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- Impact on Learning
STANDARD 5 – Learning Environment
The competent teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Artifact: Classroom Learning Environment
Reflection:
The artifact for this standard is a collection of photographs of my Fall Semester 2012 cooperating teacher’s first grade classroom. These photographs illustrate how the competent teacher uses their understanding of student motivation and behavior to create a positive learning environment that encourages appropriate social interaction, active engagement in learning, self-responsibility, and self-motivation.
My cooperating teacher understands the strategies used for creating effective classroom management by posting classroom rules and expectations on the walls of the classroom (as seen in photographs), which constantly remind students how to act appropriately in the school setting. The seating arrangement of small rectangular tables that seat up to 6 students each in my cooperating teacher classroom helps students to regularly work cooperatively and productively in groups. To further productive group work or activities in the classroom, my cooperating teacher posts “Good Listener” guidelines on the walls of the class in order to remind students how to be respectful to the teacher as well as their fellow classmate while he/she is speaking. My cooperating teacher demonstrates her understanding of factors that influence motivation and engagement by using motivational posters in her classroom that relay encouraging, positive messages to the students. This helps to create a happy, optimistic atmosphere within this learning environment. She sets up her learning environment in the best way possible to effectively control possible crisis situations by having a private bathroom and secluded area by the sinks for students to go to if they need a few minutes to cool off or to collect themselves. Her learning environment allows students to discreetly separate themselves from the rest of the class when needed as well as quietly return the class without causing disruptions. This learning environment is conducive to achieving classroom goals by having a large, comfortable carpet area to gather students on, desks already set in table groups for reading stations, and the SMART Board for display purposes while teaching at the front of the classroom. Further, her learning environment promotes a smoothly functioning learning community in which students assume responsibility for themselves by assigning individual student jobs and having a constant behavioral management system that each student uses to regulate their own behavior throughout the day. My cooperating teacher effectively organizes, allocates, and manages materials and physical space by providing a designated spot for students to store their belongings within the classroom and having many closets or storage areas of her own to neatly organize all of her instructional materials. Lastly, her learning environment enables her to effectively monitor individual and group learning activities by having clearly walkways and passages throughout the classroom for her to navigate through.
This artifact provided me with ample insight on how to create an effective learning environment for younger elementary students. I learned what types of posters to include in the classroom in order to promote classroom management as well as what kinds to use to encourage and motivate students to learn each day. I gained knowledge on how to effectively implement a behavior management system within the learning environment that forces students to take self-responsibility and monitor their own behavior. Furthermore, this artifact allowed me to expand my repertoire of organizational practices, storage procedures, and furniture arrangement tactics that I will now be able to draw from when I create my own classroom learning environment in the future.
The competent teacher uses an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self-motivation.
Artifact: Classroom Learning Environment
Reflection:
The artifact for this standard is a collection of photographs of my Fall Semester 2012 cooperating teacher’s first grade classroom. These photographs illustrate how the competent teacher uses their understanding of student motivation and behavior to create a positive learning environment that encourages appropriate social interaction, active engagement in learning, self-responsibility, and self-motivation.
My cooperating teacher understands the strategies used for creating effective classroom management by posting classroom rules and expectations on the walls of the classroom (as seen in photographs), which constantly remind students how to act appropriately in the school setting. The seating arrangement of small rectangular tables that seat up to 6 students each in my cooperating teacher classroom helps students to regularly work cooperatively and productively in groups. To further productive group work or activities in the classroom, my cooperating teacher posts “Good Listener” guidelines on the walls of the class in order to remind students how to be respectful to the teacher as well as their fellow classmate while he/she is speaking. My cooperating teacher demonstrates her understanding of factors that influence motivation and engagement by using motivational posters in her classroom that relay encouraging, positive messages to the students. This helps to create a happy, optimistic atmosphere within this learning environment. She sets up her learning environment in the best way possible to effectively control possible crisis situations by having a private bathroom and secluded area by the sinks for students to go to if they need a few minutes to cool off or to collect themselves. Her learning environment allows students to discreetly separate themselves from the rest of the class when needed as well as quietly return the class without causing disruptions. This learning environment is conducive to achieving classroom goals by having a large, comfortable carpet area to gather students on, desks already set in table groups for reading stations, and the SMART Board for display purposes while teaching at the front of the classroom. Further, her learning environment promotes a smoothly functioning learning community in which students assume responsibility for themselves by assigning individual student jobs and having a constant behavioral management system that each student uses to regulate their own behavior throughout the day. My cooperating teacher effectively organizes, allocates, and manages materials and physical space by providing a designated spot for students to store their belongings within the classroom and having many closets or storage areas of her own to neatly organize all of her instructional materials. Lastly, her learning environment enables her to effectively monitor individual and group learning activities by having clearly walkways and passages throughout the classroom for her to navigate through.
This artifact provided me with ample insight on how to create an effective learning environment for younger elementary students. I learned what types of posters to include in the classroom in order to promote classroom management as well as what kinds to use to encourage and motivate students to learn each day. I gained knowledge on how to effectively implement a behavior management system within the learning environment that forces students to take self-responsibility and monitor their own behavior. Furthermore, this artifact allowed me to expand my repertoire of organizational practices, storage procedures, and furniture arrangement tactics that I will now be able to draw from when I create my own classroom learning environment in the future.