Live to Learn, Learn to Live

Reflecting upon this week's quote, I've decided to manage my learning environment using the Constructivism learning theory as my guiding principle. First off, the four management components should, of course, reflect the content standards that specifically apply to our classroom's grade level. The room shall be decorated with materials that remind the students of their past successes, more specifically, that they have advanced to this grade due to their commendable mastery of the previous content standards. New benchmark targets will be graphically represented in an exciting manner that challenges them to succeed again. I seek to establish an ambience that says this is a place of learning. This is a place that is only able to function and succeed because of the differences, individuality, and the complexity of its participants. This is a place where a common goal will be felt and shared by every student and teacher in spite of the fact that we all come from a multitude of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. We shall recognize and celebrate the richness of experience that this brings to our common undertaking. And we shall know that it is this diversity that greatly increases our ability to succeed. This is a place that will be physically arranged to encourage social interaction. Learning shall be defined as a group process that must rely on peer collaboration. This is a place where distractions that tear us from our common goal will be minimized collectively through a communally rationalized use of time in the classroom. This is a place where we will learn what we must learn because we know that we will all personally benefit from learning 'it'. We want to learn 'it' because this place reminds us that this new knowledge is a link in our continued learning that will ultimately provide us direct and exclusive access to the things we all very much want from life. Pictures of homes, families, societal luxuries, and communal harmony will also be prominent. The things we learn here build directly upon our prior experiences and knowledge. And because we are many, we will need to have the material introduced to us through a multiplicity of perspectives. This is a place that recognizes that we didn't come into this room as empty handed novices, but rather we've all brought our own invaluable, individual and equally important life skills and abilities, thereby instantly giving this room powerful foundational resources that allow for exciting new ideas and concepts to be put into context with, and bound to, all our existing mental frameworks. Physical space, physical resources, and time usage considerations shall collaboratively be designed by teacher and students so as to maximize the effectiveness of, the transmission of, the reception of, and mastery demonstration of the content standards. The overall efficiency of these resource allocations shall be a continually monitored jointly by the teacher and students, both of whom recognize and acknowledge their own personal responsibility in the overall success of this collaborative endeavor.