Oh, the Places You'll Go, When You Know What Will Flow...

"You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself
any direction you choose.
You're on your own. And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who'll decide where to go." 

- Dr. Seuss

In order to create an environment that encourages learners to participate, we need to be mindful of what makes them feel comfortable, interested and welcome to share their views and opinions. Building a good rapport with your learners will aid you in identifying when they are losing interest, why they might be feeling uncomfortable and what would make them hesitant to participate. If you are able to succeed in this, you are likely to gain your learner's trust and support, which will ultimately enhance your teaching and their learning experiences.

So how do you achieve this relationship of mutual understanding between you and your learners? Foley and Wills offer similar and yet very different methods of obtaining this goal. Foley suggests that you should always be available and accessible to your learners when they are struggling to understand certain concepts, This creates a space where your learners feel welcome to share their thoughts and ideas, because they know they will never be shut down. 

You should be motivating your learners to keep trying. 
Rather than saying:

"No, that's not right. Who has the correct answer?" 

Why not try:

"Interesting idea, why do you say that?"

It is possible that this will enable learners to think critically about the way they answer questions and still feel safe if their ideas are not 100% accurate. They will understand that if they get something wrong, you are there to guide them in the right direction, providing them with the necessary tools to move forward.

On the other hand, Wills encourages us to recognise when certain teaching methods are not working with a group of learners. When these moments happen (which they certainly will), you should not stress, get worked up and end up taking your frustrations out on your learners. Instead, go home, take a deep breath and think about how you could approach the situation differently next time.

Throughout our PGCE course so far, we have learnt that there are numerous different pedagogical tools and practices. All of these methods will assist us in times when we feel as though we may be "losing" our learners... But the key to success will be identifying which methods work for a certain group of learners and which methods will be a less effective.