I think a fertile learning environment is where teachers treat students as peers, and accept and respect them as intellectual students whose belief and opinions are paid attention to, honored, and appreciated. I also like working in a classroom where students and instructors interact and dialogue. I also see a fertile learning environment as an atmosphere that promotes academic freedom and encourages experimentation and originality. I feel I have been learning in an environment where students feel safe and supported, where individual needs and uniqueness are honored, particularly in the LAC301 class. The intensive learning environment I have been experiencing in this class has catalyzed a fundamental shift in the way I look at university education. Learning about the benefits of a liberal arts education has changed the way I see the world. In addition, I have come to understand that the LAC301 class offers both physical comfort and psychological safety in the learning setting. Issues such as a structured classroom, comfortable chairs, and nearby bathrooms can make a huge difference in the quality and impact of the learning experience. I also like the way we do things in class. For example, I find the discussion time we have in class very valuable and important to my learning process. Since I have been in LAC 301, I have been filled with a positive attitude toward education and a solid basic foundation that will be used throughout my entire career at Marylhurst University.
I come from a different culture where the educational system involves a lot of negatives and is tough and stressful. The classrooms accommodate large groups; a typical classroom in a Sri Lankan college seats about fifty students, usually arranged in rows fac...
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...s important to find a balance between individual and collective learning activities in an educational environment.
In order to promote learning, members need to share in its accountability to create a successful, challenging community. In addition, the community should not use lectures to teach, but instead use Socratic formats that allow a dialogue to develop between the student and teacher. The exchange between students should be significant. Learning is facilitated when connections are created throughout the entire learning community for accomplishing important work. Busy work and meaningless social activities are damaging to the learning community, just as the Sri Lankan education system feels inadequate and stressful. The interaction stressed in the CAEL document seems to emphasize the best that can be achieved by employing both individual and group education.
...ntegration of student-faculty conferences, educational facilities will become places full of smiling, bright scholars. As a current student in high school, it is very easy to see these issues in the education system. Each day I walk the halls beside exhausted zombies who debate whether they should use their lunch periods to get math help in the library or sacrifice a club so they could read a chapter of anatomy that is not even relative to what they talk about in class. Due to the ever-increasing competition and subsequent elevation in performance standards, kids’ academic and emotional prosperity is only going to get worse. When I am an adult and have children, there is nothing more that I would love to see in their long drives through high school than an improvement in the education system, so that they would not have to struggle through school my peers and I did.
Carol Gerber Allred (Allred, 2008) describes strategies for improving classroom climate related to learning for the students, while enforcing a set of classroom expectations, informing students of their positive actions, infusing intrinsic motivation, encouraging positive behavior, connecting with students’ families and community, and being positive yourself (Allred, 2008). These strategies align with the attributes described in indicator 1a to foster respect for diversity, establish rapport, promote risk-taking and establish high
...e varying learning preferences, so that the largest possible number of students benefit from the work we are doing.
The repetitive structure of a school day, in a way, provides me with a sense of security, an awareness of what to expect, but it can be monotonous and lack excitement. When you consider how much time students spend in school it is clear that the experience shapes their lives and can have a lasting effect. It is for this reason that it is crucial to have the correct balance of conformity and individuality for the benefit of both civilization and individuals.
...ualized plan due to time constraints, it is reasonable to treat each student as they do have an individualized education. Teachers should know their students well enough to individualize the classroom activities so all students have strengths in each lesson. Through collaborative efforts, teachers can gain knowledge about the students and new ways to teach according to different learning styles. Working together, each student can receive an individualized education where their full potential is used.
In my class, we respect ourselves and take care of one another. I will encourage my students to try their personal best in every situation they find themselves in. I will remind students that your personal best effort does not look like your neighbors. I will structure my classroom environment so students can easily collaborate and form positive relationships with one another. The structure of my classroom environment will be full of warmth, patience, and humor creating an environment that is welcoming, safe, and fun for my students. We will look out for another and help one another reach our fullest potential individually, academically, and socially.
... for the teacher is a productive learning environment where student needs are being catered for.
We can all agree, educators and future educators alike, that teaching students is so much more than just presenting information to them. There is more to learning than only speaking. We’ve all had those teachers who were brilliant in their subject area, but not brilliant in making the students know the information. These are not true teachers; they are only smart. They teach in one way only, and doesn’t believe in individualized instruction, even though we all know that “low-income students and students of color tend to feel less “connected” to their schools than affluent and Anglo students, and that older students feel less connected than younger ones” (Schaps). As a future educator, sometimes I fear that I will become like one of these teachers, and I want to make sure that each of my students enjoy coming in class to learn, and is able to apply what they’ve learned to their unique lives. So for this inquiry project, I’ve decided to focus on classroom community. I believe that every great teacher establishes this concept in his/her classroom; without this concept, learning cannot happen. In this paper, I will define classroom community, discuss different ways to implement it in every classroom, and show the results of making an effort to keep it in your classroom.
Research shows that the learning environment encompasses more than just the classroom that learning and teaching takes place. Many factors contribute to a learning environment, including the students, teachers, parents, school staff, policy makers, specialists, support staff, community members and the different learning spaces and resources available. This reflective journal will discuss some ways that teachers can set up the learning environment to maximise teaching and learning and some potential advantages and difficulties for me as a new teacher.
Collaborative learning is a situation where two or more people attempt to learn something together. Dillenbourg, P. (1999). Lev Semenovich Vygotsky, (born in 1986), introduced his theory that, human development—child development as well as the development of all human kind—is the result of interactions between people and their social environments. What this states is that the development of a “higher education” is the product of comparing and contrasting ideas of others ultimately to conclude a solution to a problem as a whole or group. Everyone’s input in a collaborative situation will play a role in final solution.
Others have been boring, overly strict, unapproachable, and at times unknowledgeable. I have learned valuable lessons from both. A positive and fun learning environment makes students want to be in the classroom. The first step in learning is that the children must want to be there.
The learning environment connects the classroom to the community through a democratic approach. This community based learning brings the world into the classroom so students can implement social change and challenge social inequalities. The curriculum focuses on student experience and taking social action on real problems such as hunger, violence, and discrimination. It is important to instruct students to explore in group settings so they can work together to analyze and develop theories that can help each other and make a real different in the world. As a future educator, it is important to not only to teach my students the issues in our world, but how we can work together to find
...ne of the most important factors in creating an effective learning environment in the classroom.
My goal as a teacher is to improve my student’s education and help them grow knowledgably. I like to see students at different levels develop with each other and learn. I want to challenge the students and watch them grow to their highest level of education. Therefore, having the students in groups is the best educational strategy I like to use a lot. I want my students to have freedom with whatever creativity they want, and to allow them to express themselves at any time. With this freedom students will be able to experiment with likes and dislikes and be able to figure their weaknesses and strengths. Education is for everyone and it’s a right by low for all; teachers, on the other hand, should do their jobs very honestly and effectively.
...ges face with attrition, these positive impressions may help decrease drop-out rates.” (Rethinking the Classroom:Spaces Designed for Active Learning and Engaged Learning and Teaching, 2015) The room I was in was large and cold. A college could transform this element by only holding large classes in large rooms and teaching smaller classes in smaller rooms or library rooms.