What do teachers mean by "structure"?

So a teacher who provides structure is a teacher who is better able to direct a child to what needs to be done?

Am I getting there?

That's certainly how I understand it, although I'd take it a bit more 'lightly' than directs - more along the lines guides/provides the opportunity to ...

sort of like making it easier for the child to experience success

I had a conversation around "structure" in the classroom just the other day with a mom. She is home schooling her child for this reason - he needs structure or he works and learns best in a structured environment.

As our kids go (or in this case went) to the same school - we both know all the teachers pretty well - there is one teacher at each grade level so you do not get a choice or option for a different teacher. Any way, his mom was saying she was concerned about the teacher her son would be having so she home schooled him. As she had helped out at the school, she went into the classroom while school was in session and saw that the room for this teacher was a bit in disaray (back packs thrown about and such).

I mentioned (as my daughter is older) how this teacher wasn't so organized - she'd plan a test or project on one day - then change her mind - it was almost like you didn't know what to expect next. A very sweet caring teacher, but far from structured, organized and such.

So Mo, sounds like her little boy, he learns better when he knows what to expect, things are organized, and the classroom is orderly.

At least that is my impression of needing structure in the classroom. Just the way some kids learn better. Or I know sometimes knowing what is expected and being able to rely on your test will be Monday at 10:00am can take a lot of stress off of certain children.

Okay, well then I'm flummoxed. Sorry I can't help you.

Thank you for walking me through this!

I'm still not completely clear on the idea. It seems that the school is the one who provides the structure but perhaps the teacher is the agent of this structure.

You could almost replace the term structure with culture.

Real world experience can't be beat! Thank you for sharing that. It's much clearer now.

I think a lot of life is easier that way.

Great thead, Boom . . . i'm reading this with interest.

Thank you.... well, thank everyone who responded, instead.

I feel a little like the "double rainbow all the way across the sky" guy -- completely clueless about something that most people understand easily.

Well phooey! I started to respond to this right after it was posted, then life intervened, and now what I was gonna post has been rendered moot by very good posts by others.

The only thing I can think to add is that every classroom is structured to some extent -- there is a basic communication of expectations, and a certain amount of predictability. The level of structure varies, though. "Structure," used by itself, tends to mean "highly structured" or "more structured."

Kids respond to structure in different ways. In third grade, there were four third-grade teachers -- two were known as "structured," two were not. Sozlet had one of the not-structured ones. That worked well for her -- there was a lot of meandering around and chatting and starting miscellaneous projects just for the heck of it. There was a baseline structure there -- knowledge of classroom responsibilities, schedules, etc. The teacher was organized and did things when she said she would, she wasn't flaky, though she was VERY laid-back. But there was a lot of embellishment upon the basic themes.

My friend's kid was in one of the more structured teachers' room, which worked better for him. (Classroom placements aren't random here from kindergarten on, unless you're new, and they usually match the kids with the kind of teacher that works best for them. There are exceptions I'm sure.) His class was not nearly as chatty or ad-hoc. Expectations were very clear, and the daily routine tended to be much more predictable on a minute-to-minute basis.

Both kids were happy in their respective classrooms. But if sozlet had been in class #2, she would've been bored, I think. If the other kid had been in class #1, he would've been overwhelmed, I think.

I think that what it means is formal as opposed to informal education...Informality may be the best teachers can manage since they, like their parents, have influence only, and no authority... With formal education, though the subjects are learned, the form is taught... Formal philosophers are trained in the formal approach to knowledge... I don't think this is necessarily inferior to other approaches, but that this approach does not demand or invite creative thinking, thought outside the box... It makes sense that before some one can think outside of the box that they must learn to think inside the box, with the box being the form...