"SLC | S22W6 : Get to Know Your Students"

Hello Distinguish Steemians! in the space, it my atomist gratitude joining this week "SLC | S22W6" organize by @fantvwiki because When teaching, one of the most important and necessary things a teacher should know is undoubtedly the character of their students. Every student as we know is different, and knowing their behavior, their emotions, and abilities as well helps the teachers to teach better.

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• This week, we will focused deeply on understanding the grammatical object of this verb “teach,” which is “students.” To sincerely teach effectively, teachers always need to identify how students behave, think, and how they interact. This knowledge helps makes it easier for teachers to solve many problems students face in class and also helps the learning process run smoothly and effectively.

Knowing students' characteristics can be done in many of these ways, such as observing their personal behavior, initiating communicating with them, or conducting a self-introduction programs. Each of all these methods helps provides insight into who the students are, their own strengths, and the areas they might need help with. For example, through our observation, teachers can always see how students interact with friends and classmates. By our communicating, teachers can understand their needs, challenges, or as well the expectations.

• Once a teacher do understands a student’s character, it always becomes easier to meet their educational needs anytime. Teachers can also group the student characteristics into different categories such as cognitive, emotional, social, physical, psychological, spiritual, and educational background. Each of all these categories gives teachers an exemplary idea of how to handle their students.

This very coursework helps us as the teachers, students, or observers to reflect on the unique importance of knowing student behavior and using it to improve learning.
So now let us dive well into the assignment of the day.

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1. Elaborate on your understanding of student characteristics, as discussed in the subject matter post.

Student characteristics are those unique behaviors, abilities, and traits the students bring into the classroom. These all include how they think, feel, and interact with others. As a teacher, Understanding these characteristics helps perfectly to create lessons that meet every student's needs. Based on the material, below 👇 here is an explanation of the different student characteristics:

• Cognitive Characteristics:
  These include how the students think, learn, and process information. For example, some students may really prefer learning by watching videos (visual learners), while others may prefer and enjoy hands-on activities (kinesthetic learners). Students also have their different intellectual levels and abilities to solve problems anytime. Teachers really need to recognize all of these differences to give tasks that really match each student's learning style.

• Emotional Characteristics:
  Emotions also play a big role in how the students learn. For example, students with a strong emotional stability can stay so focused even during their challenging time. The Teachers must also pay a genuine attention to students' motivation. A student who really feels encouraged will want to learn more and more, while a student who lacks motivation might really struggle in learning.

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• Social Characteristics:
  This indeed includes how the students relate to their classmates, the teachers, and adults even outside learning environment. Some students are really naturally friendly and do interact easily, while others may somehow be shy. Teachers must do well to consider these differences when grouping students for activities.

• Physical Characteristics:
  A student's physical development and of course their health can also affect their learning. For instance, a student who is more physically active may enjoy outdoor activities, while the one who isn’t feeling well might really struggle to concentrate in class.

• Psychological Characteristics:
  These here include a student's personality, self-concept (how they do see themselves), and the psychological needs.For example, an introverted student may really need more time to open up on their bothers/thought in class, while an extroverted one will definitely share their thoughts easily.

• Spiritual Characteristics:
  These as well include moral values and a student's understanding of probably what is right and wrong. Teachers can always use this to teach lessons that help students grow into responsible adults.

• Educational Background:
  A student’s previous learning experience do helps in shaping how they learn. For example, a student who attended a school with a focus on a teamwork might already know how to work in groups better than others who was not brought up that way.

So as a teacher, knowing these characteristics helps allows to adopt a teaching methods that suit every student, ensuring no one is left behind during learning.

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2. Invite someone to try one method of recognizing student characteristics, according to the examples in the material, and share the results.

At this juncture, I decided to use the method of observation to recognize a student’s characteristics. I did worked with a student named Mary , a very quiet girl in my class.
Here is what I did observed about her during the week:

Scanning the class for my observation

• Behavioral Observation:
  Mary is always very focused when given tasks. She will pays attention to details and so completes assignments without much help by any. However, she doesn’t really interact much with her classmates and often times sits alone during group activities.

• Analysis of Her Behavior:
  Mary also appears to be a visual learner too, as she do enjoys reading and writing tasks but do struggles with activities that require verbal communication. She is somehow an introvert as I see who prefers quiet environments, which might explain why she always finds group work challenging.

• Understanding Her Needs:
  After carrying out my observation on her, I realized that Mary needs more of encouragement to participate in group activities. By creating a very supportive environment where she will feels safe to express her ideas, I can really try help her improve her social skills here.

	This was during my interaction and interview with her

This observation method really taught me that even the quiet students have a lot to offer too. So then Teachers just need to pay more attention and find ways to help them shine.

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3. According to you, providing tasks or projects that require critical thinking and in-depth analysis is more suitable for students with which characteristic category?

Tasks that do require critical thinking and in-depth analysis are always most suitable for students with strong cognitive characteristics.

• Why Cognitive Students Excel in Such Tasks:
  These very set of students are good at understanding the complex concepts and solving problems they encounter. They enjoy the challenges that make them think deeply. For example, students with very strong intellectual abilities will enjoy projects that really require researching, analyzing data, or coming up with a creative solutions to it.

• Examples of Suitable Tasks:

  • Science experiments where indeed they must predict outcomes and analyze results.
  • Writing of essays that require forming and as well defending an argument.
  • Solving real-world problems, such as in planning how to reduce 6plastic waste in the community.

I believe that by giving such tasks, teachers can help nurture the critical thinking skills of these set of students, preparing them to always tackle bigger challenges in the future.

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4. When a student feels depressed or anxious, especially during evaluation, what category of characteristics does such a student belong to? How can we help?

A student who do feels depressed or anxious during an evaluations falls under the emotional category of characteristics.

• Why This Happens:
  Such students as I recognize may lack emotional stability or a self-confidence. For example, they might really fear failing, worries about what others will think of them, or feel overwhelmed by the pressure to perform so well.

• How to Help:
  The Teachers can make use of the following strategies to help these students:

  • Provide Encouragement: Allowing the student know genuinely that it’s okay to make mistakes and that learning is a gradual process.
  • Create a Calm Environment: Reduce in them the pressure by making evaluations less intimidating to them. For example, allow the student to always take the test in a quiet room or probably give them an extra time compared to others.
  • Teach Stress Management Techniques: Encouraging activities like a deep breathing or positive self-talk before and during the evaluations.
  • Offer Praise: Celebrate any small achievements they succeed to help boost the student’s confidence.

By well addressing their emotional needs like this, the teachers can help these students overcome all their fears and perform better in life.

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Conclusion

Understanding the student characteristics is very crucial for effective teaching. Every student is unique in a way, and by recognizing their cognitive, emotional, social, physical, psychological, spiritual, and educational traits, we the teachers or students-teachers can create a very supportive learning environment.

• Observation, communication, and self-introduction programs are the practical ways to know students more better. When the teachers use this knowledge to adopt a teaching methods, students will feel more supported, perform better, and grow in all areas of life while progressing. I believe that by focusing on the whole child—not just their academics—teachers do helps to create a brighter future for every learner.

I'm inviting @jozzie90, @presh001 and @goodybest to this Week's Challenge.

     "Thanks Y'all for Reading"