List five areas you will attend to as you create a learning environment that is conducive to learning.
There are many ways to create a setting that will be conducive to learning for students of every type. The different categories that can create a setting conducive to learning are arranging the classroom, establishing and maintaining productive teacher-student relationships, creating an effective psychological climate, setting limits, planning activities that keep students on task, monitoring what students are doing, modifying instructional strategies, taking developmental differences into account, and finally taking individual and group differences into account. While I think that using a combination of each strategy would create the ideal learning environment for each student, I think there are at least five that really stand out to me and that I will make the most use of.
Firstly, as a teacher in order to create an environment that is conducive to learning I would establish and maintain productive teacher-student relationships. I think that it is very important for teacher to communicate respect towards students--and in turn students will be likely to give respect right back. I think it is very important for students to feel special within the classroom setting, and having good teacher-student relationships is the first step to creating this feeling. The text also mentions that caring and showing respect towards students means more than just showing affection--we must show respect for our students by being prepared, communicating expectations, and work hard.
Secondly, I plan to modify instructional strategies. In order to be a successful teacher, one must never be doing the same thing over and over with their students--especially considering their students are never the same. One thing I like that the author pointed out is that beginning teachers generally try to point out what misbehaving students are doing wrong. The book contrasts beginning teachers with more experienced teachers claiming that they tend to think what they, as the teacher, could do differently to keep the student on task, and thus prevent outbursts of misbehavior.
Thirdly, I believe I will maintain a strategy of monitoring what students are doing. The term the book used is withness, which is a classroom management strategy in which the teacher gives the impression of knowing what all students are doing at all times--and the students are aware of this. When we demonstrate withness at the beginning of the school year students are already learning the boundaries of the classroom and what is appropriate.
Fourth, I want to plan activities that will keep my students on task. There is nothing more discouraging that having a classroom full of students who are not paying attention to you. Students should be doing activities that interest them so that they are able to be productively engaged in worthwhile activities. I believe that part of keeping students on task and interested is by giving them a challenge, but it is also important to choose tasks that are appropriately difficult so students are not discouraged. The book also suggests keeping smooth transition times and structure to keep from distracting students, I have never actually thought about this being a task keeper, but it makes a lot of sense, and I have seen smooth transition methods within classrooms quite often.
Lastly, I will try my best as a teacher to take into account developmental differences--this will greatly influence my instruction and my lessons will definitely revolve around the abilities and differences of the students in my classroom. I think this will be a very challenging part when I am trying to create a classroom that is conducive for learning for each and every student.
Overall, I think that there are many ways to create a classroom environment that will be conducive to learning, and as I observe classrooms throughout this semester I will definitely keep chapter thirteen in the back of my mind to see what is working for other teachers.
