Week 3: The Learning Environment

Good class displays can be used to meet instructional needs and build classroom community

In the beginning of our proactive management module, it’s important for us to consider the overall environment that we prepare for our children.  This week we looked at what we need to consider to make our students comfortable in their classrooms.  For the next two weeks, we will be looking at other things that we can use to fill our classrooms and manage our students proactively.

For the second half of this week’s class, we took a look at the four major considerations teachers need to think about when they are putting a classroom together.  Everyone did an excellent job brainstorming in their groups about what are the building blocks of an effective learning environment.  One thing I always love about this activity is that there are always new ideas that I have never heard before.

A "quiet space" is great for when kids need 

to manage emotions.

 The concepts that we talked about in class may not fit everyone’s teaching situation the same.  So, for homework this week everyone needs to bring their own version of a classroom to share with friends.  Think about your individual teaching situation.  Do you have a classroom of your own?  Do you share with several teachers?  If you could have all the money in the world to design your own classroom, how would you do it?  You can use the paper that was handed out in class to cut, paste and draw your classroom or draw it by hand or on a computer.  Just show me that you put some effort into it and be ready to explain your ideas to the class.  Do your best to think of some fun and original stuff! 

If you need them, here is the furniture sheet from class, a fancy classroom design tool and another more simple version for you to use.

Here's next week's agenda: Class Rules