Classroom Environment
The classroom environment should be a place where students feel like they are worthy contributors to their learning. Educators must create a classroom environment that supports students learning as well as providing a positive structure where students can develop skills. Classroom environment was extremely important in my teaching experience because I felt like it set the mood for the students attitudes towards school and towards their learning. As a teacher I felt it was vital to put students in an atmosphere where they can successfully interact. By creating this environment, I was able to observe student readiness, test out a variety of instructional methods, and create a learning environment where I could motivate students based on their interests and keep students actively engaged.
Creating a learning environment that caters to all my students needs was a very critical part of my teaching and effectiveness as a teacher. In order to create a learning environment where all students can learn and make connections to new material, it was important to make sure that the material they were being surrounded with and engaged with was appropriate to students developmental levels. By identifying students readiness, it would help me to engage students and understand their place in the readiness spectrum as it would relate to the content knowledge and skills. In order for students to fully benefit from school instruction, teachers must first understand the individual differences between students and understand that their background has a strong affect on a child’s level of learning readiness. I felt it was very important that the learning environment would best serve the students needs. For example, at the beginning of many of my science lessons I would start with some sort of brainstorming activity. Brainstorming would promote cooperative learning in my classroom which allowed students to work at their current learning readiness level. Every student was able to participate in this activity which allowed all students to feel like they were contributors to the learning environment. One of my struggling students had trouble putting his ideas together and creating a story for a small science report on the water cycle. After introducing the class to brainstorming before many new topics, I saw that my student was using a brainstorm mind map to write down all his ideas about the different stages of the water cycle. He then labeled these steps on his map in the order in which they occurred and he was then able to organize his thoughts and create a small science report. This brainstorming strategy really helped my struggling students to organize his thoughts and learning and write a report. This student was also sharing with other students in the classroom how he accomplish his task.
Another example of my teaching that helped me to create a learning environment with a focus on student readiness was having group and partner activities incorporated in many of my lessons. I feel that students learn best from each other and love to engage with each other during the school day. By creating opportunities during my lessons to have students communicating and collaborating with each other. These activities allowed students to explore their environment and tap into the readiness skills that they have been developing. For example, students participate in a think-pair-share activity every week which provided students with time and structure for thinking and then establishing ideas about the topic and sharing them with a peer. This think-pair-share activity allows students to communicate with each other and learn from each other as well. This strategy also promotes classroom participation and engagement amongst all students of many different learning readiness levels. In my classroom we did a think-pair-share on a short story that we read. I explained to my students that they would first think independently about the topic or answer to the question, after giving students about twenty seconds to do so, I paired students with partners and had them quietly whisper to each other what their thoughts and ideas were. Finally I had students share their ideas with the class. This strategy allowed me to also challenged students critical thinking as well. Although some of my struggling students didn’t always understand right away, the more advanced students were able to share and communicate their ideas which allowed the struggling students to be exposed to a higher level of thinking. By sharing their ideas with different peers in the class, students are able to increase their sense of involvement in classroom learning. I was able to also circulate the classroom and listen to their conversations and provide feedback to them as well. I feel that this strategy effected student learning because after doing think-pair-share activities, students would complete a worksheet independently. This assessment was able to show me how students used the ideas and thoughts from think-pair-share activity and also from their peers to understand the content and complete the worksheet on that specific topic.
The methods and ways teachers choose to teach students often can depend on the students that are being taught. Creating multiple instructional methods will allow teachers to teach effectively in an environment of diverse learners. (CET, 1999)
In my student teaching experience, hands on activities and multi-media played a huge role in making my instructional methods not only effective but memorable. Including a field trip as part of one of my lesson plans allowed students to examine real primary sources at the museum. This field trip was an exciting way to show my students how to discover different aspects of nature that surround them in their community. My teaching effected student learning because students were asked to independently analyze parts of nature that they discovered while at the museum . I was able to question students while examining these primary sources and students were able to show me the physical evidence to support their ideas and findings. I found that discovery learning allows students more opportunities to be aware of their environment as well as prove and investigate their ideas. I feel that the cognitive awareness students used to make observations and reflect on examining the primary sources helped with my students’ skill development as well.
One question that I found myself reflecting on almost every day was “How can I capture my students attention?” I was looking for ways for my teaching to have a “wow” factor that would have students excited to learn. Multi-media has come a long way and for many students these days, it is all they know and all they are interested in. Incorporating technology and learning with technology really helped me to create a learning environment for my students that was relatable and engaging. Multimedia offers many exciting possibilities for meeting the needs of diverse learners as well as enhancing student learning. (Mayer 2005) In my student teaching experience, I used BrainPop for many of my lessons. This online website offered engaging presentations of multimedia content in a way that students of many abilities could relate. For one of my lessons using BrainPop, I felt that the presentation on the smart board was most effective when my students were able to interact with the presentation. By breaking the presentation into segments, it allowed me as a teacher to make sure students were comprehending and understanding the content and material that was being communicated. Using multimedia also offered students words and pictures which lets the brain process more information in working memory. Words and pictures presented simultaneously are more effective than when presented sequentially (Mayer and Sims, 1994). This also helped students to structure their ideas better and organize the information when I asked questions at different points in the lesson. I noticed that once I started implementing the BrianPop videos into many different lessons, students would be so motivated and so excited to watch these short clips and complete the short quizzes and students were actually referring back to what they watched in the video and applying it to the content and material in other activities. By presenting the information in different ways to my students, I was able to engage learners with different learning styles and create a constant learning environment for my class.
Standards:
In this reflection Standard two is addressed which states that teachers understand how students learn and develop. I was able to meet standard two through creating a learning environment based on student readiness through brainstorming activities and partner and group activities. These examples of teaching techniques allowed me to choose content and material which was appropriate to students developmental levels. I also was able to meet standard two by having students brainstorm which allowed my students to build off of their prior knowledge and make connections to the new content. Brainstorming allowed students to think and display their knowledge through creating mind maps, graphic organizers, and diagrams. Finally I was able to meet standard two by have students work together with a partner and in groups which encouraged students to collaborate and communicate with each other and give positive feedback to their peers.
In this reflection Standard five is addressed which states that teachers use a variety of instructional methods and strategies to encourage students development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills. I was able to meet standard five through creating a learning environment which offers a variety of instructional strategies. Part of one of my lesson plans included a field trip to the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum. I was able to meet standard five by having students examine real primary sources at the museum. Students then had to create their own private museum powerpoint with a group. Students were challenged to think critically of what they would include in their museum and why they believed what they were including in their museum was important. This lesson also met standard five because I was able to incorporate technology by having students create a small powerpoint to enhance my instruction. When creating this powerpoint, students were able to use many primary sources to include in their powerpoint. I also met standard five because students were actively engaged in the creation of their group powerpoint. Finally I was also able to meet standard five by using the smart board for students to present their power points. This allowed me to use a different multi-media tool to keep students involved and engaged in their museum reflection presentation.
In this reflection Standard eight is addressed which states that teachers use an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement and self-motivation. I was able to meet standard eight through creating learning environment where students stayed motivated based on their interests. My class specifically really enjoyed using technology and they were extremely interested online web quests. I met standard eight by catering to my students interests by having students work in small groups to complete webquests. Student were reminded that they were allowed to work with a partner or two to share ideas and learning experiences which would allow them to complete a webquest every week. I was also able to meet standard eight by creating a peer feedback form and self-reflection form as well. Students would provide each other with positive reinforcements and this also helped to build students self-efficacy because they had to take ownership of their learning and also their behavior. By catering to my classrooms individual and group interests, I was able to also meet standard eight because students were very motivated and focused on the task at hand that many distractions were eliminated and the environment was able to run smoothly.
References:
Mayer, R.E. (2005) The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, R.E. and Sims, V.K. (1994) For whom is a picture worth a thousand words? Extensions of a dual-coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, pp.389-401
Creating a learning environment that caters to all my students needs was a very critical part of my teaching and effectiveness as a teacher. In order to create a learning environment where all students can learn and make connections to new material, it was important to make sure that the material they were being surrounded with and engaged with was appropriate to students developmental levels. By identifying students readiness, it would help me to engage students and understand their place in the readiness spectrum as it would relate to the content knowledge and skills. In order for students to fully benefit from school instruction, teachers must first understand the individual differences between students and understand that their background has a strong affect on a child’s level of learning readiness. I felt it was very important that the learning environment would best serve the students needs. For example, at the beginning of many of my science lessons I would start with some sort of brainstorming activity. Brainstorming would promote cooperative learning in my classroom which allowed students to work at their current learning readiness level. Every student was able to participate in this activity which allowed all students to feel like they were contributors to the learning environment. One of my struggling students had trouble putting his ideas together and creating a story for a small science report on the water cycle. After introducing the class to brainstorming before many new topics, I saw that my student was using a brainstorm mind map to write down all his ideas about the different stages of the water cycle. He then labeled these steps on his map in the order in which they occurred and he was then able to organize his thoughts and create a small science report. This brainstorming strategy really helped my struggling students to organize his thoughts and learning and write a report. This student was also sharing with other students in the classroom how he accomplish his task.
Another example of my teaching that helped me to create a learning environment with a focus on student readiness was having group and partner activities incorporated in many of my lessons. I feel that students learn best from each other and love to engage with each other during the school day. By creating opportunities during my lessons to have students communicating and collaborating with each other. These activities allowed students to explore their environment and tap into the readiness skills that they have been developing. For example, students participate in a think-pair-share activity every week which provided students with time and structure for thinking and then establishing ideas about the topic and sharing them with a peer. This think-pair-share activity allows students to communicate with each other and learn from each other as well. This strategy also promotes classroom participation and engagement amongst all students of many different learning readiness levels. In my classroom we did a think-pair-share on a short story that we read. I explained to my students that they would first think independently about the topic or answer to the question, after giving students about twenty seconds to do so, I paired students with partners and had them quietly whisper to each other what their thoughts and ideas were. Finally I had students share their ideas with the class. This strategy allowed me to also challenged students critical thinking as well. Although some of my struggling students didn’t always understand right away, the more advanced students were able to share and communicate their ideas which allowed the struggling students to be exposed to a higher level of thinking. By sharing their ideas with different peers in the class, students are able to increase their sense of involvement in classroom learning. I was able to also circulate the classroom and listen to their conversations and provide feedback to them as well. I feel that this strategy effected student learning because after doing think-pair-share activities, students would complete a worksheet independently. This assessment was able to show me how students used the ideas and thoughts from think-pair-share activity and also from their peers to understand the content and complete the worksheet on that specific topic.
The methods and ways teachers choose to teach students often can depend on the students that are being taught. Creating multiple instructional methods will allow teachers to teach effectively in an environment of diverse learners. (CET, 1999)
In my student teaching experience, hands on activities and multi-media played a huge role in making my instructional methods not only effective but memorable. Including a field trip as part of one of my lesson plans allowed students to examine real primary sources at the museum. This field trip was an exciting way to show my students how to discover different aspects of nature that surround them in their community. My teaching effected student learning because students were asked to independently analyze parts of nature that they discovered while at the museum . I was able to question students while examining these primary sources and students were able to show me the physical evidence to support their ideas and findings. I found that discovery learning allows students more opportunities to be aware of their environment as well as prove and investigate their ideas. I feel that the cognitive awareness students used to make observations and reflect on examining the primary sources helped with my students’ skill development as well.
One question that I found myself reflecting on almost every day was “How can I capture my students attention?” I was looking for ways for my teaching to have a “wow” factor that would have students excited to learn. Multi-media has come a long way and for many students these days, it is all they know and all they are interested in. Incorporating technology and learning with technology really helped me to create a learning environment for my students that was relatable and engaging. Multimedia offers many exciting possibilities for meeting the needs of diverse learners as well as enhancing student learning. (Mayer 2005) In my student teaching experience, I used BrainPop for many of my lessons. This online website offered engaging presentations of multimedia content in a way that students of many abilities could relate. For one of my lessons using BrainPop, I felt that the presentation on the smart board was most effective when my students were able to interact with the presentation. By breaking the presentation into segments, it allowed me as a teacher to make sure students were comprehending and understanding the content and material that was being communicated. Using multimedia also offered students words and pictures which lets the brain process more information in working memory. Words and pictures presented simultaneously are more effective than when presented sequentially (Mayer and Sims, 1994). This also helped students to structure their ideas better and organize the information when I asked questions at different points in the lesson. I noticed that once I started implementing the BrianPop videos into many different lessons, students would be so motivated and so excited to watch these short clips and complete the short quizzes and students were actually referring back to what they watched in the video and applying it to the content and material in other activities. By presenting the information in different ways to my students, I was able to engage learners with different learning styles and create a constant learning environment for my class.
Standards:
In this reflection Standard two is addressed which states that teachers understand how students learn and develop. I was able to meet standard two through creating a learning environment based on student readiness through brainstorming activities and partner and group activities. These examples of teaching techniques allowed me to choose content and material which was appropriate to students developmental levels. I also was able to meet standard two by having students brainstorm which allowed my students to build off of their prior knowledge and make connections to the new content. Brainstorming allowed students to think and display their knowledge through creating mind maps, graphic organizers, and diagrams. Finally I was able to meet standard two by have students work together with a partner and in groups which encouraged students to collaborate and communicate with each other and give positive feedback to their peers.
In this reflection Standard five is addressed which states that teachers use a variety of instructional methods and strategies to encourage students development of critical thinking, problem solving, and performance skills. I was able to meet standard five through creating a learning environment which offers a variety of instructional strategies. Part of one of my lesson plans included a field trip to the Hudson Highlands Nature Museum. I was able to meet standard five by having students examine real primary sources at the museum. Students then had to create their own private museum powerpoint with a group. Students were challenged to think critically of what they would include in their museum and why they believed what they were including in their museum was important. This lesson also met standard five because I was able to incorporate technology by having students create a small powerpoint to enhance my instruction. When creating this powerpoint, students were able to use many primary sources to include in their powerpoint. I also met standard five because students were actively engaged in the creation of their group powerpoint. Finally I was also able to meet standard five by using the smart board for students to present their power points. This allowed me to use a different multi-media tool to keep students involved and engaged in their museum reflection presentation.
In this reflection Standard eight is addressed which states that teachers use an understanding of individual and group motivation and behavior to create a learning environment that encourages positive social interaction, active engagement and self-motivation. I was able to meet standard eight through creating learning environment where students stayed motivated based on their interests. My class specifically really enjoyed using technology and they were extremely interested online web quests. I met standard eight by catering to my students interests by having students work in small groups to complete webquests. Student were reminded that they were allowed to work with a partner or two to share ideas and learning experiences which would allow them to complete a webquest every week. I was also able to meet standard eight by creating a peer feedback form and self-reflection form as well. Students would provide each other with positive reinforcements and this also helped to build students self-efficacy because they had to take ownership of their learning and also their behavior. By catering to my classrooms individual and group interests, I was able to also meet standard eight because students were very motivated and focused on the task at hand that many distractions were eliminated and the environment was able to run smoothly.
References:
Mayer, R.E. (2005) The Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Mayer, R.E. and Sims, V.K. (1994) For whom is a picture worth a thousand words? Extensions of a dual-coding theory of multimedia learning. Journal of Educational Psychology, 86, pp.389-401