CAN YOUR CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT EFFECT LEARNING AND BEHAVIOUR?

Creating a quality supportive classroom environment can support learning, promote engagement and interactions for children. Classrooms that support children’s appropriate behaviours through effective arrangements will make it less likely children will need to engage in challenging behaviour.   

Think about your classroom:

·         What do you see first when you walk in?

·         Are there different areas for different activities? 

·         Are there distractions?

·         Does the arrangement of desks or tables match with the learning strategies you use? 

·         Where are the materials you use daily? Where are your storage areas?

·         Is everything in your classroom accessible to you and all the children?

·         When/where are the children most engaged? When/where do the children struggle to be engaged?

·         If you have a child or children with challenging behaviour, how do you address their individual learning styles and movement needs?

Does your classroom promote child interactions and a sense of community?

How Do Children Learn?

Our next few postings shall be on this topic.

Every child is unique: each has their individual personality, strengths, interests and learning style. One enjoys drawing and writing while another has a three-dimensional approach. One is quiet, content to dream, while another ‘thinks aloud’ and is on the go.

There are developmental differences, character differences and gender differences. Adding further complexity, two in ten children arrive with additional challenges – dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, FASD, ASD, CLDD, etc. (Carpenter, 2013). Teachers must get to know each child and provide resources to connect with the many learning styles. Teaching is an intricate skill. Aristotle called it “the highest form of understanding”.

·         Movement:

Children need to move. Margaret Donaldson describes movement as “thought in action”. (1978) Body and brain develop together, and physical development occurs through using the body, moving it in space and gravity. (White, 2012) Movement gives youngsters the muscle control needed for sitting still. An expert on reading difficulties explains, “Those children who are unable to stay still are showing their balance and motor systems are not yet sufficiently mature...” (Goddard Blythe, 2005) At some schools each day begins with active physical play as many children have been seated in vehicles for some time before arrival. Children transitioning from Foundation Stage to KS1, particularly boys, will ‘turn off’ school unless their physicality is acknowledged. They need generous outdoor time each day for large-motor action. Within the classroom too, children need to move about and change position. Some prefer to work lying on the floor or kneeling or standing.

·         Curiosity:

Albert Einstein stated, “I am neither very clever nor especially gifted. I am only very, very curious!” Children are naturally eager to learn about the world and everything in it. When their interest is engaged, they push the boundaries of their knowledge, hungry for more. One child may be intrigued by plants and animals, another by engines and gadgets. Teachers must tune in to each child’s curiosity and nurture it through the years of school. Universities today seem more interested in “creative thinking, experimentation and improvisation” than in students’ marks. (Beardsworth, 2013) Society needs people with enquiring minds.

EFFECTIVENESS OF TEN LEARNING TECHNIQUES

A recent and comprehensive summary of the impact, strength of evidence and generality of conditions under which a number of learning techniques have been shown to be effective is presented by Dunlosky et al (2013).

High utility:

Practice testing- Self-testing or taking practice tests on material to be learned

Distributed (‘spaced’) practice- implementing a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time

Moderate utility:

Elaborative interrogation - Generating an explanation for why an explicitly stated fact or concept is true

Self-explanation – Explaining how new information is related to known information, or explaining steps taken during problem solving

Interleaved practice- Implementing a schedule of practice that mixes different kinds of problems, or a schedule of study that mixes different kinds of material, within a single study session

Low utility:

Summarization- Writing summaries (of various lengths) of to-be-learned texts

Highlighting- Marking potentially important portions of to-be-learned materials while reading

Keyword mnemonic- Using keywords and mental imagery to associate verbal materials

Imagery use for text learning- Attempting to form mental images of text materials while reading or listening

Rereading- Restudying text material again after an initial reading

©Enchanted Learning Ltd 2015

Teaching Our Youngest

Everyone who interacts with a young child is a teacher. As preschool teachers and child-care and after school providers, you have both the wonderful opportunity and the important responsibility to teach and nurture our youngest children.

The years from birth through age five are a time of extraordinary growth and change. It is in these years that children develop the basic knowledge, understandings, and interests they need to reach the goal of being successful learners, readers, and writers.

All young children deserve experiences that will help them to achieve this goal. You play an important role in ensuring that “no child is left behind.” You spend many hours with children, and the right kind of activities can help them tremendously.  You can be especially helpful to those children who have limited learning experiences at home.

The series of our postings recently draws from scientifically based research about what you can do to help children to develop their language abilities, increase their knowledge, become familiar with books and other printed materials, learn letters and sounds, recognize numbers, and learn to count.

Many examples of strategies you can use for teaching these skills have been discussed here.  Also discussed were examples of ways to create an environment in your preschool classrooms that will nurture children’s natural curiosity and their zest for learning.  Throughout our many postings you will find sections titled Teacher Talk.  These are examples of conversations teachers have with children to enhance their learning during everyday activities.

Remember, you hold the key to the future academic success of the young children in your care.

Have a pleasant holiday and don’t forget to keep checking back for more tips, discoveries, and solutions to much of nagging educational challenges in our subsequent posts.

©Enchanted Learning Ltd 2015

QUIZ QUESTIONS FOR WOULD-BE TEACHERS

• Do you love children (and/ or brooding teenagers)?
• Do you have infinite patience?
• Are you passionate about learning?
• Is work more about personal satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment than a paycheck?
• Can you handle dealing with bodily functions on a daily basis?
• Do you have school spirit?
• Do you like the hearing your last name being yelled at you all day?
• Can you write legibly on a chalkboard/ whiteboard?
• Do you have excellent time management skills and the ability to be flexible?
• Will it annoy you if everyone assumes that you leave work at 3:00 and bask in the sun all summer?

(First realization of teaching: this is not all true!)

© Enchanted Learning Ltd. 2015

THE DYNAMIC MODEL OF EDUCATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS (Creemers & Kyriakides, 2006)

(1) Orientation    

·         Providing the objectives for which a specific task/lesson/series of lessons take(s) place

·         Challenging students to identify the reason why an activity is taking place in the lesson.

(2) Structuring 

·         Beginning with overviews and/or review of objectives

·         Outlining the content to be covered and signalling transitions between lesson parts

·         Drawing attention to and reviewing main ideas

(3) Questioning  

·         Raising different types of questions (i.e., process and product) at appropriate difficulty level

·         Giving time for students to respond

·         Dealing with student responses

(4) Teaching Modelling

·         Encouraging students to use problem-solving strategies presented by the teacher or other classmates

·         Inviting students to develop strategies

·         Promoting the idea of modelling

(5) Application  

·         Using seatwork or small-group tasks in order to provide needed practice and application opportunities

·         Using application tasks as starting points for the next step of teaching and learning.

(6) The Classroom as a Learning Environment 

·         Establishing on-task behaviour through the interactions they promote (i.e., teacher–student and student–student interactions)

·         Dealing with classroom disorder and student competition through establishing rules, persuading students to respect them and using the rules.

(7) Management of Time

·         Organizing the classroom environment

·         Maximizing engagement rates

(8) Assessment  

·         Using appropriate techniques to collect data on student knowledge and skills

·         Analysing data in order to identify student needs and report the results to students and parents.

·         Teachers evaluating their own practices.

©Enchanted Learning Ltd 2015

Elements of teaching effectiveness (good pedagogy)

Six principles of teacher feedback

Sustained professional learning is most likely to result when:

1. The focus is kept clearly on improving student outcomes;

2. Feedback is related to clear, specific and challenging goals for the recipient;

3. Attention is on the learning rather than to the person or to comparisons with others;

4. Teachers are encouraged to be continual independent learners;

5. Feedback is mediated by a mentor in an environment of trust and support;

6. An environment of professional learning and support is promoted by the school’s leadership.

© Enchanted Learning Ltd. 2015

The Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS)

CLASS (Pianta, La Paro, & Hamre, 2008) is an evaluation framework for classroom observation that identifies three main domains and a number of dimensions within each:

Emotional Support

Classroom climate (positive and negative) – warmth, respect, enjoyment, enthusiasm Teacher sensitivity to student needs regard for student perspectives – respect for student autonomy, interests, motivations

Classroom Organization

Behavior management Productivity – time management, maximizing opportunity to learn Instructional learning formats – activities that maximize engagement

Instructional Support

Concept development – focus on higher order thinking Quality of feedback Language modelling – questioning, expanding, use of vocabulary

© Enchanted Learning Ltd. 2015

Rosenshine’s Principles of Instruction

Rosenshine (2010, 2012) has summarised at least 40 years of research on effective instruction with a key set of principles that maximise its impact. The starting point for this evidence base is a set of correlational studies linking particular observed classroom teacher behaviours with higher student outcomes. For each of these principles there is also experimental evidence showing that attempts to train teachers in adopting these behaviours can result in changes in teacher behaviours and improvements in student outcomes.

In outline the ten principles are:

1. Begin a lesson with a short review of previous learning

2. Present new material in small steps, with student practice after each step

3. Ask a large number of questions and check the responses of all students

4. Provide models for problem solving and worked examples

5. Guide student practice

6. Check for student understanding

7. Obtain a high success rate

8. Provide scaffolds for difficult tasks

9. Require and monitor independent practice

10. Engage students in weekly and monthly review

 ©Enchanted Learning Ltd 2015

 

 

 

 

Characteristics of Highly Effective Teachers of Numeracy, from Askew et al

Highly effective teachers were characterised by beliefs about

What it means to be numerate:

§  having a rich network of connections between different mathematical ideas

§  being able to select and use strategies, which are both efficient and effective.

They used corresponding teaching approaches that:

§  connected different areas of mathematics and different ideas in the same area of mathematics using a variety of words, symbols and diagrams

§  used pupils' descriptions of their methods and their reasoning to help establish and emphasise connections and address misconceptions

§  emphasised the importance of using mental, written, part-written or electronic methods of calculation that are the most efficient for the problem in hand

§  particularly emphasised the development of mental skills.

How children learn:

§  almost all pupils are able to become numerate

§  pupils develop strategies and networks of ideas by being challenged to think, through explaining, listening and problem solving.

They used teaching approaches that:

§  ensured that all pupils were being challenged and stretched, not just those who were more able

§  built upon pupils' own mental strategies for calculating, and helped them to become more efficient.

The role of the teacher:

§  discussion of concepts and images is important in exemplifying the teacher's network of knowledge and skills and in revealing pupils' thinking

§  it is the teacher's responsibility to intervene to assist the pupil to become more efficient in the use of calculating strategies.

These teachers used teaching approaches that encouraged discussion, in whole classes, small groups, or with individual pupils.

Less effective teachers believed in the importance of either

§  pupils acquiring a collection of facts and standard methods, and that pupils varied in their ability to remember these. They used teaching approaches that:

o   dealt with areas of mathematics discretely

o   emphasised teaching and practising standard methods and applying these to abstract or word problems without considering whether there were alternative more efficient ways of solving a particular problem.

or

§  developing numeracy concepts using practical equipment and waiting until pupils were ready to move onto more formal methods. They used teaching approaches that emphasised pupils working things out for themselves, using any method with which they felt comfortable.

 

©Enchanted Learning Ltd 2015

 

IGCSE

THE INTERNATIONAL GENERAL CERTIFICATE OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (IGCSE) IS THE GLOBALLY RECOGNIZED QUALIFICATION FOR STUDENTS AGED 14 TO 16, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO WISH TO BEGIN THEIR EDUCATION ABROAD EARLY. THIS PROGRAM PROVIDES EXCELLENT PREPARATION FOR A-LEVELS, IB DIPLOMA, AND OTHER PATHWAYS TO UNIVERSITY.

WHAT IS THE PROGRAM?

One or two years of study that prepares you for the International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE), a respected qualification for high school students.

WHO IS IT FOR?

Students aged 14 to 16 who wish to progress to an IB Diploma or A-Levels preparation program.

WHAT QUALIFICATION DO YOU EARN?

IGCSE Certificate, based on examination results in a range of 5 academic subjects.

ACADEMIC REQUIREMENTS

Completion of an elementary school education and documented proficiency in English. 

ENGLISH REQUIREMENTS

IELTS 4.5 / TOEFL 103 CBT / 34 IBT / SLEP 43 minimum or the equivalent on the free EF Academy test.

PROGRAM LENGTH

2 years (6 terms)

©Enchanted Learning Ltd 2015