Learning Environment – The competent teacher structures a safe and healthy learning environment that facilitates cultural and linguistic responsiveness, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, positive social interaction, mutual respect, active engagement, academic risk-taking, self-motivation, and personal goal-setting.
Artifact Rationale
In the Spring of 2019, the artifact I produced was my classroom website. I used the website Wix to produce my site. It contains many pages that give information about me and my classroom. There is an introduction page, that includes personal information about myself and my classroom mission statement. It also has a diagram of my classroom. There is a page about rules and expectations of the class also rewards and consequences. There is a page about classroom procedures as well as teaching styles and strategies. Another page is devoted to diversity and how it will be handled in the classroom. The last two pages consist of Business Current Affairs and Business History. This website shows my ability to create an online presence for my classroom and also show one of the ways I will communicate with the students and parents.
Standard 4 of the Illinois Professional Standards is on display here because it shows the standard of creating a safe and responsive learning environment. This website has helped me understand the “principles of and strategies for effective classroom and behavior management” (4A). I know that a well-managed classroom not only allows to run smoothly, but also has a strong impact on student learning. With my pages I was able to discuss rules and expectations as well rewards and consequences. These pages show my tatics for classroom management. The website also shows that I can “create a safe and healthy environment that maximizes student learning” (4I). The pages for my rules and expectation and diversity displays that I will not allow anything in the classroom that will make a student feel unsafe. If a student is worried about being safe, he or she can not focus on the learning of the material.
What I have learned about this artifact is that creating a website consumes a lot of your time, but in the long run it is worth it. It will keep you in connection with students and parents. The actual act of designing the site taught me to be better at time management so I can meet all my obligations in my life. I also learned that the website is like a first impression. If the parents look at your site and it is sloppy and is missing information then they may not believe that you can management your classroom and help their student learn. I also know that this site may not be the strongest, but I can use it as a starter and improve on it as I gain more knowledge.