learning enviroment

The quote for this week was “Teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which students can learn.” I believe that this quote means that not only do teacher provide the actual physical environment that students come to learn, but they also provide a place where social skills are taking place along with education. As we learned about in class there are many aspects to a learning environment. There is classroom ambience, the physical space, time management, and resources. Every teacher may have a different once that they believe is more important. Even if a teacher believes one is more important, I feel like we learned in class that each have a vital part to making a learning environment productive. They also all connect with each other.
In the physical aspect, there are different things to take into account. A clean and organized room is important for things to not get lost and for children to feel good during the school day. The way the desks are arranged could make a world of difference to how your students are going to perform. During class last Monday we found websites that had teacher blogs that talked about the different ways the classroom can be set up and the pros and cons of each. I plan on having a neat and clean classroom, I want to have decorations and I want it to feel “home-like”.
Time management is also very important. It is important to give yourself enough time to cover what you want to cover and also the way you want to cover it. You shouldn’t have to rush through a lesson just because you are a few days behind, if the students are getting something out of whatever took you off track, or if it is taking them longer to grasp the concept then it is perfectly okay to be a few days behind. One website that I found during class on Monday talked about block scheduling and how that can be a life saver in time management. I had block scheduling in high school and I thought it was amazing. The teachers had 90 minutes to do lessons and usually the kids had time to start if not finish all their homework in class with the teacher there to ask questions. Having a organized room and being able to find everything (physical space) can directly effect time management, which proves what I was saying earlier that you need all the aspects of a learning environment.
The resources that a teacher has are what the book defines as all the teaching “stuff”. This could be the Friday folders that are kept in the room for the kids, or the behavior charts, the whiteboards, the student mailboxes, or even the trays full of papers to grade. This is an important part of the learning environment as well. Teachers need to have this “stuff” in order to have a successful classroom. The classroom needs have enough resources that the children feel satisfied. This too, relates directly with organization and time management. You must have time to do things in the day like pass out the Friday folders, or file the papers into the student mailboxes. Your room must also be neat and organized in order to find everything and keep it where the children can find it.
The ambiance of the classroom is another part of the learning environment. I want the ambiance in my classroom to feel homelike. I want my kids to feel comfortable around me and everyone else in the classroom. I want to be able to joke around and have a good time, but still get our work done and follow the rules. In order to have the classroom ambiance that you desire, you must have other things in order, such as, the time management- you can’t be rushing through the day and always be stressed and still keep a comical side. The physical aspect of the classroom plays a part in the ambiance, if a few kids don’t get along, it is important that they aren’t right next to each other bickering all day long. If a teacher doesn’t have resources for the classroom, it could cause stress for the teacher and the students. All of the aspects of the learning environment are tied in.
I hope that I can provide a place where kids can learn and be social and also have a good time and feel safe. I hope that my room is neat and clean and it is welcoming when you walk by. I feel like learning environments really are important to a successful classroom. There is no right or wrong way for a learning environment and I believe every year things could be a little different because every child is different and every teacher is different, but it is important to figure out what works and make that “social and intellectual environment where students can learn”.