The primary goal of the learning environment standard is to motivate teachers to build a classroom community based on acceptance and respect, to provide a consistent and fair environment that encourages student progress, to use varied instructional methods that maximize learning time, and to use individual, small group, and whole group activities. Creating an effective learning environment takes planning, consistency, and determination and should be supported by a solid classroom management plan.
Classroom Culture
By creating an open and welcoming classroom, the teacher opens the door to all students despite differences in culture, socioeconomic situations, gender, special needs, and more. Students who feel accepted are more likely to participate in class discussions and will learn more and build better peer relationships. Teachers should remind students that they are not interested in policing them, but instead, are there because they truly care about each child’s educational goals and success.
Classroom Layout and Design
I will start the school year by having 5-6 clusters of desks laid out in the “wagon wheel” style as discussed in “Tools for Teaching” by Fred Jones. Seating will be randomly assigned and periodically changed. When I learn more about my students, I will be better able to strategically place students in the room.
Flexible Seating
Eventually, I would like to move to flexible seating for my students. During my student teaching experience, I was able to observe a classroom that had recently started using flexible seating. With this style of seating, the students were all assigned a “home-base” that they returned to several times a day, but when working on assignments, they were allowed to move around the room to different types of seating including a couch, tables, traditional desks, or crate seats.
Classroom Decor
My room decor will include posters with classroom rules and photos. It will also include other colorful decorations relevant to my grade. Inclusion will be a large part of my classroom culture so I plan to have photographs and art work representing a variety of different cultures and places.
[huge_it_slider id=”2″]
For further information, please see my Professional Practice Standard Paper on Learning Environment.