Who Thought of Ambience?

As we discussed the four components of classroom management are:
*managing classroom ambience
*managing physical space
*managing resources
*managing time
I've been aware of space, resources and time in relation to the classroom but never appreciated the full scope of ambience. Our book tells us that our goal as a teacher-manager is to start with students and blend a group of individuals without common ground or goals into a classroom community. (Kohn) Our textbook further challenges us to inspire our class to "think in the plural." We strive to achieve a class where students feel connected to each other; "they" are part of an "us." With the diverse dynamics involved in today's classroom this ideal is especially paramount to our approach.
As a teacher "trapped in a substitute's body" (Adam) I still don't have a good sense of what my class ambience should be. I want to foster a stimulating environment in which students will interact and take risks but I also must manage the behavior in the classroom. Our quote this week reinforces ambience. It is "teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which students can learn." (James MacGregor Burns)
Two positive ambience examples that we reviewed in class were first,to have students write positive comments about each other and compile a list for each student of the comments from their classmates. And second, to encourage "put ups." "Put ups" are letters of thanks to classmates who have helped other classmates during the week. (NEA site, Works 4 Me)
And finally, we must realize that "the ambience of the class communicates your stance toward education without you saying a word." (textbook, pg. 214)

Who has a question?

"Teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which
students can learn." -James MacGregor Burns

I still haven't reached the point where I know exactly how I want to do this, but I'm starting to get a general idea. When we ranked the four components in class on Monday in order of importance to us, "Time" was #1 on my list. But now I'm beginning to lean more towards "Ambience." No matter how well you manage your time, if your classroom doesn't make your students feel welcome and open to share their thoughts and ideas, then you aren't doing your job as a teacher. I believe it's extremely important to encourage your students to participate in class ... and make sure they feel comfortable doing so!

As a middle school teaching in-the-making, I realize the importance of making my students feel comfortable being themselves in the classroom. When I look back to my middle school years (ages 11-14) I remember those being some of my most uncomfortable years. Kids at that age are dealing with so many strange feelings/emotions/hormones. Most of them are uncomfortable enough as it is just trying to "fit in" with their fellow peers. As a teacher, role model, guidance counselor (whatever you want to call this profession), I think it's important to help my students feel comfortable being themselves in the classroom. Don't we as teachers play a somewhat significant role in shaping what kind of person they become in high school and the many years to follow? Why not start instilling in their heads that it's ok to be yourself and that there's nothing wrong with sharing your thoughts and ideas with your fellow peers?

I guess I should explain how I plan on allowing my students to feel comfortable and feel the whole "positive ambience" of my classroom. I'd begin on the first day of class, by stressing the fact that I encourage openness, constructive criticism, and questioning of any kind. I'd also take into consideration any suggestions or ideas they may have on how to make my classroom a more positive environment. The book gives a good example of asking students to share music of personal significance to start they day. I believe you can learn a lot about a person from the music that's important to them. Decorating the classroom with student projects and art is another way to add a positive feel. Even putting up photos of students at work (when appropriate and permitted, as the book states). Also, having a "theme" in the classroom adds to the ambience and making sure to update that theme occasionally is important.

So to sum everything up, my feelings on which learning environment component is most important has changed a bit. I believe having an open and welcoming classroom is most important in the entire "feel" of the classroom. And I think that idea fits best under the "Ambience" component of the classroom learning environment.

Clean up! Clean up! Everybody everywhere!

I want my classroom to feel like a.... coffee shop, where unique people meet with friends or come individually to do interesting things. Coffee shops feel comfortable and relaxed. There are different types of seating areas where you can lean back and read a book, or sit up straight and write, depending on what your situation calls for. Engaging in an activity with friends or solo is your prerogative. People like to be there because no one is going to get kicked out for not buying something, or for not doing what everyone else is doing. There is no pressure.
"Teachers provide a social and intellectual environment in which students can learn."--James MacGregor Burns (presdential biographer/leadership scholar)
In my experience as a substitute teacher, I would have to say that ambience and physical aspects are tied for the most important part of the learning environment. There is one teacher, Mr. R, who is arguably the most unorganized person I have ever seen. He is a regular third grade classroom teacher in the Elyria Schools. I have subbed for him twice and I have vowed to never do it again! I am definitly not the most organized person, but compared to Mr. R, I am a certified member of NAPO (National Association of Professional Organizers). His bookshelves look like they've just been sick, there are papers scattered all over and around his desk, and the students! The poor sweet students are learning from his example.
Yes, they are very happy with their teacher.
Yes, they like him better than their teacher from last year.
Yes, their classroom is very laid back.
But at what expense?
As a sub, it is confusing and frustrating to be there. I can never find what I need. Walking from the one end of the class to the other is like a slalom event! I can only imagine what bad habits this encourages. Do their teachers the following school year have to retrain each of them?
I think that time is the second most important aspect in the learning environment Sometimes it is hard to gauge how long you should give students to complete a task or assignment. Sometimes I feel like I am cheating them out of time to take their tests. If they had more time would they remember the correct answer? Or would they expand in their writing just a little more? At other times I think that the students are cheating themselves. They flirt, fight, and find other ways to not be working on the task at hand.
I have heard from many professors and fellow classmates that you can expect to spend at least $100-$200 dollars of your own money on class supplies every year. Since I am going to be an art teacher, I expect this figure to go up substantially. I am not overly concerned that I won't have all of the things that regular classroom teachers have. I guess I'm more disappointed that the government/schools/school districts don't place equal emphasis on all of the subject areas. I think that limiting students in any way will be detrimental to their development.

I gotta do it.

"What we learn to do, we learn by doing." Aristotle
In order to have a cohesive understanding of the information presented to us, the goals, tests, and teaching all have to be in line. We cannot take a test in a way that is totally opposite from the way that we learned. If we wanted to teach our students how to use scissors properly, the test would not involve the paper cutter. If one of our goals was for a student to be able to identify pointillism we would not show them works of abstract expressionism. This quote is actually perfect for me. People can show me a million demonstrations and give me a thousand lectures, but I still will not get most things unless I do them with my own two hands. I have always been like that. In cake decorating class in high school, I would watch the teacher demonstrate, but all I could think about was getting my hands on the materials. I still can't make a rose to save my life. I think if there had been time for her to use more one on one instruction for those of us that weren't getting it, I would make amazing roses. I think that if we think of our favorite teachers and try to emulate them in our own classrooms, we will be better teachers because of it.

Reflection 8 the four components of classroom management burns quote

I believe it is the responsibility of teachers to provide for their students a safe and caring learning environment. Students should feel comfortable and not threatened when they come into a classroom to learn. I feel it is important to make it known to your students that mistreating their peers, verbally, physically, or emotionally will not be tolerated. A good teacher will manage and control the physical space, resources, time, and ambience of their classrooms from the beginning of the year until the end of the year. I don’t know which of the four is the most important, but I do feel that you have to begin with the physical space of the classroom that you teach in. The book says that your choices in arranging the physical space allow you to use it to enact your convictions about how students learn and about good teaching. I agree with that statement because if I had to set up my own classroom, I would arrange it in a way so that students could interact with each other and also feel comfortable in their own space. As an intervention specialist, I would have smaller classes, so I would carefully space the desks out in a semi circle with me in the middle, that way the students don’t have anyone behind them and they are all looking at me, and not at the back of a classmates head. I would also try to limit other distractions in my room, and try to provide helpful, organized bulletin boards in which students could know what is going on before we start or end the day. For example, I would have a class agenda bulletin board and also a homework bulletin board.
The book says that managing a classroom means managing all the stuff, to use a technical term that inevitably goes along with teaching. When I walk into a classroom, one of the first things I notice is the stuff! There are so many technological and other media that are now incorporated into classrooms. As a teacher, I would try to incorporate the resources into my lesson plans whenever I get the opportunity to do so. I would teach with a smart board if I could, and I would teach with PowerPoint, or using the computer in another way. I also would try to get students interested in using the resources themselves, especially with the smart board, which can really get students excited. In addition to technological resources, I would also use other materials that I felt would be beneficial to my students.
The book says that your central task as a teacher is to start with the students and meld a group of individuals without ground or goals into a classroom community. I feel that managing the ambience of the room is another way of saying “setting the tone” for the classroom. My tone would best be described by MacGregor’s quote because the tone for me would be to provide “social and intellectual environment in which students can learn”. My translation is providing an environment in which students feel comfortable and confident to learn. Feeling comfortable and confident means not fearing being hurt physically, emotionally, or verbally by their peers, and expecting to get respect and sensitivity from their teacher.
The book says that using your time as gold means that you need to maximize the time your students spend engaged in learning and minimize the time they spend in other ways in your classroom. In my classroom I would have an agenda bulletin board, in which I would have the day’s plans on it. That way the students know that this is what I expect of them for this class period. I would hold myself accountable also because I would need to schedule the class accordingly.

What We Learn To Do, We Learn By Doing

I believe that this quote articulates the value of personal experience when attempting to learn. I also interpret this quote as implying that we are best able to learn through a hands-on-approach. I would like to advance this idea from a coaching perspective, rather than from a classroom teacher’s perspective. As a football coach there is not a truer statement than, “what we learn to do, we learn by doing” when it comes to teaching. First, let me explain our football program’s teaching progression:

1. Verbal Introduction
2. Chalkboard
3. Film
4. Walk Through with Adjustments
5. Individual Drill Work
6. Group
7. Team
8. Scrimmage
9. Game

Due to the effectiveness of this type of instruction I have attempted to implement
this type of progression into my classroom teachings. What I have noticed when it comes to teaching is that you can talk about what you are supposed to do all day, you can watch all the film in the world and draw as many pictures as you want, but players (students) will not truly learn without doing. And doing it through mass repetition. It is steps 4 through 9 that play the biggest role in learning.

Once students have done their assignment, and done it many times, then their processing speed begins to increase. As I have heard many players explain through their own testimonies, the game begins to slow down once they have experienced their assignment again and again. I believe this is true regardless of what environment you are attempting to learn in.

I think Mr. Kommer’s very interesting lecture on the brain also reinforces the idea that we learn by doing. The more stimuli that you present to the mind and the more you emphasize the piece of information that you are trying to learn, the more likely you are to incorporate that fact into short term memory and soon after long term memory.

Learning by Doing

"What we learn to do, we learn by doing." - I have heard this quote before and it never ceases to make complete sense. I believe that learning by doing is hands down, the best way to learn. It's the rule that I follow when I want to learn something new. I actually lived by this quote today when I (for the first time in maybe 15 years) went ice skating with my family. I guess I've learned to skate before, but after so long, today was pretty much like learning again. Many people ask for tips, others watch and learn by example, but I, like many, learn by doing.

Another example of how I learn by doing is how I'm currently substitute teaching. Not to steal arock's example, but it just fits my current situation perfectly. I had no previous education classes before I started my Bachelor's Plus program this semester. I have never had any professional training in the classroom. But I feel that after each time I substitute teach, I become better equipped for my next substituting experience. I have learned new techniques and come up with new ideas from each substituting experience, and I hope that continues not only throughout the rest of my substituting "career" but also into my teaching career.

Having the mindset that I can learn new things each and every time I teach is important to me. I'm not saying that every teacher should feel this way, but for me, it's important to have this view each day. Going into each day knowing that I have the opportunity to learn new things gives me the drive to look forward to every new day of work.