My learning environment!

After reviewing the readings and quote, I realized that I will want to emulate my classroom as a learning environment that is related to my subject matter. Becoming a Business Education teacher, I want my classroom to emulate a business type setting similar to that of a real world business setting (board room, conference room, cubicles, offices etc.) I think it will be key to explain this setting to my students so they understand why. My personal stance on education has not been completely set in stone like a mission or vision statement, but I do know that I want my students to experience as close to real life business experiences as possible. This will include many hands on projects with community businesses etc and I want my classroom to be considered my students office by them when they walk in to my classroom. I want them to not think of it as my classroom, but their office where they will come to get work done, think creatively and experience what a business setting looks like. I will use many resources that are similar to what would be in an office. Filing cabinets with everyone having their own folders, a fax machine, computers, telephones for conference calls etc. Below are some examples of what I am thinking in regards to the different social and intellectual aspects that I will try to foster through my classroom setting:

1) Classroom Ambience- I will explain to my students the business world setting with different examples. I will show them pictures of office building with cubes, private offices and conference rooms and more importantly show them how different people come to work everyday at the same place with different functions (HR, Accounting and Marketing to name a few). I will explain how each function has different needs in order to complete their tasks and job and I will also explain to my students the different learning styles people have, this will in turn remind students that we need to be respectful of each other, each other's learning styles and our surroundings. This will set the tone that we are proffessionals working on important projects and tasks to further our company (our classroom). I believe this will set a positive ambience in my classroom and get the students excited about having their own office and co,pany in a sense!

2) Physical Space- Like I mentioned before, I will want to emulate an office setting, so after I present the pictures and options to my students we will decide together how to best set up our surroudnings. I believe this will engage the students and teach them how to compromise (social) with each other and get them excited about having their own "office". One idea I have is to separate the classroom into two areas. The first would be having the desks be in groups of 4 in which they form a square representing a quad cubicle. Students will be allowed to set up their desk how they would like in regards to personal touches just like an office or cube. The second area will be blocked off with a movable wall on wheels in which this will form our conference area. This area will have a large table with chairs around it for teams to conference with each other, conduct conference calls with community business partners and give presentations as well. These are just my intial thoughts. The students will have to reserve the conference area based on their schedules, projects, community partnerships coming in etc. This also emulates an office setting in that people have to reserve board rooms and conference rooms for meetings and presentations etc.

3) Resource Management- As far as managing resources, this would be similar to an office as well. Bookshelves, filing cabinets etc. I am thinking it would be best to have a mini resource center in the classroom where everything would be located in a neat and efficient manner. Chapter 8 mentioned paper flow being a problem for some teachers and I will utilize the filing cabinet system where every student will have their own folder for personal assignments and lesson tasks and team folders as well for projects etc. This will help keep paper flow organized and I can return graded assignments in each students folder and team folders respectively.

4) Maximize learning time- This will be extremely important in my classroom with all the different settings. I feel by explaining the setting first like I mentioned above will allow for students to have an intial understanding of not wasting time and having the students particpate in the set up of the classroom will provide them with ownership of their office space and materials. They will learn to reserve the conference area, post out of the office signs etc to emulate that business setting I keep referring to. With my curriculm, the students will always have opportunities to be working on something else if they finish early. Both individual and group projects.

How does this all pertain to the quote for this past week? I believe my execution in the classroom setup, partnering with my students on having them understand to be respectful of each other's offices will teach them both social and intellectual skills, they will not only learn to respect each other's offices and workspace (social), but the why behind it after learning the different learning styles and how people need to foster their learning through different styles and environment (intellectual).