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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.
For my Special Education course (SPED 315), we were instructed to create a classroom in which is productive, inclusive, and welcoming. I decided to use Kaplan Floor Planner as my guide in this project. Here is the link for it. You are able to view what I have created in both 2d and 3d. If you expand this section, you will see an explanation of various portions of my created classroom.
There are many aspects I would like to explain about this digital classroom placement.
First, in the upper left corner you'll see a smartboard, and a writing board. I also want to display the books we have read so far. I want to include these two elements to ensure I am able to have multiple forms of teaching rather than using solely a smartboard. I want students to have a break from staring at a screen and instead we can write ideas down or use magnets. This will also encourage responses if things are changed up and not in a routine. I believe displaying books we have read as a class at the front of the room will help in encouraging students to read.
The carpet on the floor located near the teaching board is for students to have large group discussions/lesson time. I want my students to be gathered together as a community, so we are able to problem solve and do activities collectively.
Past the carpet you'll notice the pods on tables. Having students able to collaborate with each other in small groups will help in think-pair-shares, group work, effective conversations, and friendships. You'll notice I included the blue medicine ball and wobble chairs for students who struggle with staying in their seats and keeping their attention on a task.
In the bottom left corner, I have the guided reading/small group table. That is the space I would work with groups individually to make sure there is understanding and to perform assessments. I wanted this table to be away from the desks to make sure students at the table are not distracted by other students. I put wobble chairs there so students are able to move around a bit while we work on subjects or read together.
Finally, the bottom right corner is the reading/activity area. This is where students are able to do independent reading or take time to release stress with play. If you notice there is a table in the middle of the room, I want this table to be invitation to play boxes. Students are able to learn while they play in this table. I also want to encourage a lot of reading in my classroom to promote levels of reading and so students are able to find comfort in a book. Throughout the room there are many bookshelves to hold my growing collection of books. Lastly, there are art supplies, canvases, and drawing boards. I want this play/read/create area to showcase my students work and creativity. I want students to make this area their own by putting up their own creations such as drawings, paintings, pictures, etc.
This relates to Performance Indicator 4M) which states "...organizes, allocates, and manages time, materials, technology, and physical space to provide active and equitable engagement of students in productive learning activities..." This follows this indicator because I have the ability to create a plan for how to organize the classroom. I also understand that I can use this plan and change it around as I meet my students, their needs, and the classroom environment.
Emotions & Keys SEL Lessons - 3rd Grade, Student Teaching
Emotions & Keys SEL Lessons - 3rd Grade, Student Teaching
Emotions - (2–3-weeks) SEL lessons:
Many students at the school I did Student Teaching had a lot of behavior struggles in which emotions were in the form of actions and not just reactions. I decided to make these SEL lessons to create an open environment where students can express how they are feeling. Then, as a group students read a scenario based on someone else and tries to guess the emotion they are feeling. This is to create awareness of how others may be feeling in a situation. After this, there are discussions based on how to handle this emotion and ways to properly react/act.
8 Keys - (1-2 weeks) SEL lessons:
The school I did student teaching at, as a whole, had the standards/rules of following 8 keys to success. These keys were a way to remind students of expectations within school grounds, in the classroom, in other classes, and how to represent it. I decided to step in to create small PowerPoint in which helped discuss the keys further and play scenario games related to each key definition. The students enjoyed this interactive way of learning school standards. My cooperating teacher during this time has also requested to use these keys again next year with her future classess. I would say they were a success for the kids, teachers, and learning in a more engaging way.
Indicator 4D) "...understands factors (e.g., self-efficacy, positive social interaction) that influence motivation and engagement..." and Indicator 4G) "...knows strategies to implement behavior management and behavior intervention planning to ensure a safe and productive learning environment..." both relate to the Emotions and Key lesson plans above. I understand how students need different ways to engage in important topics. The Emotion lesson plans helped create an environment that is comfortable for students to talk about how they are feeling with others before reactions/actions occurred. This also helped in knowing why they and other people might feel a certain way and how we can keep the emotions in our own control. The Key lesson plans show that I have the resources available to review school expectations with students to keep them safe and following with the school's values.
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