Today the ever-increasing stress on the improvement in the education sector is easily evident due to the current and upcoming trends practiced. What really matters now is acquiring a meaningful learning, hence the need for a self-organizing classroom is present more than ever.
The ultimate goal of a classroom is to help students gain a better understanding of the topic as well as teachers doing a better job. However, this dual-natured goal is only achievable if both the teacher and students contribute equally for the organization of the classroom.
Well, the case is easier said than done, and developing a self-organizing classroom is a complicated thing. However, following the right tips will help you in doing the job. The inclination is more towards the operational mindset in order to stay abreast of the changing trends in the modernized classrooms.
Here are the 5 workarounds that will help you raise and nurture a self-organizing classroom with the help of both teacher and learners.
The classroom environment should be kept simple
Keeping the classroom as simple and streamlined as possible makes it easy for the students to settle in and acquire quality learning. On the other hand, a congested and rather distracting environment becomes a hindrance in the learning process for the students.
The point is to incorporate the principle of Feng Shui in your classroom, where the learners act as collaborators, working together to harmonize the attendees with the surrounding environment. Let’s start simple, the desks should be safe with no sharp corners and edges, the chairs should able to be moved around easily to facilitate fluent group activities and discussions, and most importantly, accommodate everyone without compromising the personal space and comfort of both the teacher and the learners.
Revise the seating strategy
Not necessarily the old seating arrangement would work for the collaboration of the students. The concern is to rearrange the seating arrangement in a way that encourages the students for working together.Teachers commonly see that students love to teach each other, provided they are given the opportunity in the class—the basis of self-organization of the classroom.
Several experts in the industry have stated that learning different concepts and ideas from each other proves to be more productive rather than depending on a formal classroom setting. This is what the term SOLE (Self-Organized Learning Environment)defines as the new concept in the modernized classrooms. The experts have even went far to the point that learning in a collective and organized environment makes way for invasive learning better than a traditional classroom system.
Promote group-based goals and rewards
Group-based discussions and goals not only uplift the behavior of every learner in the class, but also creates the sense of accountability for each other. Here there is no “one bad apple”, as all the students are striving for a unified goal. And identifying a student requiring additional help will only cheer everyone to motivate the learner and keep on advancing for the unique objective.
On the other side, a group reward system fabricates and raises the sense of unity in the classroom. The rewards could be anything coming on weekly, monthly, or even yearly basis, for example, the system could do well with a pizza party, a picnic to the countryside, or something as simple as the top performers getting individualized compliments and praises in front of the whole class. The aim is to help students get closer to each other on a deeper emotional level and further aim for the grand goal of improving their learning process.
Maintain the technological fluency and excellence
We’re living in a highly active digital era, where several industries are merging and facilitating each other to improve their own operational procedures and performance. Acquiring the right tools and features is another major contributor to the self-organization of a classroom. It is one of the other crucial responsibilities of the teacher to see the technology is implemented and working properly in the classroom.The use of technology has taken a huge step in the evolution of education sector. Ideally, the system would ask each student to have his/her own laptop, but not every school is on the same financial scale. In this regard, one laptop for a group of 4 to 5 people would do well.
Additionally, see that the school has a powerful internet connection, you don’t want your students to get frustrated during the research session after experiencing a connectivity lag every 5 minutes.If you’re experiencing such difficulties, acknowledge the management and ask them to fix the issue as soon as possible. The point is to request for the hiring of experienced and reliable IT professionals that will help your students in acquiring a flawless and richly engaging learning experience.
Empower the students
Allowing the students to work collaboratively and devise creative solutions to the problems coming out of the topic, is a mighty way to deliver empowerment values. And a self-organized classroom is only going to act as a huge trigger in this effort of empowering quality education. This helps the students gain a clear understanding taking their contribution in the development of the classroom environment as equally important to that of the teacher.
Agreeably, not always the teacher will be having ample free time to do all the sorts. While in such case, the teacher can appoint a class representative or a leader who will keep close tabs on the progress of the students in their respective contributions to the classroom learning. However, be careful not to stick with one student leader throughout the term, rather switch often. Each student deserves a chance and the best way for empowering them is by allowing each one an opportunity to fulfill an important position in the classroom.
Final Thoughts
Today the education industry has become hugely aggressive and competitive, pulling students in countless of directions. While creating and maintaining a self-organized classroom is an important consideration to keep the students engaged and on-track with the learning process.
Author Bio
Michael Benson has been working in the education industry for the last decade and is also a certified trainer for students and professionals worldwide. Besides his regular job, Michael is also an accomplished online essay writing service provider and registers a wide range of industry expertise in many academic disciplines.
