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Most school teachers usually encounter students who are not motivated. This can, unfortunately, lead to classroom management issues ranging from overt disruptions to sleeping in class. Since many students are not intrinsically motivated, teachers are challenged to find ways to motivate students. Understanding how students learn can provide insight to the teacher as to how to minimize classroom management problems while helping students to learn at the same time.
Students Need their Comfort Zone
A comfort zone can be defined as a set of limitations where a student feels safe. This zone can be affected by a variety of conditions and is different for each student. For instance, a school’s culture or environment can make some students feel threatened. Other students may be uncomfortable as a result of past negative experiences with a particular subject and the fear of taking that class again.
In order to participate in class, students need to know that they are not being threatened. For some students this can be achieved by identifying that calling on them directly may cause them to panic or by greeting them by name. Others might need to be reminded to come by after school for extra help. Since each student is different, it can be challenging to identify the basic limitations which will allow them to be in their respective comfort zones for at least part of class.
Having the ability to provide students with sufficient time in their comfort zone during class can make classroom management much easier. When students do not feel threatened, they are more likely to be interested in class and less likely to act inappropriately when they are challenged.
Learning Happens Where Risk is
In order to learn students need to take risks, however, they are less likely to take these risks when they feel they are being threatened. A new learning experience releases dopamine, a neurotransmitter that provides the body with a feeling of pleasure and happiness. This cannot occur, however, if the student is stressed because stress releases cortisol and adrenaline which are neurotransmitters that override the happy feelings that the dopamine provides and puts the student into a “flight or fight” reaction.
When the classroom is an inviting place where students need to know that they can sometimes access their comfort zone, they are more likely to take the risks needed to try something new and learn. The stress reactions begin to minimize as they experience their comfort zone in the classroom which allows them to feel the pleasure released by dopamine as they learn something new. This encourages students to become more participatory in the lessons and more interested in learning which, in turn, reduces classroom disruptions.
