Creating Learning Environments

Chapter 11
Professor Bauer

Overview
The Need for Organization
Creating a Positive Learning Environment
Creating a Learning Community
Maintaining a Good Environment for
Learning
The Need for Communication

Concept Map for

Chapter 12
The Need for
Communication

Need for
Organization

Creating Learning
Environments
Maintaining a
Good Environment
for Learning

Creating a
Learning
Community

Creating a
Positive Learning
Environment

The Need for Organization

Ecology of Classrooms

Characteristics of Classrooms:

Multidimensional
Simultaneous
Immediate
Unpredictable
Public
Histories

Basic Management Task

Gain & maintain
cooperation
Motivate & engage
Adjust management
to ages of students

Age Related Needs

Early elementary: teach rules & procedures

Middle elementary: monitor & maintain
Late elementary & beginning high school:
Diplomatically deal with defiance
Motivate those immersed in social life

Senior high school:

Manage curriculum
Adapt academics to student needs & interests
Teach self-management

Goals for Classroom

Management
Time

for learning

Allocated time
Engaged time or time on task
Academic learning time
Access

to learning
Participation structures
Self-management

Where Does the Time Go?

Academic Learning Time
Engaged Time
Actual Academic Time
Attended Time
Total Time
0

200 400 600 800 1000 1200

Hours

Creating a Positive Learning

Environment

Strategies from Research

Rules and procedures are required

Plan spaces for learning

Plan for effective classroom management

Get off to a good start

Classroom Procedures
Administrative routines
Student movement
Housekeeping
Lesson routines
Teacher-student interactions
Student-student interactions

See Guidelines, Woolfolk, p. 441

Rules for Making Rules

Dos and donts

Often written down and
posted
Set the atmosphere
Consistent with school
rules
Consistent with
principles of learning
Make a few, good rules

Rules for Elementary School

Be

polite and helpful

Respect others property
Listen when others are speaking
Do not hit, shove, or hurt others
Obey school rules

Rules for Secondary School

Bring

required materials to class

Seated and ready at the bell
Respect and be polite to everyone
Respect other peoples property
Sit and listen while others speak
Obey all school rules

Consequences of Breaking Rules

Plan

ahead
Bill of Rights
Reasons for
appropriate behavior
Self-management
Penalties
See Table 12.1, Woolfolk, p. 443, and Table 12.2, p. 444

Categories of Penalties
Express disappointment
Lose privileges
Exclude from group
Write a reflection
Detention
Visit the principals office
Contact
Contactparents
parents

Planning Spaces for Learning

Interest areas
Personal territories
Action zone
Seating
arrangements
See Guidelines,
Woolfolk, p. 446

Room Arrangements
Be aware of the action zone
Horizontal rows: whole group presentations
Clusters or circle: student interaction
Fishbowl or stack: close up demonstrations

Getting Started : Elementary

First

day well planned & organized

Deal with students main concerns
Teach rules & procedures
Whole group focus
Appeal to student interests
Monitor the whole group
Stop misbehavior quickly

Getting Started : Secondary

Establish rules, procedures, and standards
Clearly communicate standards for work
Consistently enforce expectations
Monitor students closely
Deal with rule infractions quickly
Shorter work cycles for lower ability
students
Monitor student progress carefully

Creating a Learning Community

Three Cs of Classroom
Management
Cooperative community
Constructive conflict resolution
Civic values

See Table 12.3, Woolfolk, p. 450

Maintaining a Good Environment

for Learning

Maintaining a Good Environment

for Learning
Busy

students are better behaved

Supervise students closely
Include cues for desired behaviors
Clear steps for activities
Provide necessary materials
Engage students in authentic tasks
Employ curiosity, interest

Prevention Is the Best Medicine

Withitness
Overlapping
Group

focus
Movement
management
Monitor!!!

Dealing with
Discipline Problems

Make eye contact

Verbal hints : name dropping
Ask students if they are aware of the consequences of
their behavior
Remind students of the relative rule or procedure
Ask the student to state the correct rule or procedure and
follow it
Assertively tell the student to stop the misbehavior
Offer a choice

Special Problems with

Secondary Students

Work not completed:

Teach students how to use a daily planner

Keep accurate records
Enforce established consequences
Do not grade on the benefit of the doubt

Continue to break rules:

Seat student away from other students

Catch them before they break the rules
Enforce established consequences
Dont accept promises

Special Problems:
Hostile Behaviors
Get out of the situation as soon as possible
Give the student the choice to cooperate
Allow a short cool down period
Talk privately in the hall
Send another student for the assistant
principal
Conference with a counselor, parents, other
teachers
Keep a record of the incident

Special Problems: Violence or

Destruction of Property
Send for help
Get the names of all participants
Disperse any crowd
Do NOT try to break up a fight without help
Inform the school office of the incident
Follow the school policy

The Need for Communication

Message Sent = Message

Received?
Hidden

messages
Body language
Choice of words
Paraphrase rule

Whos Problem Is It?

Does

this affect my role as

teacher?
Student owned: actively listen
Teacher owned: problem solve

Counseling:
The Students Problem

Empathetic listening
Block out external stimuli
Listen carefully
Differentiate between
intellectual and emotional
messages
Make inferences about the
speakers feelings

Confrontation and Assertive

Discipline
Use of I messages
Passive or hostile responses
Care enough to confront
Clearly stated expectations with eye contact
Do not debate fairness of the rules
Expect changes - not promises or excuses
See PointCounterpoint, Woolfolk, p. 461

Confrontation and Negotiation

Teacher imposes a solution
Teacher gives in to student demands
Gordons no-lose method

Define the problem

Generate many possible solutions
Evaluate each solution
Make a decision on a solution
Determine how to implement the solution
Evaluate the success of the solution
Remember IDEAL? See Woolfolk, pp. 290-296.

Student Conflicts and

Confrontations
Conflicts: goals and needs clash
Violence
Prevention is the best cure
High academic expectations
Genuine care for students
Mentoring, peer mediation, conflict
resolution, social skills, relevance,
community involvement programs

Steps in Peer Mediation

Jointly define conflict

Exchange positions
and interests
Reverse perspectives
Invent 3 arguments
that allow mutual gain
Reach an integrative
agreement

Respect & Protect Program

Respect & protect the rights of others
Violence is not acceptable
Target violence-enabling behaviors
Clearly define violence

Bully/victim violence
Normal conflict violence

Adult-centered and student-centered

interventions
See Table 12.5, Woolfolk, p. 465

Families and Classroom

Management
Parents as partners
Clear classroom
expectations
Communicate
See Family &
Community
Partnerships, Woolfolk,
p. 466

Management Scenarios

Reflection Questions
Consider the following scenarios. Decide
what you would do in each situation. Dont
stop with an initial response to the situation.
Come up with a Plan B just in case Plan A
would not work. Consider multiple
perspectives for each scenario.

Elementary: Art
Kent, Kari, and Krista are working together
on an art project. Kent needs the tangerine
crayon to finish the trim on an Indian blanket.
Kari really needs the tangerine crayon to
touch up the sunset. Krista really REALLY
needs the tangerine crayon to do the tree
leaves. A major conflict is about to erupt!
How will you use this as a learning
opportunity to teach the concept sharing?

Elementary: Cheating
It is achievement test time, and you have
consistently encouraged your students to do
their own best work. However, during the
reading comprehension test, you notice that
Melissa is exhibiting severe diagonal vision
disorder (cheating). At least two other
students have noticed, also! What
prescription would you recommend to treat
her malady?

Secondary: Defiance
You have just handed back the exam results. Sean is
NOT one of your outstanding students, and is not
happy with his grade. You ask, Sean, do you have
any questions on the exam? His retort challenges
the validity of your test, compares your IQ to your
shoe size, states his opinion about your heritage, and
suggests a place for you to take an extended vacation.
Sean uses descriptive language and explicit
adjectives. Your response?

Secondary: Vandalism
On a crisp, September morning, you go to
school early. As you enter the building, you
notice a white haze in the halls, but no smell
of smoke. Suddenly you hear glass breaking
and see three students with fire extinguishers
burst out of the chemistry lab, spraying white
every where, running toward you. Next?

Back Stage

It is after school on a nice day in May. You

have to make copies of a test for your class
tomorrow morning. You decide to take a
shortcut to the teachers workroom through
the back of the stage. You hear unusual but
intriguing sounds coming from a dim corner
of the stage and decide to investigate. You
discover two students engaged in active and
intimate physical contact. Now what?

Reflection Time

Summary
The Need for Organization
Creating a Positive Learning Environment
Creating a Learning Community
Maintaining a Good Environment for
Learning
The Need for Communication

Review Questions
What are the challenges of classroom
management?
What are the goals of good classroom
management?
Distinguish between rule and procedures.
Distinguish between personal territories and
interest-area spatial arrangements.

Review Questions
Contrast the first school week of effective
and ineffective managers.
What are Johnson and Johnsons three Cs
of establishing a classroom community?
How can teachers encourage engagement?
Explain the factors identified by Kounin
that prevent management problems in the
classroom.

Review Questions
Describe seven levels of intervention in
misbehavior.
What is meant by empathetic listening?
Distinguish among assertive, passive, and
hostile response styles.
What are some options for dealing with
student-student and student-teacher
conflicts?

End Chapter 12