Is it the students, modern society or the curriculum? Having read through the explanations, here are some questions for you to reflect on and share your thoughts:
1. Which of these explanations do you most agree with and why?
2. What are your major concerns in managing students at SP?
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I guess we just have to make what we teach interesting and relevant to the students. It needs to be be Engaging, rather than just entertaining though.
Modern times call for modern methods, and teaching methods must adapt to the changing requirements of students who are used to modern technology like multimedia bombardment and more interactive media.
This, coupled with more information on how people learn and how the brain functions means we have more ways of teaching effectively now.
We have to manage our students' expectations as well. By using the right Infocomm tools, cool trendy gadgets and acceptable delivery skills, we might stand a chance to engage them actively.
I guess a educator need to create an interest for the subject through active participation of the students involving humor and real time demonstrations.
We should focus on the subject meeting students' expectation.
I think I will behave like an origanic FMCG (fast-moving consumer goods) "product". i have a short shelve life, i m extremely good to the consumer, and i need to get off the shelve ASAP. As such, i do what i can (with dignity of-course) to catch my consumer's attention and get them to comsume my brand diligently....
What is the real problem?
I believe in all 3 theorys. Sitting on the fence! Unlike before, our curriculum is now designed for people with different interests. We leave no one behind! With a class of kids with a variety of interest, the advancing technology( Ipods, PSP, Msn, etc)does not make our job any easier. I feel that a teacher also acts like an actor. We need to deliver the lesson, at the same time be entertaining so as to capture our students' attention.
Major concerns:
In current times, it is not just about feeding information to the students. We need to explain and convince them. My main concern is that I am unable to properly explain to them a certain concept. I am also worried that I am unable to build good rapport with the students
in my point of view, as a lecturer our lecture/lesson has to be as enganging as possible, attract thier attention as much as possible. we cannot compete with the media etc. because they provide entertainment and naturaly, people tend to go for entertainment. the real problem is that students themselves must see the importance of paying attention in class, and as lecturers, we must do all we can to make them realise it.
Classroom Management
This is a chicken and egg question?
As the access to information gets fasterand readily available, students will be able to search for a lot of stuff that during my time as a student I was not able to.
Therefore it is a mixture of students and society and the curriculum and lecturers will have to adapt to these student needs.
Students in SP
Like all young students in the age range between 17 to 19 years old, it is a stage of exploration and being rebellious. A wonderful age of growing with high levels of estrogens and testerones therefore they will need a soft approach rather than a hard approach of engaging them.
In an ideal world, We love to please everyone. unfortunately, in reality, It's not possible.
Everyone of us are different. We learn at different speed.
A change in society changes the thoughts of people.So there's not hard and fast rules which theory is more effective or right or wrong.
I agree with all 3 explanations. An educator will have use more engaging ways to make the students interested during lesson time.
Our society is constantly changing and therefore in my opinion, in order to stay 'relevant' and be able to communicate with the students, educators need to be able to adapt, embrace and totally understand the changes - and then they will be able to apply such knowledge into their teaching methods, and be able to communicate with the students at their 'frequency'.
My main concern is the still the largely immature minds of SP students. They are easily influenced by things around them, eg rumours, media (youtube, tv..)..all kinds of stuffs. And those things are constantly swaying or perhaps I should say "corrupting" their fragile minds.
My concerns are the challenges that i face in reaching out to the weaker students, the less motivated. It is all too easy to label them lazy/not interested and write them off.
The first meeting it the most important because it is when both parties size each other up. Boundaries are drawn and rules laid down. - Nice work on the video.
I think all three factors contributes to the problem. The world has changed completely of what it used to be... No more of the traditional "student-teacher" relationship.
I guess the main challenge to manage the students nowadays is how to blend the new technologies into the cirriculum and make them interesting and capturing to the students. It might be good to incorporate lessons into PSP? =)
I agree that society has brought about a change in the environment as well as the students. Now the students can get a faster and wider variety of information through the modern technology such as media, internet and so on.While there are so much information out there,the information that the target group gets are often short and straight to the point.As such the students expects information fast and direct.
Are student more rebellious today? I do not really agree.In the past the students may have grievance but cannot show it.In the present they have more freedom and tend to show their emotion more openly.
As for the curriculum,students are learning a wider field of knowledge at a shallower depth.I don't think they are less smarter now but they tend to put in less effort nowadays.
As a modern day educator we should keep up with the new technology and teaching padegogy.
I agree that with increasing exposures to different medias, students nowadays are more upfront and demanding. In order to meet this 'demand', teachers have to be well-equipped with knowledge and also resources to provide them answers or to trigger them to look for answers on their own adventure.
With technology advancement, a lecturer/teacher's role can become a lil more difficult. By using laptops, we wouldnt be sure what the student is actually doin. And one cant be walking around the class thru'out the lesson to peep at their screens. And the way students behave, i feel, comes from the way they are at home. If they're casual (or even rude) with parents, it'll b the same here.
students, society or curriculum? how about all of the above and teachers themselves too. i think each of the above contributes its own set of problems to the overall situation.
My major concerns in managing students in SP include not doing enough or well by them, not bringing out the best in them, and not inspiring in them a love for knowledge, and a healthy respect and consideration for others around them.
Its inevitable that this is happening, but we need to face these challenges with new methods. This includes incorporating more engaging activities in tutorial lessons and using media the students are familiar with, e.g. video. Finally, reasoning with them helps too.
I think it is more of a changing social relationship between learner and teacher. It is no longer a one way traffic, but rather a cross junction with intellectual and behavioror information from all direction.
My concern with classroom management is more to with the hinderance a bad classroom management will have on the students who are really keen on doing better.
guess we as educators provide too much info so much so that our students find it hard to digest all that has been taught.
we should possibly re-examine what is to be taught at our classes.
managing students if it takes alot of time may ultimately mean that we have less time to teach.
Times have changed. And so should teaching methods. As educators we need to quickly learn ourselves - to learn how to effectively educate the learners. Educators have to be creative to engage the class, and be ready to make improvisations on the spot to stay on top of the lesson. In my opinion, educators need to do more than deliver their pieces in front of a class; they need to put on a show in front of an audience.
What are the problems:
Curriculum is the one.
Compared with previous period, the world is more dynamic and moving at a much faster speed. Not only students but all human beings are more independent, free and desire for their own thought. Students want to learn something faster, easier and to see the effect of learning soon and easily.
Now, all people want to leave as many tasks as possible to machines and only handle those easy and important jobs. Since then, how should we desire students to put on affort to learn many many things they may never use them after school with patient.
Nevertheless, most of students are still willing to learn and prepare themselve for the future. The challenginges are that what they want to learn and how they would like to learn have been changed. There is no way or impossible to move the world back to yesterday once more but only to more forward to the day after tomorrow. Therefore, the curriculum is desired to be changed to fit the movement and development of the world.
Major concern: I hope that there are at least 20% of knowledge and skills that students are learning from SP can benifit them for their future. Another more important concern is that the behavior, responsibility and value of the SP gradutes can offer a good shape for the nation and do well for the society.
1. I think society plays a huge part. Youngsters get influenced very easily. They imitate "cool" figures in the pop culture, and have their own definitions of what is cool and what is not.
2. My concern in managing SP students is whether we can strike a good balance - being firm/strict with the students, yet building good and friendly rapport with them.
1. Society is the problem, perhaps. As we move towards the digital age, the digital natives (youths) of our times are readily empowered to access media content (both good and bad) at an increasingly young age. While the "digital enlightenment" bestows and makes them better informed (than their counterparts in the past decades), this empowerment may have also caused erratic behaviour in those who may not be mature enough to discern what is and what is not acceptable.
2. That are not equipped with the attitude and aptitude for work when they graduate.
I basically agree with these theories. We teachers is truly in competition with a host of rival communicators, most of whom are smarter, richer, and considerably more efficient. And also for the curriculum, teachers need to have deeper understanding of the subjects so that they can teach students in a more efficient way. All in all, teachers need to equipped themselves with a lot of skills to make the lessons relevant and interesting. It requires a lot of practices, perhaps years of practices.
1) I guess with the outbreak of SARS, it has changed the way how teaching can be done. With the launch of online learing, it is made possible for students to learn anywhere and anytime. This doesnt restrict them when they need to study. Some people can study better at different time of the day. Ultimately, teaching is about passing the knowledge to the students and motivate them to find out more. It really depends on the students that you have. Good students want more content while others want the minimum. Being a polytechnic, we have students 'O' level results ranging from 5-26 pointers. It is really not easy to find the right balance.
2) The major concerns are whether all the lecturers want to implement it together across the polytechnic. It is really not easy to implement it for your classes and let it loose for others. One for all and all for one. Then we dont need to repeat the rules again.
I think that content teaching is important for some courses as fundamentals need to be know. Students might be able to move on by their own if they do not understand the basics.
Managing students depends on what kind of students you dealing with. Therefore apply the approriate technique on different students
Causes of Classroom management problems.
1. Students.
a. Yes, it is so easy to tell the difference between managing a class with 15 cut off point, compare to the one with 20 cut off point.
2. Curriculum
a. Should be the less impact. A good lecturer / facilitator should able to come up with teaching material that based on the given curriculum and at the same time motivate the student
3. Society
a. Yes. It gives great difficulties for teaching staff to motivate the students. How can we come up with a set of ppt slides that can be more attractive than an on-line blockbuster? Just like how can we convince a 3 year old to choose plain water over Coke.
Of course, if the ppt slides shows the students the exam paper questions (and must with the model answer), you may have a chance.
b. I feel the problem comes from the society is not the technology impact, it is more on the economic impact. Students at the poorer countries are general working much harder than the ones come from a wealth(er) society. (such as Singapore).
4. How about the lecturer problem ?
Sometime, the lecturer has to adjust his/her mindset to make classroom management easier.
Major concerns in managing students at SP?
It seems that some students has no sense of responsibilities of their own future yet. This is the bunch that more challenging to handle.
I don’t think it is student problem. It is true that class management would be a lot easier if we get a good batch of students. I herd a lot of complaint that “Last year the previous batch was a lot better than this year...” Isn’t it a classic sentence? Our grandma generation also complain something similar to this.
I myself have very short concentration and short memory. I understand how students feel about it. No matter how interesting the lesson is, every 5 minutes, my mind switches to something that is not on the lecture. Then I come back and try to put things together. If the lesson seems very boring, it is always hard to concentrate. My mind always wanders around other places. But if it is good, at the end of lesson I always pack something back home.
So I think it is lecturers’ job to keep students engaged in the lesson. Isn’t that what we are paid to do?
Students have competing demands and too many distractions. But the onus is still on the lecturer to attract students' attention and make their lessons engaging. We need to be committed and devoted to our cause/role/goals -only then, can we pique students curiosity and hunger for leanring, or ignite their imagination. Students can tell when we ourselves are interested and committed to teaching.
I think it is a host of factors. The society has changed to one of globalisation and keeping up with the Joneses. The faster computer processing speeds and shorter travelling time coupled with increase yet ease of data means students are overwhelmed by everything - it is all a spectacle. Thus teachers have a challenge as to how to best come up with programmes or modules which cater to the educational climate of today. We cannot blame it all on the student.
Major concerns that I have with students at SP:
1. How to keep them engaged & prevent boredom from setting in
2. How to ensure they actually learn something useful that will help them in their career and life
3. How to strike a balance between keeping them focused and yet not creating a "me against them" situation
4. How to encourage those who are struggling in their studies or have low self-confidence
education is not about feeding them with information, but rather cultivating the right learning mind.
It would be easier for us if 1 method fits all. However, the background and ultimately the attitude of the students makes things more challenging for the lecturers.
NJK
What is the real problem? It will not be a sole problem but a combination of all factors.
Major concerns:
1) Getting the students excited!
2) Transforming them: from students to industry ready personnel
3) Making them realise their potential (I felt that the students are only at 50% or less of their capability now)
With great exposure to daily stimulus like TV, students in modern age are easily bored. teachers have to make their lessons more interesting not only thru technology but relating concepts to interesting daily stories that students can identify and be interested. SP students are teenagers and they tend to enjoy listening to interesting stories about personal stories of their lecturers that can be related to the subject matter. Such as sharing your personal experiences in making a purchase to purchase decision of a consumers to teach a topic in marketing.
The real problem?
Singapore is WAY too exam smart, the goals of education is GRADES not LEARNING.
Look at PSLE, JAE and all the other entry methods into school. What to they look at? (I don't need to tell you).
So what are students interested in? The rat race of Singapore requires that you have a piece of paper which says "PASS". You need this to get a high paying job so you can get your 4C's (or is it 5 these days).
The system requires grades, so that it the focus of the students. For those who can good, for those who cannot, they will put in the minimum effort required to get the "PASS", because that is all that matters to them.
What this boils down to... We have students who wants grades, not learning, but we want to provide the students learning. Hence the conflict of goals and the problems.
In my opinion,all the 3 issues directly or indirectly play some part of the problem.
Students are not motivated if they are in a course which is last in their choice.
And with the society around them,lecturers have to compete with ever growing trend and gadgets to keep them focus and keeping their interest in learning.
And teaching these unmotivated,high tech and IT savvy students with basic fundamentals of ancient curriculum will definitely be a challenge.
Society is the root cause. Besides technology advancement, parents of today shower their children with the best from birth. Most believe in the soft approach when it comes to discipline. This is one of causes that leads to students becoming weaker mentally and ill disciplined. Some lost confidence and motivation completely when posted to a course not of his/her choice.
In my opinion, the student in the unbalanced society is the real problem. Students have families (in one way or another) and the family is the core of the society. What is happening in the family may have positive or negative effects on the student’s behavior in the classroom. Factors such as income and parent/family advocacy are few examples that affect the student’s mindset on education. The student may or may not be happy with the family condition. Most of the time, they compare with their peers what their family can provide.
The curriculum may be a problem to the student but again the society is responsible in building student’s behavior learning.
Society I feel is the problem.
Students as individuals are brought up and shaped in society.
My concern in managing students is that I do not get caught up in work and not have enough time for the student. Lack of time may contribute poor lesson planning and lack of time with the students.
What is the real problem?
I think there is truth in all three.
a) Students : The students are living in much better conditions than students of their parents' generation. They receive far more attention by adults around them than earlier generations. It creates a self-focusing "what's in it for me" attitude. Instant gratification is a common trait amongst the teens. These lead to blindspots in their ability to their behaviour or words affect others (including the lecturer).
b) Society : Our lessons are competing with the stimulating effects that media and internet offer. Instead of focusing on the content, they are addicted to higher and higher levels of entertainment and performance on the delivery of the content.
c) Curriculum : With the students' limited or lack of industrial experience, the students may not realise the relevance and/or applicability of the modules. The "forced down - no choice, die2 must do" feeling can translate to a rebellious reaction.
Main concerns :
a) Providing realism to the modules they are learning : We need to satisfy the "what's in there for me" mindset.)
b) Getting the students to exercise proper classroom ethnics : Again, they need to behave in a manner that is acceptable in the corporate world. For example, free-loaders or non-performers dont get rewarded or may fail(get demoted or fired in the corporate world). Also, they are responsible for their own "rice-bowl".
c) Getting the students to think on their feet, to have better presentation skills : Effort and knowing are not the same as performance. Head knowledge with no ability to apply or communicate to others is useless.
Agree with you guys! Zaharin said students are not motivated, Kit Peng said students want "instant gratification", Marilyn & Yeo said parents play a role and Dennis said we are shaped by "society". Indeed! Are we also like the students to a large extent, just that we are more disciplined and relatively wiser :)
Whatever the distraction, I think the solution to it is motivation. I think the problem is today's apathetic and aimless youth culture. So, guys, hang in there, that's what we are here for right? To give wholistic education, inspire and impact lives!!
Ya, I know.. I am impressed with myself too..! :)
Greatest concern about managing students at SP would be running out of steam personally. The further I progress along the CT course the more role-playing I figure I would need to assume. So far a Facilitator, Motivator, Technical Trainer, Counsellor....Ultimately what students have become today is very much a societal problem, their lives are basically planned between school and home and it just seems that more responsibility is being shifted towards educators - The development of a human being as a whole lies in the hands of strangers like us based on the school they end up at. All our roles are being stirred into a pile of er..erm….pile of mash. Who knows maybe in future we in-turn need to be counselled by students. But I guess the only way to make any change is to be in the system itself. Dioni
Although I totally agree with the arguments, I feel that it is not the students' fault if they get their times to enjoy the right things to match their own level of intelligence.
I am more concern about the connectivity between what the students are learning and job expectations in Singapore's context.
The issue of learning from the student’s point of view (my view)still boils down to the attitude of the student. If there a desire to learn, and learning from master is never demanded. With a good attitude and humble stance, the student can extract more out of the master, and the master is more then ever and willingly to pass down the knowledge.
If there is no desire to learn, a carrot can be used, one such example is that it can be the ticket to the next thing they wanted. Human tends to favour a person that have excel in one field, and willingly to accept them to their own domain. Hopefully the desire gets burning.
Maybe the real problem is a bit of all three. There is some truth in each explaination and it is the weightage that make the difference.
I would think the student will have the higher weightage over the rest since they are the one that have a more direct impact due to the changes in society and curriculum. For example, curriculum is designed to meet the needs of the economy to make the students more "marketable". So the students will need to "tune" themselves to align with what the expectation of the economy.
I think in general, the challenge in managing student is to keep them interested in learning and along the way, they will understand to "learn to unlearn and hence relearn".
Today's young ppl (E-gen) tend to be more vocal & open abt what they want or expect to get from lect & school, (as compared to our time) due to influ from globalization (west)... they are also easily distracted by 'toys' like handphone, computers etc.
Challenge is 'how to reach to them'...we have to speak 'E- language' inorder to close the generation gap and be prepared to adapt to changes in this fast paced world.
The challenge is how to deal with the changes. It is ever ongoing and today's best methods may not apply in tomorrow's batch of students. Communication and observation are probably the two most important tools that will assist us regardless of changes in either the society or the curriculum.
I agree with the 3 explanations. It is a chicken and egg issue. The challenge for all educators now is not merely on how to guide a student towards academic achievement but also to know how to inspire them.
Every indivdual is unique and hence there is no single most effective method when it comes to imparting knowledge. Personally I feel that society has played a part in stereotyping our current day youngsters as been more difficult to control and labelling poly students as been more playful or underachievers. As lecturers, we have to view them objectively and set a reasonable target for them to achieve at this stage of life. Having said that, I want to highlight that although having a paper qualification is important, many a times we have neglected important life skills and morality issues when we conduct our day to day teaching. Daily interaction with our students would in fact give us a lot of opportunities to correct some of their mindset or inappropriate conduct. However, this requires the lecturer to be sensitive to the young heart and also to have established a more or less "solid" relationship so as to effectively point out their mistake and yet maintain a healthy teacher-student relationship.
Of the 3, I'm inclined towards 'society is the problem'. Having said this though, I believe that during my time in school and learning at a time when there were less of these 'fast-paced distractions' (youtube, facebook etc...) there were equally as many boring vs. interesting teachers. Think it's a combination of factors but ultimately it has to be teachers delivering material that is engaging.
I guess whatever the reason the ultimate responsibility lies with the teacher to deliver the goods.The student has to be taught ,the concept needs to be driven across so the teacher needs to be abreast with technology and the subject as well.
Yes we need to be aware of the kind of stimuli we are competing against, but I wonder if we as educators are in danger of leaning too far backwards to accomodate this generation and slowly in the long term, of doing them in. The reason is, after seeing our Poly students for 6 semesters, I realise more and more that the students just expect to come to class to be entertained: they fold their arms and watch Powerpoints, they see the issues and the content, maybe they relate and reflect for the period of time they are watching, but then after that, its in one ear /eye and out the other.
How many of our students take notes? or even know with alacrity when they need to take notes? Seems to me the majority of Poly students have lost all personal responsibilty to know when they need to be pro-active to enhance their own understanding.
Repeatedly, many students will listen intently (or look like they are listening intently) in class, but, promptly by the next lesson, they will ask us all over again when the test is. Do we continue to facilitate them?
I think outside industry may find that we are perpetuating a generation of people who cannot even be bothered to take notes(in whatever form, eg even on laptops, organisers, handphones blackberry, or whatever.) and who will waste valuable time backtracking for information, instructions etc, in the working environment.This just leads to inefficiency, unreliability, and unprofessionalism and it will be apparent in all services, industries and trades.
The 1st video shows the disinterest of both the teacher.The lecture must be interactive only then the students will be interested.
in the 2nd video i think one shouldnt express his negative views publically.
I would have to say all 3 factors cause difficults in classroom management. Its great now that we realise students learn better through engaging rather than spoon-feeding with materials. At the same time, stimulating the mind allows the students to remember materials better.
I think, especially for my course (Architecture), getting students to reorientate and focus on a whole different way of thinking and doing things is key.
I would argue that students, exposed to an extensive range of stimuli, actually become "numb" and get into a comfort zone of a certain way of doing and seeing things - fast, rapid information but arguably no depth. As teachers we are trying on some level to "slow them down", to consider and think through in greater depth and extent. Trying to get them out of of their comfort zone can be most frustrating for teachers and students alike.
It seemed a balancing feat that we need to manage. To adapt to the everchanging appetite of new generations of students in a cool information age within a limited time-frame. I think it is a key to mould them into thinking individuals; equip them with the higher learning skills.
Students, society, curriculum the real problem?
Students will be students, full of energy; needing guidance, boundaries, and an outlet to expend the energy.
Society today has given youths many choices, perhaps too many. As such youths are overstimulated and prone to want instant gratification.
Curriculum today is overloaded with information. Wouldn't anybody, let alone youths, switch off when our neurons are bombarded with info, info, info.
So all 3 are guilty of being the problem.
Society has evolved at such a high pace that it brings about a different kind of student.
Students are smarter, more intelligent and intuitive these days. They have the latest technology at hand for retireving data and amassing knowledge. But often times or not they are uninspired.
Society has evolved at such a high pace that it brings about a different kind of student.
Students are smarter, more intelligent and intuitive these days. They have the latest technology at hand for retireving data and amassing knowledge. But often times or not they are uninspired.
In this time and age, techniques and technology are really important tools as benchmark for a set of curriculum to be taught to students. The human touch is also important, we have to impress on the students that we can enpower them to be better professionals when they graduate. We should treat them like fellow colleagues who are only much younger, if we are in our field of practice, they could be our colleagues, we has no experience and will be improve when we impart our skills to them.
The above is definitely easier said then done, very freqently, the line will be crossed between friendshop and student-teacher relationship.
Totally agree with, “Teachers is now in competition with a host of rival communicators, who are smarter, richer and considerably more efficient”. Students may have wider range of general knowledge than their teacher. Their parents might have sent them to “special” class since young. The google, wikipedo, you-tubes, etc are sources of knowledge, but whether students applied them correctly is still the job of teachers.
This is one of the real challenges for teachers apart from discipline. However, adopting the concept of learning from one another might help.
A bit of everything - like a "melting pot".
Personally i do think that the problems nowadays are caused the parents, should be the parents' problem! Families nowadays are richer and having only one kid. Kids are pampered and seldom care about how people feeling. Conclusion, the problems are with society and student. Well, curiculum is not a problem. Old time people were not so smart because not much education or learning oportunity. We are expecting more on the students now bacause they are having better education system. I dont see there is any concern with the classroom management. I do feel that as long as we really put in heart to teach, give something that benefit the students, they can feel it and appreciate
I think we really cannot refer to a single reason as a cause of the problems and address that single reason for finding a solution. Every student could be affected and influenced by different factors. Therefore, the challenge is to identify these factors for each student and address them to solve or atleast reduce the problems.
"You get what you believe in"
If lecturers perceive students as a bunch of animals or uncontrollable kids, then it shall be so. My take is that the more we see students in the negative way, the more we will react negatively, and a viscious cycle locking both sides in negative perceptions may take over.
Jody said..
My fear is having a very disruptive student one day.
When we have a relationship with the students they will listen because they know we care about them. We need to keep the class interesting and inspiring. Ask them a lot of questions.
Building a rapport with the students and making the lesson content interesting and relevant to the students would make teaching and learning concepts easier.
"Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care".
As educators we need to truly care for the students and reach out and meet them at their point of need. Unfortunately, the other frameworks in society like the family and societal attitudes in general are degrading to such a point that a greater load is put on educators in school. Regardless of fairness, we have to deal with this issue, which will certainly drain us physically and emotionally. I think the greatest challenge is to keep it up at the same intensity day in, day out.
What is that the Paul george ringo and john said ..."it's an ever changing world we live in "
Technology is changing so fast that it makes our heads spin. because of this we as educators need to be able to adapt and create interest for our students. The idea is keep them happy and interested in what we do. Therefore, modern times call for modern methods-hence stimulation of the students minds has never been more important.
having said this, the past kids and parents interacted at dinner, play grounds, doing homework. Now parents are too busy earning a living and the kids too busy playing on their smart phones.
we as educator need come up with more effective way to teach.
We cannot push the blame to just one factor. In fact, I don't think that there is one perfect solution to the problem. I suppose the society has to re-evaluate its values and seriously learn to S-L-O-W-D-O-W-N. What's the hurry?
Discipline and motivation are my two main concerns with SP students.
1) All three areas, students, society and curriculum affects classroom management and learning of the students.
Society today is like a pressure cooker and family structure is weakening. Behaviours of students can be a result of family issues. In addition some students are still at the rebellious stage during the age of 17-19, it can be challenging to manage their behaviours.
Curriculum seems too heavy for the students nowadays but it does not seem that by teaching more, they learn more. It is deemed better to teach lesser but arouse their curiosity to find out more themselves.
2) Major concern:
Low motivation level
I think human brain remain the same since day one until today. I do agree with "Evolutionary Psychology" said that human brain remain the same as day one, though the technology around us as advanced more than we could dream of.
Human is difference from animal. Animal only improve on needs, so that could continue to survive. Human improve on better convenient, so that make us more productive, and easier life.
Hence, classroom management become more challenging nowadays, because student are exposed to more convenience of life. Their attention in classroom is reducing. They are in opinion that classes is a burden of life. Internet, google, wiki, facebook, whatsapp etc are more convenient ways to obtain info and knowledges, instead of a classroom.
In order to have better classroom management, we need the student to understand, classroom is the "convenient" way to access knowledge. Then, the student will have interest in classroom again.
Hence, we need to engage better interactive teaching toward student. A way that unable to be offered by "Internet", the "Human interface".
Make the classroom fun again.
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