Classroom Environments Conducive to Learning & Responding to Misbehavior in the Classroom

When creating a classroom environment conducive to learning, my first goal will be to help my children feel welcome and have a sense of belonging. Anderman (2002) expresses, "Creating a sense of community engenders feelings of belongingness. Students see themselves as important and valued members of the classroom" (cited in Ormrod, 2011, p. 463). Several strategies I could use in an early childhood setting include displaying photographs of children's families to provide comfort and setting up cozy, homelike spaces for children to relax and feel at ease, either alone or with peers, teachers, or family members.

Another strategy I could use to help my classroom become an optimal learning environment would be to arrange the furniture, provide materials, and set up activities that encourage collaboration and communication among my children.
     

For example, in this photograph, children were given open ended materials to build with; this sparked their curiosities and invited children to work together to achieve a common goal-building a fort (Curtis & Carter, 2003, p. 55).

Thirdly, I would take my student's interests into account when planning activities and lessons for children, as these will help to engage and motivate students to learn. Further, Curtis and Carter (2003) state, "When children are offered flexible furnishings and open-ended materials, they engage in the range of activities that foster their development and learning-moving, manipulating, investigating, building, representing, creating, communicating, and problem solving" (p. 57). I want my classroom environment to support and facilitate these skills and abilities for children!

An e-portfolio I found, Creating a Positive Classroom Environment, provides real examples of ways in which a student teacher fostered an effective learning environment during her student teaching experience. I think it is important to see the ideas and perspectives of teachers currently working out in the classroom setting!

Early Childhood Education Case Study

It has been one month since the school year began and most of your 25 kindergarten students know class procedures, such as the schedule of learning activities, where they are supposed to be for each learning activity, where they are supposed to keep their personal items, and how they are expected to move about the room and the school building in order to ensure a productive learning environment.  But then there is Willard.  He must ask 20 or more times a day, “Teacher, when can we go outside to play?”  In addition, he often does not stay where he should to work on a given learning activity.  Instead, you find him wandering around the room and getting into other children’s personal things.  Three times this past week you looked up just in time to see Willard walking out of the classroom without permission.  Some of the other children in your classroom community have started making fun of Willard.  Others are beginning to become less engaged in their learning.

In this situation, I feel that Willard needs more guidance and redirection. The first step I would take to help Willard would be to set up the environment in a way that would be supportive to this child. For example, providing a visual schedule of the day to remind Willard of what he should be doing and a picture chart with the classroom rules and procedures. These reminders may be drawn to Willard's attention during a morning meeting or group time. During this time, I would also address the topic of bullying and making fun of others with the whole class, perhaps through role playing with puppets or finding a quality children's book that discusses the importance of respecting your peers. 

If Willard's behavior continues, I would begin to give him cues. For instance, if I notice he is wandering around the classroom, I may give him a stern look that demonstrates his action is not acceptable or give him a verbal directive, "Return to your table." Ormrod (2011) describes this response, "Effective classroom managers handle such minor behavior problems as unobtrusively as possible: They don't stop the lesson, distract other students, or call unnecessary attention to the inappropriate behavior" (p. 486). 

If his behaviors continue to persist and are interfering with other student's learning processes, I would sit down and have a one-on-one conversation with the child about the class procedures and explicitly state to him my expectations; for example, "I expect you to stay at the table when working on an activity" or "It is not appropriate to walk out of the classroom without permission." It is expressed by Ormrod (2011), "Private conversations with individual students give us, as teachers, a chance to explain why certain behaviors must stop. They also give students a chance to explain why they behave as they do" (p. 487). 

After all three of these strategies have been implemented and there is no change in behavior, I may reach out to the parents and discuss his routines at home. Is he able to follow a routine at home consistently? If so, I can seek out ideas from his parents about what takes place at home and incorporate these ideas at school for Willard.

References: 

Curtis, D. & Carter, M. (2003). Designs for Living and Learning: Transforming Early

            Childhood Environments. St Paul, MN: Redleaf Press.

McLaughlin, J. Creating a positive classroom learning environment.
http://sitemaker.umich.edu/mclaughlin_portfolio/creating_a_positive_classroom_environment

Ormrod, J.E. (2011). Educational Psychology: Developing Learners. Boston, MA: Pearson.

Theories of Motivation

What exactly is motivation? Ormrod (2011) states, "Motivation is something that energizes, directs, and sustains behavior; it gets students moving, points them in a particular direction, and keeps them going" (p. 362). When I think of motivation, I think about what it is that makes me want to do something or is making me stick with a task. The types of motivation that are most instructive in my life are extrinsic and intrinsic, as well as the sociocultural theory of motivation.

I am extrinsically motivated when outside, unrelated factors are motivating me to perform a task. For example, I can think back to class review games, in which my teacher would reward the winning team with extra credit points on our exams. By being provided with an external reward, I was motivated to actively participate and succeed in the task at hand. Extrinsic motivators, like rewards and good grades,  can be enticing to students and encourage them to perform as a means to an end.

Intrinsic motivation comes when I, myself am motivated to do something without outside factors influencing me. For instance, I am motivated to volunteer with children's ministries simply because I find pleasure in working with this age group. Therefore, when I find a classroom task to be enjoyable and intriguing to me, that is all the motivation I need to complete it. An article I found, Several Ways To Engage Students Without Carrots & Sticks, highlights several ways in which teachers can help tap into student's intrinsic motivation. Some examples of how this could be included in my classroom are the following: build strong, secure relationships with my students and help them to know that their learning is most important, provide opportunities for children to have a choice and make decisions in their learning, and incorporate the student's interests into my curriculum to create relevancy.

The sociocultural theory also explains aspects of my motivation as, "Many aspects of motivation are the result of social and cultural factors, such as the norms for behavior that parents, peers, and others communicate and encourage" (Ormrod, 2011, p. 363). As a child, I worked hard in school to receive good grades to meet the approval of my parents. However, the importance and act of doing well in school eventually became an internalized behavior, without any pressure from my parents to do so. This enhances motivation as initially a child may be doing something because of the expectations of others, but over time, the child may see the importance of the task and become intrinsically motivated.


Ormrod, J.E. (2011). Educational psychology: Developing learners. (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson  
         Education, Inc.

Post Two: Forms of Assessments

Paper-pencil vs. Performance Assessment:

Paper-pencil assessment: In this form, I would give students homework, a test, or a task that involves a written response to some type of question. For example, if we are working on word problems in a lesson, I would have the children work out practice problems afterwards or for homework. By having the children show their work, I may be able to better assess if the children understand how to solve word problems, or see where the students are having difficulties and need more instruction.

Performance assessment: With middle school or high school students in a literacy class, I would invite them to create a script to be acted out, corresponding to a book read for class. With this task, the students will demonstrate their perceptions of the book within their scripts; they may also be more focused while reading the book, paying attention to aspects they want to incorporate into their drama scenes. Further, this form of assessment may be more engaging to students, rather than a book report or quiz.


Standardized Test vs. Teacher-developed Assessment: 

Standardized test: Some examples of standardized tests that are used within many different classrooms and schools include the TCAP, ACT, SAT, GRE, etc. These types of tests are used to assess a student's level of achievement, in general terms. Standardized tests can be useful to teachers, as they provide insight as to whether or not children are meeting state standards and objectives.

Teacher-developed assessment: With a toddler classroom I taught in, I created a classroom checklist to gauge children's learning of a specific objective; for example, classifying objects. This form of assessment was both practical and beneficial for my lesson planning. By keeping the checklist readily available, I am always able to take note if I observe a child demonstrating knowledge or a specific skill. Further with a checklist, I am able to see where children demonstrate achievement or need more guidance and practice; by having this knowledge, I can plan further lessons based upon the needs of the children.

Criterion-referenced vs. Norm-referenced Assessment: 

Criterion-referenced assessment: After a math unit on long-division with third graders, I could have the students complete a test on long-divison problems. On the test, I would include problems with different levels of difficulty. By seeing how many questions the children correctly worked out and the level of difficulty they were able to solve, I can gauge if they have mastered the skill of long-division or if I need to provide further instruction and more experiences with this math topic.

Norm-referenced assessment: In an elementary school, each of the fourth grade teachers could give their students the same weekly spelling test. Each teacher can then compare the results of his or her students with those in the other classrooms. This form of assessment demonstrates how one student's performance (spelling ability) stacks up against another.

Traditional vs. Authentic Assessment: 

Traditional assessment: In a classroom with older toddlers, I assessed whether or not they were able to sort objects into separate categories, such as rocks, sticks, leaves, etc. In this assessment, I could determine if the child could sort objects or not, based upon how he or she grouped the materials. For example, if the child grouped rocks with leaves,  it would be determined that he or she has not yet mastered the skill of sorting and needs more experience and practice.

Authentic Assessment: With this form of assessment, I would work alongside children to help them create a portfolio of their work to share with peers, teachers, and families at the end of a semester or school year. In the portfolio, children collect artifacts, including samples of their writing, journal entries, tests, drawings, recordings of presentations, and photographs. By using a portfolio as a means of assessment, I am able to have meaningful conversations with children about their work, progress, and development, as well as am able to see the children's accomplishments over time, Further, as children create their portfolios, they may reflect on the work they have completed as they choose what to include.

Informal vs. Formal Assessment: 

Informal assessment: In a classroom, this form of assessment will continually be taking place on a daily basis. For instance, during a class lesson, a child responds to a question I ask. By observing and taking note of the child's comment, I am assessing his or her understanding of the question. These informal observations can be used to gauge what children know and understand, and inform teachers of the areas in which children need further support.

Formal assessment: This method of assessment could be used in a fifth grade classroom through the form of journal writings. It could be planned to have one day a week in which the children are prepared to write about a topic that was covered in class that week. Children may discuss in these journals new things they learned regarding a topic or demonstrate they have a clear understanding of the topic. Journal entries provide children the opportunity to fully express their knowledge, perhaps more than an end of the unit multiple-choice test.