Skip to content Appendix 1: Building an effective learning environment. Activity A. In order to create the learning environment for HIST in Scenario E, Ralph Goodyear carefully considered the learning environment he wanted to create and ones he had little or no control over.
What components do you think he had little or no control over? What would you add or remove from the learning environment in Figure A. Could you design a similar model of a learning environment from the perspective of a learner?
What would be the main differences? Does thinking about the whole learning environment overly complicate the teaching endeavour? Why not just get on with it? Previous: A. Next: A. Asking a small group of students to suggest solutions to a challenging situation that affects them directly, is just one example of how educators can bring in student voice to our classrooms.
Further, characters and their actions can be discussed at great length to help students learn what others have done to overcome challenges. A classroom is a haven for many students living with adversity.
For instance, students should have input in the arrangement and design of their classroom including desks and wall space to facilitate collaboration, discussion, and individual work. This type of environment fosters a sense of belonging and of feeling valued, competent, and safe. Classroom activities that use routines and rituals are critical for alleviating the unpredictable nature of living with adversity.
They help students to reclaim normalcy and control by supporting a downshift from a fearful state to a calmer and more positive one. Here are practices that Janetta Wallace, a high school chemistry teacher, uses to implement the five elements of a strengths-based classroom environment. Janetta takes time to build relationships with her students. She meets with guidance counselors to find out about students living with adversity. She has students complete a series of questions on their first day of class.
These include questions such as: Tell me about a teacher you really liked and what he or she did that you appreciated. How do you like to get feedback from a teacher? Do you have some specific concerns about our chemistry class? For example, knowing that her students see or hear a train traveling by their school every day, she takes her class on a short walk to the railroad tracks.
She explains that the tracks are welded together using a chemical reaction to form miles of runway for trains. When students arrive back in the classroom, she tells them to work in small groups to discuss how they think the tracks are welded together without engineers having to haul tons of metal to the location where the tracks are laid.
She involves students in designing the classroom environment for paired and group discussions. Because each group is creating a poster of their choice about the process of a chemical reaction, they are involved in more than designing the location of their seats, they also define what is needed on the walls of their classroom to help guide them in this task.
She assigns each student to specific pairs and groups that she believes will work well together. They always look to see how desks are arranged. They notice what is hanging on the walls. The way in which a teacher sets up their class allows them to communicate with their students non-verbally. By adding various learning centers or activity centers, the students will know that this is a classroom where the teacher likes to do hands-on experiments. EAL Coordinator: Responsible for helping students achieve better results academically.
She is fond of English language learning and teaches across all levels of students. She uses a range of teaching strategies to accommodate to students different learning styles and their unique needs. The environment of the classroom truly matters for the students! How do you encourage shared writing in your class?
Shared writing is taught to small groups or a whole class in briskly paced, 5- to minute lessons. Plan lessons for types of writing that present particular challenges to your students. Shared writing is an activity that usually help my students work as a team. Students may write a letter to a local newspaper or directions for a new game During the writing, model processes needed by your students.
When the text is done, post in an accessible spot in the classroom The main purpose of doing shared writing with s econd language learners is to make your students learn different forms and functions of writing, as they observe and participate in writing events. What materials do you need?
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