When I taught a world language, teachers from all over the county held a World Language Adventure Day. Our middle school would take 6-8 language nerds every year, until one year a group of 3-4 very popular girls who were really enjoying their language classes decided to go. We ended up taking about 35 kids that year. For the rest of that spring, world language became the “in” class and kids did markedly better in class.
I noticed that the abstract says that the peer effect is not present in elementary classes. That’s perhaps true, but there IS something.
FWIW…After four decades of elementary teaching my guess is that it’s a combination of 1) teacher personality and 2) student behavior. Engaged, friendly, nurturing, and safe Elementary teachers motivate their students who, in turn, work hard to please this important adult in their lives. If a class has one or more serious behavior issues, however, the teacher can become exhausted, frustrated, and discouraged which reduces the motivational aspect of their teaching.
This is all guesswork on my part…based on the anecdotal evidence of my own career. I know that I did better some years than others…and it wasn’t always due to the makeup of the class. On the other hand, constant behavior issues took a lot out of me so that I struggled to stay positive.
When I taught a world language, teachers from all over the county held a World Language Adventure Day. Our middle school would take 6-8 language nerds every year, until one year a group of 3-4 very popular girls who were really enjoying their language classes decided to go. We ended up taking about 35 kids that year. For the rest of that spring, world language became the “in” class and kids did markedly better in class.
I noticed that the abstract says that the peer effect is not present in elementary classes. That’s perhaps true, but there IS something.
FWIW…After four decades of elementary teaching my guess is that it’s a combination of 1) teacher personality and 2) student behavior. Engaged, friendly, nurturing, and safe Elementary teachers motivate their students who, in turn, work hard to please this important adult in their lives. If a class has one or more serious behavior issues, however, the teacher can become exhausted, frustrated, and discouraged which reduces the motivational aspect of their teaching.
This is all guesswork on my part…based on the anecdotal evidence of my own career. I know that I did better some years than others…and it wasn’t always due to the makeup of the class. On the other hand, constant behavior issues took a lot out of me so that I struggled to stay positive.