Producing a Productive Learning Environment

#1:        

         I believe that a classroom environment that is conducive to learning is an environment in which 1) students feel comfortable, and 2) students are motivated to do work.  In my class, I want my students to feel as comfortable as possible.  I want to provide “a loving and supportive home environment,” allow students to help make decisions as to what we do, and provide students with the opportunity to work on age appropriate activities either on their own or with a group (Omrod claims that these practices fit into the model of authoritative parenting).  Students can also feel more comfortable in my class if I maintain “good working relationships with students,” create an environment in which students feel they belong, and “set reasonable limits for behavior” (Omrod, 2011).  Omrod (2011) mentions that one general management strategy is to take “student diversity into account in making classroom management decisions” (p.461).  I believe this strategy could also do much to helping create a comfortable, non-threatening classroom environment, especially if a teacher has an English Language Learner as a student.  Often, when ELLs are tossed into an English-speaking classroom they can become highly intimidated and uncomfortable.  To help alleviate this discomfort, if I have an ELL student I will engage in what Almaguer and Esquierdo (2013) call culturally relevant teaching “in which students are able to see their culture in the context of the classroom” (p.8).  In this way, ELL students are better able to connect the English instruction they are receiving in the classroom to the culture they already understand and are comfortable with.  These are all methods I would like to exercise that will make my classroom environment more comfortable for my students.

         I also believe that any classroom environment that is conducive to learning must be one in which students are intrinsically motivated to complete assigned work.  Encouraging students to intrinsically value their instruction can be much more challenging than making a classroom comfortable, but I believe it can be done.  I believe that my students are more likely to be intrinsically motivated if I set realistic goals for them to strive for, offer them frequent encouragement, and somehow find a way to tie classroom material back to their extracurricular interests and any mastery goals they may have.  This latter strategy may be the most important, because I believe that no student will be intrinsically motivated to understand the material presented if they cannot find a way in which the material relates to their personal lives and goals.  It would be extremely difficult to relate all class material to each student’s life and goals, but if it can be done I believe it should be.

#2:

         As I plan to teach high school English, I have used the “High School Case Study” as my study for which I have developed my following responses.

         It is obvious that most of the students in my music class are no longer intrinsically motivated, and I can somehow sympathize with them.  Many seniors develop a case of “senioritis” in their final year and especially during the final weeks; they no longer want to do assigned work in classes, because they cannot see how such work so near the end of their high school careers can negatively affect them and prevent them from graduating.  To make matters worse, my class takes place during fifth period, near the end of the day.  I believe this lack of intrinsic motivation has led to student’s passing notes to one another once my back is turned. 

         I can no longer ignore this misbehavior because it is not a rare occurrence, is has spread to other students, and it is interfering with classroom learning (Omrod, 2011).  Therefore, to target this misbehavior in my students, I have planned the following interventions that may help reestablish a productive learning community in my classroom.

         —1.  First, I will simply engage in conversation with those that are passing the most notes.  If I notice two students passing notes during class time, I may pass by them and tap on their desks without saying anything.  Perhaps this physical cue will let them know that I have noticed their misbehavior, and that they should stop.  If students do not stop passing notes after my tapping on their desk, I will call each student individually to my desk or office so that I can privately discuss their misbehavior with them, and let them know that I will not stand for it.

         —2.  If engaging in conversation with students about their behavior does not work, I may decide to arrange the furniture in ways that encourage certain student interaction while, at the same time, discouraging others (Omrod, 2011).  For example, since I am aware that there are certain various cliques among students, I could divide the room into four or five groups of about four or five students each.  Students will not be arranged into any group with any other student from their clique.  I will assign each group an activity (composing a short musical piece, transcribing music onto sheets, etc.) that they must work together to accomplish.  Hopefully, this will quench students’ desires to interact with others, but they will stay on task as they may not have any real personal topics to discuss with these students they rarely talk to.  With this new desk arrangement, I will display withitness by addressing each group from an angle from which I can see the rest of the class.

         The biggest threats to my productive, comfortable classroom environment are the three boys who continually make fun of the other students and who roughhouse and refuse to follow classroom behavioral procedures.  The reason these three boys are so dangerous to my classroom environment is because they are harming the classroom climate.  A classroom climate is the “general psychological environment that permeates classroom interactions” (Omrod, 2011).  In any good classroom climate students will feel safe and secure from threats (Omrod, 2011).  However, with the three boys frequently making fun of other students, especially the tenors and sopranos, the students in my class cannot feel safe and secure.  Therefore, the misbehavior of these three boys must be handled immediately and effectively.

         —1.  Again, the first step I should take is to converse with these students, first publicly but subtly (perhaps through stern eye contact), and then, if the problem progresses, through private conversations.  In these private conversations, I will try to inform the boys on how their behavior is not only disrespectful to me but, more importantly, it is disrespectful and threatening to the other students.

         —2.  I have a feeling, though, that simply talking to these students will not alleviate the problem.  Therefore, more serious measures may need to be taken.  I liked the idea that Brian presented this week about requiring a student to write ten positive things for each negative thing they say about a student.  I might try to do that with these boys.

         —3.  If that doesn’t work, I would rearrange the seating of these three boys.  I would require that two boys sit on the front row on opposite ends, while the third boy sits in the middle row in the middle seat.  Hopefully, this distance will reduce the amount of talking the boys can engage in with one another.

         —4.  If this does not work, I could require that the boys sit at desks that are completely isolated in each corner of the room.  At their desks, I would require that they complete some rote activity, such as filling an entire music sheet with quarter notes, then half notes, etc.  I would require that each of the three boys turn in a specific amount of filled-in sheets before they leave the class.  If they do not, I would give them detention.

         —5.  If none of these efforts succeed in deterring the misbehavior and reestablishing a productive learning environment in my classroom, I would contact each of the boys’ parents and, if need be, the principal. 

 Almaguer, I., Esquierdo, J. (2013). Cultivating bilingual learners’ language arts knowledge: A framework for successful teaching.  International Journal of Instruction, 6 (2), 3-18.