Learning Environment

This is a "dream classroom" layout I designed for an Art Methods class, which includes a dark room, gallery space, and kiln. The classroom has clearly designated "zones," separated spaces where various classroom tasks and activities are carried out. 

This layout demonstrates performance indicator 4J, which states that the competent teacher, "creates clear expectations and procedures for communication and behavior and a physical setting conducive to achieving classroom goals." The structured learning environment sets clear expectations for students, and the space itself becomes a teacher, as it teaches students what to do and expect by associating processes and tools with different learning activities; easels and drawing horses are used for still life, gallery spaces are for critique, kilns are used for ceramics, etc. When in the demo zone, students know that they should be focused and attentive to the demonstration, whereas in the back corner of the room, where the sinks and drying racks are, students are cleaning up, and students know that their materials will always be ready for them on the counter. 

Linked below are two examples of instructions displayed on the board during independent work time; the first was displayed during a 3rd grade lesson on contour drawing, and the second during a 1st grade lesson on form, where students were practicing using specific questions to ask for help as an SEL strategy. I found that keeping instructions/reminders displayed during independent work made it easier for me to support students and provide feedback or help, as I could point students who just needed a reminder to the board, instead of simply repeating myself over and over again to students who just forgot the instructions or didn't hear them the first time, which gave me more time to break down instructions and answer questions for students who needed extra help to understand the activity.

This demonstrates performance indicator 4K, which states that the competent teacher, "uses strategies to create a smoothly functioning learning community in which students assume responsibility for themselves and one another, participate in decision-making, work collaboratively and independently, use appropriate technology, and engage in purposeful learning activities." Especially for younger students, like my first graders, it takes multiple attempts and many reminders to develop the capacity to work independently, and even to take ownership of your own understanding to be able to describe exactly what you need. Before we implemented this SEL strategy, students wouldn't know how to ask for help from me or their peers, and struggled to self-start. But once we practiced using these questions, I saw students applying that language to get more helpful and specific feedback, and define what they wanted to know; students would see one of their peers making a form that they wanted to copy,  check the board, and then ask, "What movement did you use?" and then their peer could show them, without needing me to intervene. When students asked me for help, they adapted this language to ask me for specific pointers like, "Should I press down hard, or squeeze the clay to make a point?" This increased students' decision-making abilities and their ability to transition between collaborative and independent work seamlessly, making use of all classroom resources---including peer knowledge---effectively.