PLE Post 3: Creating Productive Learning Environments

Prompt:  

Based on our readings and class discussion, how will you create a learning environment that is conducive to learning?  

Now consider your CSEL case study.  Develop a full continuum of responses for dealing with the misbehavior of your case.  

I want to do everything in my power, as a teacher, to create a learning environment in my classroom that is conducive to learning.  In order to achieve this goal, I must effectively manage my classroom.  One of the class slides indicates that "classroom management is the number one concern of beginning teachers."  I am one of those beginning teachers who is FREAKING out about classroom management.  I am a non-confrontational, smiley, giggly girl, and I worry that these characteristics may make it challenging for me to effectively manage my classroom during my internship year and in my beginning years as a teacher.  I have had this concern for awhile.  So, when I noticed that last week's class discussions would be covering this topic, my ears perked up!  In reading and through class discussion, I have learned that creating a productive learning environment involves: conveying expectations to students, creating an ideal "classroom climate," establishing productive teacher-student relationships, fostering effective communication with parents/guardians, planning, and monitoring behavior.  

I will briefly discuss how I will attempt to achieve each of these objectives...

1. Convey expectations to students:  I plan to display a short list of positively stated expectations/guidelines for my classroom.  I discuss with my students why each guideline is beneficial.  I want students to know that these guidelines were created to help them learn as much as possible and ensure that everyone in the class is treated with respect.   
2. Create an ideal "classroom climate:"  I want students to feel comfortable, at-ease, and welcome in my classroom.  I want to decorate my room in a way that it is aesthetically pleasing, but not distracting or overwhelming.  I want to always treat my students with respect and demand that they treat themselves, others, and me with respect as well.  I also want to make sure that each of my students are safe, adequately fed, and cared for.  I want to conduct engaging, productive, and creative lessons.  I want to welcome student questions, input, and commentary (on occasion).  Overall, I want to create a classroom climate that fosters productive "classroom interactions."
3. Establish productive teacher-student relationships:  I want to convey to my students that I care about, appreciate, and respect them.  I want to be a good listener.  I want to make sure that I do not play favorites!  Favoritism can really detract from learning in my opinion!   
4. Communicate effectively with parents/guardians:  Just like we talked about in class, I want to keep parents "in the loop."  I want to head Anne's advice and reach out to all parents during the first few weeks of the school year (Call up each parent and introduce myself and tell them at least one thing that I like about their child).  I will make an effort to promptly respond to parent questions.  
5. Plan:  Anne mentioned that students tend to misbehave most during transition times or times throughout the day when structure is minimal.  I hope to establish routines during transition times (play "heads up seven up" during a lull, write in daily journal right before lunch/encore classes, etc.)  I want to provide enough structure throughout the day so that these transition times and lull times are very short.  If students are engaged in productive tasks, they will be less likely to behave in a disruptive or inappropriate manner.  
6. Monitor behavior:  In class, we discussed "cueing."  I hope to cue students who are off-task by giving them "the look."  This involves maintaining eye contact with the student to communicate nonverbally that you want them to get back to work or stop what they are doing.  I also want to make sure that each of my student's desks are accessible to me.  I want to be able to walk around the room to determine if students are "on task."  I will tap my finger on the desks of any students who are not "on task" to communicate to them that they need to focus.

In exploring classroom management beyond our text and class discussion, I came across this website (Teaching Channel Classroom Management Techniques).  This site offers FANTASTIC short video clips on "managing transitions, utilizing creative attention-getters, creating a positive classroom culture, etc."  I'm sure that I will refer to this webpage throughout my internship year and early teaching career!  

CSEL Case Study: Full Continuum for Dealing with Misbehavior

1. First, I would make my proximity and presence known to Lisa and her small group.  I would walk around the classroom, but linger at this group's table during cooperative learning activities.  I would "cue" Lisa when she behaves inappropriately (anger, refusal to contribute, interrupts, failure to pay attention).  
2. If the strategies presented in #1 fail to change Lisa's behavior, I will conference with Lisa in private about the problem.  In this conference, we would discuss how Lisa's behavior is detracting from learning and cooperation.  I would explicitly explain to Lisa what behaviors must cease.  I also want to explain to Lisa how to behave and interact with her peers (listen, contribute,  let others finish what they are saying before speaking, convey emotions in a positive way, be courteous, etc.)
3.  If #1 and #2 fail, I would resort to more intensive measures with Lisa.  I would probably call a parent-teacher-student conference.  I would inquire as to why Lisa is behaving in this way.  I would explain to Lisa that the way she is acting during cooperative group work is absolutely unacceptable.  Lisa, her parents, and I would come up with a behavioral contract.  Lisa will refer to this contract during every group work activity.  If she breaks the contract, I will revert to even more intensive measures (explained in #4).  
4. If Lisa breaks the behavioral contract, I will remove her from her small group.  I will insist that she complete individual work.  My hope is that this strategy will serve as punishment rather than reinforcement for her behavior.  After a few days of working in solitude, I will conference with Lisa about potentially rejoining her group.  

PLE Post 2: Motivation

Consider the theories of motivation that we discussed in class. Which theories of motivations are most helpful and instructive to you? How can they enhance motivation and affect your students?

The motivational theories I consider most helpful to me as an individual and as a future teacher include: Humanistic theory, Expectancy versus Value theory, and Goal theory.

Being a Psychology major, I am familiar with Humanistic theory. Maslow theorizes on human motivation through the concept referred to as "Maslow's Heirarchy of Needs." In this theory, Maslow proposes that humans move through a heirarchy of needs. These needs include: physiological needs, safety needs, love/belonging needs, esteem needs, and self-actualization needs. Under this theory, humans are motivated to move higher up on the heirarchy only if the need just below is already met. For example, if an individual does not experience love or a sense of belongingness, then he or she will experience esteem/confidence issues. As a future teacher, I certainly want to keep this theory fresh in my mind. According to this theory, problems with self-esteem can inhibit self-actualizing concepts such as creativity, morality, problem-solving, etc. Therefore, if one of my future students has a low self-esteem, he might experience academic and social difficulties. This theory helps me understand that not all academic difficulties result from laziness, potential disabilities, or behavior problems. I must do all that I can to ensure that my students' basic needs are met.

In addition to Humanistic Motivational theory, I also found the Expectancy vs. Value theory interesting and valuable as an individual and as a future educator. According to this theory, two factors determine motivation, expectancy and value. I find this theory perfectly applicable to my life and my motivational tendencies. Last semester, my favorite class was Geography of South America. I adored the course and knew exactly what I needed to do to prepare for the final exam (I had completed two other tests in the course, I knew what to expect). If I adequately prepared for the test, I knew that I would perform well (I had a high expectation of success). I found the course material interesting and valuable (I wanted to know more about South America to be a more knowledgable, informed person). In this situation, I was highly motivated to perform well on the test and I had a lot of confidence going into this task. Sure enough, I did great! However, when I have lower expectations of success at a task and when I see little value in a task, I am less motivated to prepare adequately and less likely to enter into the task with confidence. Understanding the Expectancy vs. Value theory will help me immensely as a future educator. In presenting a task to my students, I must enstill in them a high expectation of success and I must enable them to see the value in the task. Then, according to this theory, I will have a classroom full of highly motivated students!

The third and final theory that I would like to address is Goal Theory. In class last week, I learned that goals greatly affect motivation. In discussing this theory, I would like to focus on performance goals and learning goals. Quite simply, Performance goals are goals based on performance. An example of a performance goal might be "I want to get an A in this course." Performance goals have to do with competence. In contrast, the intention of "learning goals" is to learn rather than perform. An example of a learning goal that I had last semester was "I want to learn all about the countries of South America because I find South America an intriguing, complex, and beautiful continent." Goals that are "learning-focused" are ideal. These goals foster long-term, deep learning and understanding of concepts, facts, ideas, etc. As a future educator, I want children to see the intrinsic value of learning the course content. However, I also recognize the benefits of performance goals. Performance goals can provide students with incentives to learn even when they fail to recognize the intrinsic value in a task. Goal theory is directly applicable to education, I am so glad that I have a better understanding of this motivational theory.

In researching motivation in children, I came across an article titled, “Raising Self-Motivated Children.” This article is based off of the book, Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning, by Kathy Seal. In this article, Seal emphasizes meaningful learning. Seal stresses the importance of helping children to see the inherent value in learning tasks. Children must be able to connect and apply course content to their lives. In this article, Seal indirectly supports aspects of both Expectancy vs. Value theory and Goal theory as they relate to motivation in elementary school students! 

For my followers, I promise not all my posts will be this long.  I wasn't sure how to go about this first major post, I'm sorry!

PLE Post 1: Introduction

After the first class, take a moment to reflect on what was discussed. What are your personal objectives for the class? What do you want to explore deeper? What questions or concerns do you have?

Last Thursday, I was introduced to the course titled, Educational Psychology 401. After conducting the typical "first day of class business," such as examining the syllabus and introductions, Anne revealed the course objectives to our class. She mentioned that we would be exploring topics including: motivation, classroom management, learning styles, assessment, diversity, reflective practice, cognitive development, etc.

In all honesty, I am interested in all of these topics. I am actually a psychology major, so this course content is my cup of tea. Pertaining to this course in particular, I am excited to explore psychological topics as they relate to education. After completing this course, I want to have a better understanding of how students learn, what inhibits their learning, and what I can do to teach in a way that is most conducive to their learning and success. These are my personal learning objectives for this course.

Thusfar, I have not had the opportunity to learn about classroom management. I am extremely interested in this component of the course. I realize that, for students to experience good, effective education, I must maintain a well-managed classroom. As of now, I have not a clue as to how to go about that.

Another topic that I would like to explore deeper is "personal learning styles." I know that students learn in a variety of ways. As a future teacher, I understand that differentiating instruction in order to cater to all students is of great importance. I hope that exploring "personal learning styles" will help be know how to acheive this differentiated instruction.

In conclusion, I am really excited about taking this course. I love psychology and I love education. So, this course is probably the course for me! At the moment, I can't really come up with any questions or concerns. I am just eager to learn. I want to learn this course content, and how to apply it!