How can I create and cultivate a positive learning classroom environment so that my students have an educational setting in where they can learn best? This idea is extremely important to me because I work with a group of young learners that is often subject to hardships that are out of their hands. Therefore, creating a space where they can relax and feel happy and excited about learning is of utmost importance.
As a teacher, I feel that is necessary for me to have several guiding principles that help me understand my “Why”. As stated by Simon Sinek, knowing your “why” will inspire you to go above and beyond to accomplish your goals. Furthermore, knowing my “why” will help me remain focused with my end goal in mind which involves helping my students become successful in their learning. More than that, it will keep me grounded and passionate about my teaching which will transcend in creating an atmosphere of positivity in my learning space and help my students will feel welcomed, loved and appreciated.
Therefore, I believe that students learn best when they are a part of a positive classroom learning space. Besides, creating a positive learning environment will lower my students’ affective filter. Stephen Krashen states that that learners with high motivation and a low level of anxiety are better equipped to learn. With that being said, I will always strive to cultivate an environment in my classroom that will allow students to feel accepted, be encouraged to be themselves and to take risks.
Moreover, this belief has been my driving force throughout my teaching experience. I’ve found that regardless of the type of community, I have noticed one constant. When students sense that you genuinely care about them as an individual, they will always strive to give their best with any task you set before them.
Lastly, I believe that happiness and kindness are contagious. Being able to provide my students with a setting that encompasses both, is and always will be, one of my main driving forces as an educator. Happiness and kindness help me peel back those layers of worry and doubt from my students while assisting me in building a rapport with my little ones.
After taking time to figure out my “why”, I started contemplating ways that I could help facilitate the goal that I have in mind. To create a positive classroom space because I believe that this type of environment helps students learn best. I’m going to use a variety of tools and strategies to help me reach this very important mission of mine.
The first tool that I’m going to use is an app called ClassDojo. ClassDojo is a digital tool that will be used to help recognize and reward the presence of positive classroom actions. While keeping in mind my main focus of creating a positive classroom setting, I thought it would be best to use ClassDojo for the purposes of assigning and recognizing class-wide rewards. Bringing attention to good things that everyone contributes to in our classroom will help further motivate students to learn. In my opinion, this is the purpose of school. Michael Wesch would agree with my last statement as well because he also believes that to be true. He also states that learning is a fundamental human trait and that failure should not discourage you from learning. Lastly, ClassDojo will grant me the opportunity to share our classroom success with parents in real time, which I believe will aid in reinforcing the positive atmosphere in our class.
Additionally, I plan to help the increase the positive culture of my classroom by instilling in my students benefit of becoming a “bucket filler, which is the act of being kind to others.” This concept will be introduced through two read alouds titled “Have You Filled A Bucket Today?” and “How Full is Your Bucket?” These stories are going to make contributions to my classroom by assisting me in teaching the importance of being kind and respectful toward others. In the long run, these books will help with increasing and recognizing positive moments in and outside of our classroom. To bring this phenomenon to life in our classroom, students, visiting adults and teachers, including myself, will have the opportunity to drop a ball inside our “class bucket” whenever they are a part of or witness an act of kindness taking place. I believe this too will help in establishing a positive classroom setting.
As stated before, I believe that students learn best when they feel welcomed and appreciated. I feel that this could also be done with ensuring that students are greeted every morning by myself and their peers. I feel that it is necessary for my students to be greeted by a smiling face as soon as they enter the walls of our classroom. Therefore, I will always make it a point to stand by the door every morning so that they are greeted upon entering the classroom. Next to the door is a display that asks students the following question, “How Do You Want to Be Greeted? For instance, they have a choice of being greeted with a smile, hug, handshake, high five or hug. To me, this will be another way to help set the tone of our classroom and help students feel accepted and loved. Often times, my students come to school with extra burdens and social emotional issues that are derived from their home life. A simple friendly greeting is just what they need to get through the day. Which, again, is why having a safe place for my students is of utmost importance to me.
It’s also equally important and imperative that my students are able to greet each other every morning. Beginning next school year, to help facilitate this goal, I’m going to implement a daily morning meeting session which is one of the key principles and practices behind responsive classroom. As cited on the website, the responsive classroom approach was developed by classroom teachers as way to emphasize the importance of helping students develop positive social emotional growth. I’m considering having my morning meetings take place right after breakfast and I figured that I could use technology to help with the implementation. For instance, I will use google slides to create our daily morning message.
Finally, creating a space that allows students to feel welcomed and engaged could simultaneously be achieved by designing a classroom space that is set-up and organized for learning. In other words, when mapping out my classroom layout, it would be best if I took the time to really take the following elements into consideration as I construct a classroom space that welcomes all children which will help me cultivate a welcoming environment for my learners. I will ensure that my classroom is clean and has a space for whole group instruction as well as small group instruction to take place. My furniture will be age appropriate and the desks will be aligned in a way that promotes collaboration between students. It will also be arranged in a way that enables students to easily move around the classroom. Students’ work will be displayed around the classroom, materials will be labeled, and most importantly, I will have a clear line of view from any point in the classroom.
I believe that by creating a welcoming classroom setting to all my learners would assist in helping my students learn. I plan to implement digital tools and strategies such as using ClassDojo, other forms of technology, principles of the responsive classroom to help with making students feel welcomed in my classroom. Each of these methods should help support my guiding principles and help my students succeed.
As we know, technology is continuously changing the world of education and it’s important that we stay informed on the latest trends involving tech. Currently, I would describe myself as a “Techno-traditionalist" because I am able to use technology proficient enough to accomplish traditional classroom tasks such as creating lesson plans, sending and receiving email, designing morning messages, study templates, skill worksheets using google slides, implementing digital tools such as ClassDojo.
Throughout this course, I became inspired by many of the course texts that was discussed. In relation to this project, I feel as though the beliefs of Sinek and Wesch aligned more with my task at hand. Case in point, Simon Sinek's’ belief teaches us that knowing your “why” helps one to develop a clear purpose in life. His pedagogy resonated with me deeply because it inspires me to continue to show up at work every day with the mindset of making students feel welcomed and appreciated because I believe that this one belief of mine will help facilitate strong learning abilities amongst my students.
Wesch on the other hand, believes that we could help change the mindset of feeling insignificant in our students by creating a classroom culture that encourages meaning discussions to help promote critical and creative thinking skills. This particular claim from Wesch inspires me to design my classroom in a way that easily allows my students the ability to collaborate with others. In addition to, developing lessons and discussions that empowers my students to work with each other in hopes of them expanding their critical thinking skills.
Nonetheless, I became inspired by several others, even though their claim did not exactly align with this particular project. Moving forward, my teaching and life experiences will be influenced in some way or form by the beliefs and major claims from Turkel, Christensen and Boyd. The teachings from these authors resonated with me in several ways. For instance, Turkel’s belief about the overuse of technology will continue to encourage me to reflect on the role that technology has on my life. As Dena brought up in class, we need to really take the time to “Disconnect to Connect” with others. This will be one of my new mottos in regards to technology use.
Christensen’s belief about the “secret education” will challenge me to use the lens of SCWAAMP when introducing my students to new texts and concepts in class. While Boyd’s belief about empowering youth with the ability to critically think inspires me to teach my learners about the importance of understanding media literacy. It’s important that students understand the messages and hidden biases that are sometimes found in texts and digital media sources.
As stated before, my belief is that students learn best when they are taught in an environment that is safe, positive and motivating. Therefore, creating a space where students can relax, feel happy and excited about learning is of utmost importance to me, because I believe that this is how students learn best.
My Final Product - Review of Class Dojo
