My Ideal Learning Environment

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As an instructor, it is important to come up with a suitable plan to employ in the course of teaching. The plan should align with the course objectives and be a good fit for the learners. For effective learning, the environment should be conducive for both the teacher and learners. It is important to understand the nature of learners to come up with the best way of handling them. Teachers deal with different personalities because they deal with learners from diverse backgrounds and upbringing. It is upon the instructor to get creative on the most practical way of handling the students considering their different personalities and abilities. The teacher should develop ways of establishing boundaries among learners and with the instructor. This text discusses my vision for an ideal learning environment for an English class, a grade 11 class with most students ranging from 16-to 17 years.

Creating and Maintaining a Respectful and Collaborative Class of Actively Engaged Learners

There are various strategies I can employ to create a mutually respectful and collaborative class of actively engaged learners. Mutual respect is important as it creates an environment for safety, motivation and respect for students. First, I will establish a clear expectation on the first day of interaction with the learners. Communicating clear classroom expectations from the onset is important as it provides a chance to set class rules and procedures with the learners (Driver, Zimmer, & Murphy, 2018). The rules should be written down on the wall everyone can see. It is important to consider having one single rule –observing respect. The learners will be required to respect each other, their instructor, themselves, and their property. Additionally, instructors should convey their expectations to their learners at this juncture. Furthermore, another way of maintaining a respectful class is modeling respectful conduct at all times. As a teacher, it is important to lead by example as it goes a long way in pushing learners to become respectful too. Respect can be shown to learners by addressing them in a calm voice. Teachers should speak to their manners in a way they would expect them to also speak to them. Also, teachers should address support staff and administrators with the utmost respect. Another way to ensure students remain respectful is being consistent with them. This means enforcing rules with fairness and without favoritism and administering punishment as warranted. When administering punishment, it is important to do it privately to protect the students’ dignity. The teacher should explain the reason for punishment calmly before finishing with a positive comment such as “You knew there would be repercussions when you were interrupting class. I look forward to seeing you in class tomorrow. To create collaboration, instructors should encourage their students to learn from each other. Discussions can help confused students to understand concepts better and view them in a new way. If a student reports a case where interactions such as group studies have yielded a good result, teachers should make reference to the incident as an example. This will encourage top-performing students to pair up and want to help average learners in a bid to boost their performance in that subject.

Building Relationships

As a teacher, there are various strategies I can employ to build stronger relationships with my students. The first strategy is to show the learners that you care for them. It is unfortunate that there is a growing trend that most students that drop out of school believe that their instructors do not care for them. The first step to making the teacher-learner relationship stronger is communicating feelings in a manner that shows empathy. Teachers should mind the way they talk to students, particularly in the presence of their peers. Additionally, telling them good morning and goodbye every day is important. Also, teachers can show students they care by paying attention to students that seem withdrawn, display high emotions, and disrupt class (Claessens, van Tartwijk, van der Want, Pennings, Verloop, den Brok, & Wubbels, 2017). Moreover, to strengthen the teacher-student relationship, teachers should always consider their learners’ perspectives. Just as a teacher encourages students to be empathetic towards each other, so should they demonstrate understanding of their situations. Teachers should put themselves in the student’s shoes and try to understand their situations from their perspective. Teachers can better understand their students by asking them what goes on outside the classroom and how they feel about the teacher. Giving students constructive criticism and offering them words of encouragement goes a long way in establishing mutual respect and trust and building their relationship with their instructor.

Ideal Classroom Organization

To ensure that all the students’ needs, including those with special needs the first step would be to designate the various learning areas and zones in the classroom. When thinking about different zones within the classroom, they should ensure they match the seating locations with the learning styles. While some students function best if positioned next to their peers, others work best if positioned alone and away from other students. Furthermore, other students have sensory or special needs, so they will need to move. For example, students that have sensory needs can be provided with a bouncy chair that allows them to bounce as their work. They can also use a disk-o-seat cushion which is an inflated cushion which provides core balance and sensory solution. Students can be able to move with this cushion. Foam pads can also be employed on the chair surface or ground surface to make disabled students more comfortable. In terms of organization, I will keep them power cords, electrical cords, and other wires away from walkways. Desks will be kept away from walkways to prevent hazardous situations. In case of an emergency, learners should be able to move around. Furniture and other obstacles should not impede students from exiting the classroom in the case of a fire or any other emergency. Moreover, in the arrangement, I will ensure to incorporate different learning zones and areas. One way to classify the classroom for maximum functioning is to have at least four areas. Area 1 would be for individual desks. These are the most traditional desks and should be reserved that function well alone and have a hard time pairing with their classmates. Area 2 should be reserved for small groupings and tables. Students in this sector are those that find it easy to cooperate. Area 3 should be left for a flexible seating area. These areas should be a combination of students that fit in all other areas. Area 4 should be left for students that require to be moved around frequently, the stander and the pacers. Such students seem to perform best if constantly moved around the classroom.

Behavior Management Plan

My behavior management plan supports this vision because it considers the most important aspects that comprise effective learning. Creating and promoting respect is important as it helps set boundaries, which is an important foundation for learning. The plan supports the vision of having an effective learning environment as it explores the aspect of building a solid teacher-learner relationship. Moreover, physical organization in a classroom contributes heavily to students’ learning ability and performance. By working on the behavioral and other issues mentioned here-in, both learners and teachers would benefit heavily from the learning process.

References

Claessens, L. C., van Tartwijk, J., van der Want, A. C., Pennings, H. J., Verloop, N., den Brok, P. J., & Wubbels, T. (2017). Positive teacher–student relationships go beyond the classroom, problematic ones stay inside. The Journal of Educational Research, 110(5), 478-493.

Driver, M., Zimmer, K., & Murphy, K. (2018). Using mixed reality simulations to prepare preservice special educators for collaboration in inclusive settings. Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, 26(1), 57-77.