Creating a Learning Environment

There are so many ways that a teacher can help create a learning environment that is conducive to learning, and to go along with that there are many ways where a teacher can, unknowingly at times, detract from a conducive learning environment. One of the ways we talked about creating a successful learning environment is having good classroom management. When I am a teacher, I believe one of the number one things to help towards this is organization. This is organization in many areas: teacher’s desk, papers, students seating, class materials, books, etc. If you are organized, then you know where things are and the day will go a lot smoother when you can find everything you need. Also, students will see this and it is a great way to teach them organization skills. At my placement in a third grade class, the teacher bought a binder with dividers for every student. She teaches them how to set up a binder and keep it organized. At the end of the year they have all the important materials needed to study for the TCAP as well as a great resource for the future. She said that she believes it is important to teach them these skills, especially before middle school, because no one else may teach them.

Another way to help create a great learning environment is to have limits and rules but not too many. If there are a bunch of strict rules that are heavily enforced, they will not be able to remember them and will be so worried about messing up that they won’t feel comfortable to take risks and make a mistake. This is one thing my placement teacher is really good at. Her class has simple rules such as respect one another. She can share stories with her class and be silly, but when it is time to focus, they listen to her. At one point during the day, the students were at centers working in groups. The room was noisy but the teacher said she didn’t care because they were working together and learning. They were doing what they were supposed to so why should she get onto them for not always whispering. I thought this was a great way to manage the class. I could go on and on about ways to create a learning environment that is conducive to learning, but these are my big top two ways.

This is a great website of classroom management ideas. If you explore on the site, you will find so many organization ideas, team management, and other classroom management ideas.

My CSEL case study is for elementary education where Lisa is causing a disturbance in her group. At this point, the behavior does not seem to go away and just ignoring it would not be a good thing to do. I believe that I would being with giving Lisa cues that I am watching what she is doing whether it is by staring at her to let her know I am aware or by going over to her group and standing by them. If the behavior continues, I would pull her aside and address the situation. I would ask her what is going on, is there a problem I am not aware of, and remind her of her role and duty as a group member. I would tell her that I need her to do this job and explain we have to rotate jobs. I would explain to Lisa why it is important to be a member of a group and how it is something you will always have to do, even when you are a grown-up. I might even include a mini lesson for the whole class about group work and participation and conflict resolution within a group.

 At this point, I might send her parent an e-mail just making them aware of the situation if behavior had not improved. If after this Lisa was still not cooperating, I would find a form of discipline that would work for her by telling her I need her to do this or you will/will not have….. (silent lunch, independent work, recess, behavior marks, etc.).  If a discipline was not effective enough and the behavior kept continuing, I would call a parent and see if her parent might be able to come in for a conference with the student and we would be able to talk about her behavior and the reasoning behind it.