My ideal learning environment would have strong teacher-student relationships. During internship, my students would light up when I showed interest in their lives or connected our learning to their culture or sport they loved. I loved greeting my students at the door to check in with how they were doing. There was one day where I was unable to do this because of a meeting and I, myself, felt not as connected as usual. I listened to a podcast from Every Classroom Matters this morning about the importance of the first and last four minutes. Check it out, http://www.jackstreet.com/jackstreet/WECM.Sztabnik.cfm.
In addition, I want my learning environment to be active both in and outside of the school. Opportunities such as real-life learning experiences and collaborating with community members, parents, and others globally via technology. Furthermore, I want my students to feel motivated and safe, so I want them to be able to share their learning, ideas, concerns and comments. This can be done through talking and teaching about self-regulation and strategies that help balance our emotions and deal with conflict, consequences, success, and failure. As for the physical environment, the walls would display student work, thinking, and learning. The layout would allow for collaboration, small and whole group work, individual work space, various sitting and standing options and dimmed lighting (lamps). Technology in the classroom could be used as a tool to teach expectations as a citizen and digital citizen. Educating students about cyberbullying, citing information that isn’t theirs, protecting their personal information, how to find credible sources, and appropriate behaviour online can all be related to us as citizens in everyday life. Technology can also help meet the needs of the different learners that are in my classroom and assist with the development of 21st century skills such as collaboration, inquiry, communication, and the building of global connections.
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Dawn DustUniversity of Saskatchewan College of Education Post-Intern Categories |