What do you remember about your schooling?
What teachers stood out for you and why? Often we see as teachers-results and achievements as being the sum of our influence.
The reality as we discover is much more complex. From a smile at the door to a well placed joke self deprecating or about the content can influence students more than how well we produce content for them to learn.
Students in groups performing tasks as a collaborative approach are a process of learning that students find more meaningful than traditional chalk and talk approaches. Students learning from each other in a safe and enjoyable environment will lead to students being more cooperative and engaged than other processes that might be employed. They might reduce the walk time to class they might volunteer for answering questions/complete activities. Voluntarily admit that they need support and are drowning in the language used in the material.
Something as simple as having learning pods to sit in in class over more traditional desks in rows. Students sit with peers and feel more supported feel more empowered particularly if learning materials are also within arms reach…do not have to move to different areas of room to collect/hand in materials. Simple classroom design can benefit students learning well beyond what we might traditionally ascribe.
What are the names of your students? There is huge power in knowing their names and using them- appropriately. If their name is difficult to pronounce even the attempt to pronounce it correctly can encourage them to feel a part of the. Learning environment.
Adding a smile- a dance of joy- having a ‘no’ button on your desk to push if they produce an incorrect answer – adds a humanity to the lesson. Students need to see you as human- admit to making mistakes- building a relationship through stories relating the content to real life…better still if the story also relates to their experiences.
Visual images created and discussed…displayed in the classroom environment benefits the students language learning and application skills as they might attempt to explain the concepts, evaluate the impact and even justify their reasoning. The best visuals are simple, even better if the students can create them themselves…yes sketch notes another newish theory that can work very successfully for a number of if not all students.
We cannot tell how effective even the simplest positive interaction will be with our students- no matter how tired/stressed we are we must look at all the little interactions- make them positive- teaching via micro interactions or teaching on the back of a butterfly’s wings.
In as chaotic an environment as teaching perhaps we can use chaos theory in our teaching process/ practice.
References for further reading and discussion:
http://teachingonpurpose.org/issue/the-importance-of-classroom-design/
Click to access Glenz-T.-2014.-The-importance-of-learning-students-names.pdf
https://www.edutopia.org/blog/laughter-learning-humor-boosts-retention-sarah-henderson
authenticeducationforthe21stcentury 
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