Learning Environment: What Will Be Your Class Vibe?

This one is going to be short and sweet (maybe).  It seems as though it is crunch time for a lot of our projects, and even though I have tried to stay on top, I still have a lot to get done!  This is good for me because I feel it is preparing me very well for the pressures and dealings we will have as a teacher: on top of instruction and lesson planning, having to work with parents and satisfy our school systems and administrators requirements.  This is in no way a negative outlook, but it is realistic!  I am stoked to be a fulltime teacher very soon, but I still need to focus on the tasks at hand.


This week, I was able to visit another edCamp.  I know, "ain't no body got time for dat!" (sp?) But I really learn a lot from these and they have given me some great insight on the positives and negatives teachers face on a day to day basis from veteran and current teachers.  I have been pondering for a while now what my classroom will be like.  I know it will probably be nothing like I am imagining, but I want to prepare ahead of time and have been making a mental checklist in my head as I prepare for lessons, Unit design and classroom management.  But the MOST important aspect I want to include and make the highest priority is the STUDENTS.  As important as what they learn, I am heavily pondering the WAY they learn!  This is what we have been studying and writing about for the past year or more right?  Our Pedagogy and educational theories are going to be paramount to our success and the students' success as well as how we "brand" ourselves as teachers.  Now I know we are not all going to be Ron Clark, but it is important to me to not be another robot teacher (I love them as well) but I just don't see the enjoyment in that.  I don't want to hate life 5 years from now.  We can (with our Principal's blessing) think outside of the box in our teaching, provide the best teaching experience and environment for students, and create and design new and better ways to teach students!  Students are with us for 7 or so hours a day, I feel we owe it to them to make good use of their time as well as making learning exciting and fun!


In an article I have read a few times from Teach Thought, the author lays out 10 Characteristics of A Highly Effective Learning Environment.  I felt number 4 and 7 really jump out at me.  4 is about varying our delivery methods to suit the needs of many different students/learners:


"Inquiry-based learning, project-based learning, direct instruction, peer-to-peer learning, school-to-school, eLearning, Mobile learning, the flipped classroom, and on and on—the possibilities are endless. Chances are, none are incredible enough to suit every bit of content, curriculum, and learner diversity in your classroom. A characteristic of a highly-effective classroom, then, is diversity here, which also has the side-effect of improving your long-term capacity as an educator" (Teach Thought.com)  


And 7 is about assessment:


"Assessment is just an (often ham-fisted) attempt to get at what a learner understands. The more infrequent, clinical, murky, or threatening it is, the more you’re going to separate the “good students” from the “good thinkers.” And the “clinical” idea has less to do with the format of the test, and more to do with the tone and emotion of the classroom in general. Why are students being tested? What’s in it for them, and their future opportunities to improve? (teachthought.com)


The rest of the article is a good quick read as well.  But thinking about these two, I think how am I going to do assessment in a way that I can track student progress the best and what delivery method will work the best?  I think the more I experiment with each of these, the more proficient I will become and the better I can understand how to use them.  This falls in line with NCPTS 4H:




IVh •


Teachers use a variety of methods to assess what each student has learned.


Teachers use multiple indicators, including formative and summative assessments, to evaluate student progress and growth as they strive to eliminate achievement gaps. Teachers provide opportunities, methods, feedback, and tools for students to assess themselves and each other. Teachers use 21st century assessment systems to inform instruction and demonstrate evidence of students' 21st century knowledge, skills, performance, and dispositions.


This is very important to me as a future teacher and as I continue to learn more and experience more, I look for new ways and possibilities to add and contribute to my learning community and my future students.  I still have a long way to go, but I know I will be successful in this pursuit.  What are some ideas you all have to build on this idea?







RESOURCES:







http://www.teachthought.com/learning/10-characteristics-of-a-highly-effective-learning-environment/