Standard II - Creates/Maintains Learning Climates

Over to the right you'll see a picture of a bulletin board I created for the juniors that I taught. It's a bulletin board about persuasive techniques. Within the bulletin board there are small amounts of humor because of the advertising slogans I picked out to use for it. That's my environment. Humor. I love humor in the classroom. If you look at Standard I, you'll notice my Curriculum Framework on Writing Humor in the Secondary Classroom. Within that document I have researched and found that humor in the classroom helps create an environment of less stress and better communications. Throughout this year I have found that to be true. When I'm smiling and laughing, so are my students. However, they are learning at the same time.

There are two other concepts that I feel are important in helping to create a learning climate. One of them I mentioned on my home page. You have to know your students. The second one is a way to get to know the students: communication. Throughout the rest of this standard you'll find evidence that shows how I set up an environment that improves communication and entices the students to learn through humor and other means.

You'll notice I call the students and classes "my" students and classes. However, I was a track B student which means I was student teaching. However, I got to know the students so well, I felt they were mine also.

The Magic Attention Getter - Penguin Magic - I've had two hobbies since I was 8 years old: computers and magic. If you look at the lesson plans I listed in Standard I, you'll notice a few of them use magic tricks to get the students' attention. This goes along with the humor in the classroom because I believe entertainment as a whole helps in getting the students to do their work. I don't just freely pick a trick and go with it though. Instead, I pick a trick that can be used as an anticipatory set for the lesson. It leads directly into the lesson. Maybe because of the patter I use for the trick, such as telling a story that deals with the day's lesson. Maybe because the trick itself leads into the lesson. Penguin Magic is the supplier I use for all of my tricks. Brick and mortar magic shops are not nearly as popular as they used to be.

Persuasion Bulletin Board - This is the actual document I created to make the bulletin board depicted above.

Replies to Student Letters - At the beginning of the year, students in my Creative Writing class wrote me a letter. I do not have the letters because I gave them back to the students for their grade. But I do have my replies to their letters. Names have been removed for privacy. This document contains all of my replies.

End of Year Letters - This is another group of letters I wrote to my students. I wrote these for my last planned day of student teaching. I handed them out to the students and watched as they smiled.

"Numbered Heads Together" - This was a group method I learned from a class at Morehead State University. So I can't take credit for the method. However, I chose to implement it. I reflected on that implementation on the discussion board of our school website. Make sure to read the method document first. Following is what I wrote about the method:

• First, let me say I love this group method. Second, I'll tell you some of my details for it.
• Although I'm track B, there is a class I knew quite well, so I used this method there. The class was mixed with 9th-12th graders.
• I used it as a review of information AND to teach NEW information (Students who "get it" normally tell others how to "get it" too when points are involved).
• I required 10 points as a grade. Anything after that, they got bonus points for. If an answer was particularly good (most of my questions came from the top 3 levels of Bloom), I gave it 2 points.
• I had my students tell each of the answerers "Thank You" when they got the answer right. "Tell Joe thank you for the point." "Thank you for the point, Joe." It was like getting applause after a play. They loved it.
• I let them do the random numbers most of the time. Sometimes I did it myself. And half of the time I did it myself, I fudged the randomness. However, I sometimes let the students know I was fudging. This helped keep them even more on their toes because they knew I'd still specifically pick on them sometimes. When they did it, I called them the "Master of Destiny." They liked the term, so it stuck. They also loved to raise their hands to be the NEXT "Master of Destiny."
• I didn't have dice with me, so I used bookmarks with numbers on them. When they got to do it, it was like a "pick a card" type of thing. And if a particular student REALLY wanted to answer the question, well, sure, if their number had been called, SOMETIMES they would ACCIDENTALLY see the bottom of the bookmarks before picking one out. *wink wink nudge nudge*

'Numbered Heads Together' (NHT) was the best version of group work I've ever used. I'll give you this story to explain why: In one of my classes I had a student with Downs Syndrome. I used the NHT method during that class. I let the students in the group know he was going to be part of their group. The kinder kids took him in and showed him what was going on. About the third question, I fudged the randomness and picked his number. The kids worked hard with him to make sure he knew the answer. I then fudged the random group roll and picked his group. He stood up, gave the answer proudly, and sat back down. Now, in my version of NHT, since the kids are earning the entire class points, I make them say thank you to each person who gets it right. Well, when he sat down, he got a round of applause and was told thank you by the entire class. It took no pushing from me for the class to do so. He was smiling brightly. A week later, he came up to me and told me 'I still know the answer to that question, Mr. White. Want to hear it?' I said 'Sure. Let's hear it.' and he spouted it off perfectly with another big smile on his face. Now, if THAT'S not an example of a great teaching tool, I don't know what is.

The lesson I used this on is located in the first standard. I'll link it here for ease:

• Steps 11-12 - Lesson Plan
• Steps 11-12 - Questions Handout

This particular method takes care of many issues in a classroom. Students work together. There is plenty of wait-time for questioning. Higher level students can help lower level students. Classroom management issues seem to dwindle when employing this method because the students are heavily involved in the assignment. I'm just really impressed with everything this method takes care of. I plan to use it often in my own instruction. And once again, if you notice my changes to the method listed above, I've incorporated some form of humor to keep the situation enticing to the students.

Walking and Other Classroom Management Techniques - If you look at the picture in the banner of this web page you'll notice me standing. That picture is actually a picture taken of me in front of the classroom. The part including the students has had filters applied to make it look like a chalkboard. But I am a walker. I walk around the classroom constantly. This helps improve my knowledge of how the students are doing (quick assessment by looking at their work), but it also helps me to make sure the students stay on task. Following are the steps I take to handle my classroom:

• When a disturbance happens, I walk to that area of the classroom. This normally causes them to stop.
• If just walking there does not help, I speak to the students and mention that they need to stay on task and/or that they are being rude.
• If talking to them does not work, I send them into the hallway with their belongings. I then step outside and have a conversation with them. That conversation determines whether I write them up and/or send them to the office.
• If the case is sever to begin with, they go to the office and I write them up.

So, although I use humor in the classroom, the students also know that if they do not behave I will quickly take harsher methods to control the situation. Here is a copy of the rules I have created to use in my classroom. These will probably change as I gather more experience at teaching.

Room Layout - As for actual physical climate of the room, this document will show you the layout of the room I student taught in. I loved the layout of the desks. The ones in front of the teacher's desk pointed towards the Activboard. The ones to the left of the teacher's desk pointed towards the teacher's desk. Considering the space available, it was the closest I could see the class as being in a discussion group style circle. I love discussion groups. It's my favorite method of teaching. When I wanted to have a full class discussion, this particular layout helped tremendously with that. I'll probably adopt a similar layout depending on space constraints in my own classroom.

Reflection

I have used many techniques I have learned at the university and the high school to create a learning environment. The ones I have found to be most helpful have been humor in the classroom, the "Numbered Heads Together" method of group work, and the rules I've created to inform the students what I expect of them. I've also found that well planned and implemented lesson plans can curb most classroom management issues because you constantly have the students doing something so they don't focus on trying to cause problems. And if you differentiate your lesson plans, you will find that you will have activities that every student can relate to.

Once again, however, none of this can truly be accomplished unless you know your students. Know your students. Know your students. Know your students. You're going to see this a lot in my portfolio. It is, to me, the most important tenant of education a teacher can accomplish.

"Out of life's school of war: What does not destroy me, makes me stronger."