Important elements of the Learning Environment

Theory, research and experience have taught me some important elements of the learning environment which are essential for effective teaching and learning to take place. Some of these are - Setting norms/rules that establish clear expectations and routines/procedures which lay out the process to be followed for seamless classroom transitions. Building positive relationships with students is another area which is critical because learning can be maximised only when students trust me and believe that I want the best for them and will help them become better at Math. In order to keep the learning curve moving up, students will need to be adequately challenged at each step and I intend to do this by setting high expectations which will clearly demonstrate my belief that each student is capable of achieving stellar results. There will be times when I will have to differentiate learning but the important step prior to this would be to assess which students require differentiated learning. Last but not the least, for learning to be effective and for each of us to get the most out of our 45 minutes each day, classroom management skills would be essential to avert disruptions by using proactive rather than reactive measures.

Things I think I can do best

There are some parts of creating an effective learning environment that I am confident of implementing. First of these would be classroom management. I am comfortable with setting rules and procedures and have started practicing this at the beginning of this academic year. In my case, I move from class to class therefore the procedures revolve around students being ready when I walk in and we can start immediately without wasting time. Transitions are something I had never tried before but have started breaking up the lesson into smaller chunks. Transitions in our small classrooms in terms of movement is quite a challenge, therefore, to break monotony, I break up the lesson into instruction time, activity, game and sharing. Second, I am confident and, I would say, quite successful in averting disruptions. Prior to receiving the Teach Now education, I would just be strict and not allow disruptions but now I have started looking into why there is defiance or disruptive behavior, especially students talking to each other. I, therefore, try to keep them challenged and engaged. These are the areas which I have tested and where I think I am getting better.

Fears and Challenges

While watching the video on New Teacher Survival Guide - Classroom Management, one thing that really struck me is when Jackie Ancess, a 30 year veteran in the New York state Public Education system says "If you really want to do a good job, it's very hard." My biggest fear is that I will try to do everything right and according to what I have learnt, that there is every chance that I will burn out. What helps, is being conscious of this and taking small steps.

The one area that I have always found very challenging and continue to struggle with is handling students with different language and academic abilities. In our school, like most others I would imagine, students are accepted into a class based on their age and not on the basis of their academic ability. For example, I currently have a student in my Grade 3 classroom who not only does not speak a word of English but also cannot compute basic one and two digit addition and subtraction. I feel terrible that I am not being able to help him. There are two reasons for this - One,I don't have the time because I am busy working with students who know English but have not attained mastery in place value, writing numbers in expanded form and standard form. Second, I am busy trying to keep the intelligent and quick learners engaged and challenged.

The other fear I have is, whilst trying to practice and implement what I have learnt I may not be able to stick to the required pace in order to complete the course. The way I intend dealing with this is by approaching the syllabus according to concepts rather than chapters and sub chapters. I may not be able to have students complete every question on every page but through assessments if I am able to determine that the class has attained mastery in one particular concept, I will move to the next concept.

I have mixed feelings about what I can offer to my Autistic Spectrum student to make learning fun and effective for him. We are in week 3 of the school year and I find that I am so focussed on keeping him calm, engaged and happy that I am not paying adequate attention to how he is progressing on the learning front. I have to strike a balance to ensure his learning curve is growing and he is happy.

Finally, I am concerned about how parents will react to some of my new ways of doing things, especially the use of technology and for this I think communicating with them and clarifying my objective will help.

References:

New Teacher Survival Guide - Classroom Management. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/video/new-teacher-classroom-management

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/70/bf/43/70bf43bfc7276a2fa19d4e5b86daeb12.jpg