Gottfried in 1990 observed that the domain of general-motivation increases between the third and fourth grade. In 2002, Eccles and Wigfield found that the children attach more value to activities at which they excel over time, suggesting they will increasingly be more motivated to learn in subjects in which they experience success.
Nature of Learning and Theories
Learning is very important part of life and effect the structure of our personality and behavior. Individual starts learning immediately after birth. Direct and indirect experiences mould and shape the learning and thus behavior of the individual. Many thinker and psychologists define learning as following:
Kingsley and R. Garry in 1975 defined learning as a process by which behavior is originated or changes through practice and training.
Learning is an episode in which a motivated individual attempts to adapt his behavior to succeed in a situation, which he perceives as requiring action to again a goal (Pressey, Robinson and Horrocks, 1967).
Learning is relatively a permanent change in behavioral potentiality that occurs because of reinforced practice (Kimble, 1961).
On the account of above definition, we can say that learning is the process which brings relatively permanent changes in the behavior of a learner through experience or practice.
Factors Affecting Learning
Learning process is centered on three elements:
The learner whose behavior is to be changed or modified.
The type of experience or training required for modification in the learner’s behavior.
The men and material resources needed for providing desired experiences and training.
Therefore, the success and failure in the task for learning in terms of introducing desired modification in the behavior of a learner will automatically depend upon the quality as well as the management of the factors associated with the above cited elements.
Factors Associated with Learner
Learner is the key figure in the learning task. He has to learn and bring desired modification in his behavior. How he will learn is associated with the following factors:
Learners Physical and Mental Health
Learning is greatly affected by the learner’s physical and mental health especially at the time of learning. A simple headache or stomachache can play havoc in the product of learning. A tense, emotionally and mentally disturbed learner cannot show satisfactory results in learning.
The Basic Potential of the Learner
Learning heavily depends upon the learning potential of the learner. Such potentials are:
Learner’s innate abilities and capacities for learning a thing.
Learner’s basic potential in term of general intelligence and specific knowledge understanding and skill related to a particular learning area.
Learner’s basic interests, aptitudes and attitudes related o the learning of a particular thing and area.
The Level of Aspiration and Achievement Motivation
Learning is greatly influenced by the level of aspiration and nature of motivation possessed by a learner.
Goals of Life
The philosophy of immediate and ultimate goals of one’s life affect the process and product of learning. His mode and way of looking towards things, his inclination towards learning a particular subject and patience and persistence in perusing his learning despite the heavy odds. All depend up on his goals and philosophy of life.
Reading and Will Power
A learners readiness and power to learn is a great deciding factor of his results in learning. No power on the earth can help a learner if he is not ready to learn. Certainly if he has a will to learn a thing hence automatically, he will himself find ways for effective learning (Horton and Turnage, 1976).
Learners Autonomy
Learner’s autonomy can be defined as the capacity and of learning rather than the set of behaviors.
It is indeed an ability, ”a power or capacity to do something” and not a type of conduct, ”behavior”. ‘Autonomy’ is thus a term describing a potential capacity to act in a given situation _ in our case, learning _ and not the actual behavior of an individual in that situation (Holec, 1981). David Little defines the concept in similar terms, stating that ‘essentially, autonomy is a capacity _ for detachment, critical reflection, decision making and independent action (Little, 1991).
Self-regulated Learning
Self-regulated learning is the branch of educational psychology and has its roots in research conducted in 1960’s into a range of self-regulated learning process such as self-reinforcement, self-efficacy perception, goal setting and self-evaluation. In general, it can be described as self-regulated to the degree that they are metacognitively, motivationally and behaviorally active participants in their own learning process. Such students personally initiate and direct their own efforts to acquire knowledge and skill rather than relying on teachers, parents, or other agents of instructions (Zimmerman 1989). However, it is a mental phenomenon but volition, motivation and self-efficacy play a major role in self-regulated learning and have primary focus on behaviors (Lewis and Vialleton, 2011).
Effective Teaching for Elementary Level
The following steps required for effective teaching at elementary level:
Passion
Probably more than anything else, teachers report that it is important to have a passion for what you do. A number of researches showed that “enthusiasm for children” as a key attribute. This enthusiasm makes the teaching truly effective and is closer to drive. Being an elementary educator is not always easy. There may be physical and financial challenges. However, if you feel that what you are doing makes a difference, that sense of accomplishment can sustain and motivate you. “This is not a career for someone just looking for a job working with kids because they are cute and it looks like fun. This is a career that must ignite your passion.”
Perseverance
This is another characteristic frequently cited. Some respondents referred to perseverance as “dedication”; according to other researchers it was “tenacity.” However some other describe it as the willingness to fight for one’s beliefs, whether related to children’s needs or education issues. Teachers have to be willing to be long-term advocates for improving the lives of children and their families. Respondents in this study believe children need and deserve teachers who can overcome bureaucracy and handle rules and regulations.
Willingness to take risks
A third related characteristic is the willingness to take risks. Successful educators are willing to shake up the status quo to achieve their goals for children. Great teachers are willing to go against the norm. Taking a risk means not settling for a “no” answer if a yes will improve the quality of a child’s education. For example, one teacher reports wanting to team teach her preschool class with a self-contained special education program adjacent to her room. Integration of programs had never been done before at her school, and faculty and administration alike looked at the idea with skepticism. To secure administration approval, the teachers had to conduct research, do a parent survey, and bring in outside experts. They held parent meetings to convince both the families of children with disabilities and those of children without disabilities that their children would benefit. After much energy and effort, the program was initiated on a trial basis. Five years later, it is one of the most successful and popular programs at the school (Villa and Colker 2006).
Pragmatism
Pragmatism is the flip side of perseverance and willingness to take risks. Pragmatists are willing to compromise. They know which battles are winnable and when to apply their resources in support of children. The important point, is that effective teachers understand that by temporarily settling for small wins, they are still making progress toward their goals.
Patience
In line with pragmatism is the characteristic of patience. There is a need to have patience both when dealing with “the system” and when working with children and families. Not every child learns quickly. Some behaviors can challenge even the most effective teacher. Children need reminder after reminder. Good teachers have a long fuse for exasperation, frustration, and anger. They regard all such challenges as exactly that- challenges. Effective teaching requires patience.
Flexibility
This is the sixth characteristic linked to successful teaching. Indeed, any job in early elementary school education demands that you’ll be able to deal well with change and unexpected turns. Whether it’s raining outside and you have to cancel outdoor play, or your funding agency has drastically reduced your operating budget, you need to be able to switch gears at a moment’s notice and find an alternative that works. Sometimes the challenges are both drastic and sudden. There should be “flexibility” in the way of teaching so that one can teach effectively.
Respect
It is strongly believed that respect for children and families are basic to being a good early chil
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