(13.1) List five areas you will attend to as you create a
learning environment that is conducive to learning.
The
following strategies can be applied to help create a classroom environment that
is conducive to learning:
1) Establish
and maintain effective teacher-student relationships
Personally I think
the most important prerequisite for becoming a teacher (or anyone that works in
a school) is that you have to genuinely care for and respect the students. I will
try to demonstrate this by showing enthusiasm for my job, communicating my
reasoning behind the activities and assessments inside my classroom, and
genuinely involve the students in making decisions about how they want to
learn. I will try to be understanding of the students’ struggles and respectful
of their cultures, personalities, and preferences.
2)
Establish
and maintain effective psychological climate
An effective psychological climate is
essential for learning. The classroom should be a place where all students feel
safe and accepted by one another (the teacher and the other students) as they
all strive to learn and achieve. Bullying would be counterproductive for an effective
psychological climate and should not be tolerated. Possible ways to address
bullying or any type of unsupportive behaviors include having a one-on-one
conference with the students involved, teaching and modeling effective social
skills, and even reporting serious incidences to principals. Motivating
students to learn is also essential. Different motivational strategies
(behavioral, cognitive, social cognitive, trait, etc.) could be applied based
on different students and in different situations.
3)
Set
limits for classroom
Setting limits is
important, but too much limits might interfere with student creativity, effective
teacher-student relationship, and effective psychological climate. The limits,
or rules, should be made based on what will make the classroom run effectively
for student learning. I will keep the rules simple and communicate to students
the reasoning behind them. I will encourage students to give feedback regarding
these rules.
4)
Plan
activities that encourage on-task behavior
I will plan activities
to satisfy the students’ need for arousal and help them stay attentive in
class. The amount of structure for activities can be adjusted to guide students
without inhibiting their sense of creativity.
5)
Modify
instructional strategies based on student needs
Students’ learning styles, interests, and needs
should be the focus for deciding what instructional strategies to use. As
teachers, it’s tempting to adopt the type of instructional strategy that we
found effective as students. However, it’s important to keep in mind that the
students’ preference and needs should be our focus.
We have a lot of similar ideas about how our classrooms will be organized in order to create environments conducive to learning. One of the most important things, especially in an elementary classroom is establishing and maintaining effective student-teacher relationships. If students feel like they matter to their teacher, then it seems likely they will care more about school and their performance. Some studies even show that students who have good relationships with their teachers are likely to have future success. When I was choosing ways to make the classroom conducive to learning, I did not choose establish and maintain effective psychological climate, however I think this is very important. I agree that the classroom environment has a huge impact on the way students learn and excel--bullying, to use the example you used, would be a very counterproductive action when trying to create a classroom that is conducive to learning for all students.
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