Domain Two: Classroom Environment

"Domain 2 in the Framework for Teaching concerns the classroom environment, the learning environment for students. It does not address the teaching of the concepts and skills and knowledge that we identified in Domain 1; it sets the stage so that learning can happen. It’s about the interactions in the classroom, the teacher’s use of the physical space, all the procedures and routines and the culture in the classroom. It’s not itself the teaching; that’s Domain 3; but it is creating the conditions for learning." - Charlotte Danielson

For more information on domain two of the Danielson FFT, click here.

My classroom presence has been described by my mentor as being firm and warm, and in student reviews I have been told that I am "welcoming", "friendly", and "engaging". I believe that building a strong foundation of respect for the class community is the most important piece to build before you can ask students to engage with materials at higher levels. If students do not feel that they have emotional safety with their peers, they will not open up nor share their ideas or opinions. I prioritized setting routines with students so that they felt at ease with our activities, and am now working on consistently holding students accountable for their learning, as well as total engagement from every student. Over our summer together, students grew more comfortable in taking risks, helping one another unprompted, and offering genuine support to each other both socially and academically. Our community was our strength, and using small groups and increasing the availability of written instructions helped scaffold students toward completing complicated tasks.

ARTIFACTS

Setting Collaborative Classroom Norms & Expectations

Student voice is prioritized in my classroom, and it is not enough for students to all agree to a set of rules, so we spent ample time in the first couple of days talking about what holds a society together and having students suggest our classroom norms. They were directly responsible for the way that our community operated, as they were the ones to create this list. Sometimes students needed help re-phrasing their ideas, but in general, these are straight from their suggestions that they wrote in their journal. By making it colorful and having everyone sign a physical copy, students are reminded that their voices matter and that we can all hold each other accountable with respect in our class.

Student Journals and Informal Conversations Through Notes

In our classrooms, student journals are where the majority of writing took place. They remained in the classroom, which allowed us to respond to the things students wrote and have an informal dialogue with them about their writing in which I could prompt them to elaborate or ask them questions about what they have been observing and recording. Sometimes commentary was more lighthearted, like a smiley face or a contribution to their doodles, and sometimes commentary was more focused on getting students to write more than they had in class and to remind them that their opinions hold value and deserve to be shared in their entirety with not only the class, but themselves as well.

Student Work Showing Funds of Knowledge

In our class, we wrote name poems over the course of the summer. Students wrote brainstorms, drafts, and finally typed up their work to showcase on our classroom walls. This assignment asks students to draw on their own knowledge about their lives and to create a poem firmly grounded in this knowledge. When revisions were suggested, students were the ones making the final decisions about what advice to take and what advice to leave, and the importance of students' own voices and visions was emphasized throughout this activity, with encouragement rather than editing from me.

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