Chapter_3

= // To Teach: The Journey of a Teacher // =

Chapter 3: Creating an Environment for Learning

In this chapter, Ayers discussed his thoughts on creating a classroom where students desire to learn - something we obviously hope all of our teachers strive to do. What do you do in your classroom that reflects some of what he is proposing?

(O'Donnell): As I was reading this chapter, I took away with me three reoccurring themes: organization, examples of student work and creating an environment to challenge students. In my classroom, everything has a place. Students know where I keep the dry erase boards, where their warm-up folders go, where to find a pencil, etc. There is normally a procedure or routine associated with it. This helps keep my classroom organized and helps students take ownership of the classroom. On my walls I hang up student work, but I could do a better job. I have been in schools that cover the walls. It makes quite the impression on visitors. In order to make a challenging environment in my classroom, I try to create an environment where students can ask questions. This helps to build the confidence of the students. I also offer challenge problems and enrichment activities to supplement the curriculum. I am always impressed at how many students are willing to go above and beyond when they feel safe and it is offered to them.

(Pfaff, N.): One of Ayers' (2010) beliefs is, "learning is an active process that requires energy" (p. 73). This is one of the things I strive for most in my classroom. As a high schooler, I remember walking into my first ever football meeting with the head varsity football coach. I, as well as the rest of the football players, hung onto every word he said. Why? He said everything with use passion, and at such a high level of energy. As I had the pleasure of listening to him speak for four years I learned that in order to get gain the attention of your audience you need to sound passionate and energetic about whatever it is you talk about. If you teach with at a high energy level, kids hang on every word you say. If kids see you excited they are excited. When your kids hang on every word you say they learn. In a sense, it's entertaining to the kids. They never know what you are going to say next. They are always wondering, 'What's this crazy guy going to do next?" I feel that lures them in and keeps them engaged. After some time passes, there attention, just becomes a habit.

(Langenfeld): I'm in the unique position of being able to individualize my instruction based on my observations and assessments of my student. The first ten days of Reading Recovery lessons are spent "Roaming in the Known". During this time, I firm up partially known items, confirm known items, assess oral language, set expectations, boost bruised egos, and generally figure out the cutting edge for this child in both reading and writing. I need to figure out fairly quickly what motivates and engages this child. I use this knowledge in my book choices, conversation starters, and as a source of writing. Creating an environment where students desire to learn is very difficult especially when I am asking them to work intensively for 30 minutes at a fast pace at something that is very difficult for them. Right now the boys I work with love superheros and computer game fantasy characters. From the looks of my teaching space you would think I loved them, too!

(Weires): In chapter 3, Ayers (2010) describes scene after scene of enthusiastic students being allowed to marvel at what they have learned. While most of his examples center around younger students, this does transfer to the high school as well. I hope that students in my class are comfortable enough with their peers and with me to not be embarrassed by thinking that math is fun. The other day we "discovered" a really big concept in calc. I heard many say "wow" or "that's cool" and no one looked at anyone else like they were crazy for thinking that. Unfortunately, there isn't time in calculus class to let the students discover all of the concepts on their own (even Newton took longer than a class period to figure out what was going on). There are topics, however, that students can explore and discover with a gentle nudge (OK, shove) in the right direction. When they figure out why or how something works or they discover a shortcut that can save them some time, they are eager to share. I would have to say that trying to establish this type of "math-is-fun" thinking is much more difficult with lower level classes. Many have lost their enthusiasm for the subject because of past struggles. There is not much appreciation for the beauty of the subject and more of a demand for direct applications. It is much tougher to sell learning for learning's sake in these classes.

(Pfaff, N.): Commenting on Weires. I agree with you Karen, I think in course such as calculus it may be more of a challenge to get kids to act enthusiastic. However, speaking from someone who has never taken calculus, do you think that high school students in this course are self-motivators. It seems to me that students who have excelled to this level of math do so because they love it. I never has a huge desire to take calculus, but I loved Algebra, and I did pretty well at it because I experienced success and was driven, internally, by that success. I have a feeling, that the kids in your calculus classes find math, "to be fun." Because you create an environment in which they feel safe to learn and are driven by their own success.

(Sebring): I'd like to say that I'm very fortunate to teach what I do in order to create an environment for learning. I believe that some of aspects of creating a positive learning environment is related to content area. When content area involves educating youth on substances and reproductive anatomy, it really sets the stage for greater focus on the material that is being taught. The beauty behind these concepts is even the lower level learners participate and have fun during the instruction. Other factors that I implement in our learning environment is the room decor (which includes the posters, charts, data center, etc. and also the set-up of the tables- which we call workstations). On the first day of class, we write a class (I often refer to them as a team) mission statement, along with personalized student mission statements. Many of these ideas were mentioned in Ayers' book. One area that I believe is important of the creation of the positive learning environment is the ATTITUDE of the teacher. What a difference it makes!

(ODonnell commenting on Sebring): I agree that content area can play a part in creating a positive learning environment. I can only imagine how boring teaching reproducation would be if no student felt comfortable enough to ask questions. The most important is to just create a safe environment where students feel comfortable sharing.

(Wendler): I am going to take a bit of a different route with this chapter. As instructional coach, my job is to help teachers get interventions in place to help students in their areas of need. In our kindergarten rooms, this has been a challenging task this year. The teachers are resistant to use their time doing interventions, but spend 45 minutes at the end of each day for "centers." During this "center" time, as someone who has never really worked in kindergarten, all I see is kids playing. I have worked so hard this year to get these teachers to use this time for interventions and one-on-one instruction with students, rather than play. I did some exploring in to past years test scores compared with other kindergarten classes in the district. I was surprised to find that our students are achieving at or above the level of district peers. I wondered to myself, "How can we be 'keeping up' when the kids spend 45 minutes each day just playing." After reading this chapter, my view has been changed a bit. The reason these kids may be keeping up is because these kindergarten teachers have created and environment where the students are exploring and inducing self learning through their experiences during centers with their peers. Now there is no evidence that this is indeed the case, but it has shed some light for me on how these children may be keeping up, without the prescribed instruction the district has laid out for us.

(Van Heukelom) In the letter from the parent in chapter two, the parent writes, "Will you help him develop problem solving skills, or will you teach him that school is where you try to guess what answer the teachers wants?" (p. 53). This question stands out to me because a problem solving environment is what I try to convey in my classroom environment. I have lots of books, and materials (kind of like Ayer's closet) that I want my students to utilize to help them find answers to their problems and/or questions. In my first few years of teaching, I felt like I gave too many "answers" to my students. They asked...I gave. I realized this and last year I put a little note to myself on my computer that read, "Don't give your students the answer." This note was a daily reminder to myself that helped me build an environment that I am proud of. I want my students to know that they are smart and can find answers on their own. We also have a saying written on our board that is not to be erased that reads, "Learning is Negotiation." I can't take credit for this saying - it is part of our new Science approach - but it also exemplifies what my classroom environment is about. I want my students to discuss and participate and feel that they have a voice. I want my students to work together and listen to each other to figure things out. (Marty): After attending an all-day professional development session, watching the adults chew gum, drink soda or coffee, play with fidget toys, I started thinking how unfair it is that we expect kids to go all day with nothing comforting like this. I started a home-comfort items program, which allows students to chew gum in my classroom, have a stuffed animal or beanie baby to cuddle. There were restrictions in how the items could be used, but it seemed to create a safe environment. It didn't fix all problems with behavior, but the kids seem to have less need for eating pencil erasers, and they seem relaxed-sometimes a bit too relaxed, but I am glad that I started the program.

(Pfaff) I am a first grade teacher and I am fortunate enough to have a room that has a door that connects to another first grade classroom. This other first grade teacher and myself have had the opportunity to do a lot of sharing of amongst our students. This helps us with both guided math and guided reading groups. We are able to share the students and this has seemed to work since we were put in these rooms three years ago. Also we run stations in our classrooms that students get to work on during guided reading time. I have four work stations in my room (classroom library, math, poetry, and writing) and the other teacher has four stations (computer, listening, ABC, and big book) in her room. I feel by having our students in both rooms and mingling with each other helps promote learning and is a new/ fun environment to be in rather than in their own classroom. Also I feel by blending the students they get to form relationships with other students. According to Ayers, "The point here is to broaden the range of skills, interests, talents, and intelligences that are stimulated and developed."(p.71)

(Weires commenting on Pfaff) Great idea to combine the classrooms, Heather. I can see where students would find it fun to be able to go to the other room for some of their work. Not only is it good for the students, but as teachers you can share the work needed to put together high-quality centers for your students.

(Pfaff) commenting on Wendler: I thought it was interesting to hear your perspective in terms of an instructional coach. I see how you felt that the kindergarten teachers should be using this 45 minutes for instruction rather than playing. I guess students still need that interaction with students during the day in kindergarten and playing is one way the teachers do this.

(Bischoff) I am the “At-Risk” coordinator at my school. My usual class stars with discussing a current “Hot Topic” or problem the students have. I do this to get to know my students at the beginning of the year and I continue so I can bring up a “Hot Topic” where they can hopefully learn a lesson. Most of the time the students want to bring up an issue they have with a student, teacher, or family member. I tell them they should not use names in front of the class. I feel this helps the students build a trust with me. I also ask them questions to see how they are going to response or handle each situation. I try to teach them how they react or treat people is going to affect the outcome. Ayers talked a lot about the environment of the room. By talking and getting to know these students I create an environment where they know they can trust me and come to me when they need help. I have had students come to me when they are upset by a certain teacher so they can vent to me rather than vent to the person they are upset with.

(Lowery) I have to be honest and state that I don't do really anything that Ayers recommends in this chapter in my own classroom. Part of the reason is due to always moving and construction, but the other part is I haven't had that coaching or exposure to the physical environment being vibrant in color, shapes and objects. For me, this chapter was hard to swallow due to the critical nature it took. I have taken this chapter and began to work on gaining the students interest through connecting it their outside world from school. I believe that there has to be some connections made to all areas of their lives, but it is difficult for a teacher when they teach the foundation of all the courses that get all the fun. That is just my view. Nothing special...

(Hawkins) When I was in the Physical Education classroom this was a huge area for our content area. It seems as kids either love or hate PE class. Their aren't too many in between. We use to try all sorts of things to improve the learning enviroment and get kids to want to attend PE, not just because it was good for them, but so they began to think exercise was "fun" I would let students bring in music to use throughout the lessons. It was amazing how listening to the music they enjoyed, helped with the climate of the class. I also did many activities or stations where they were able to pick their own partners. This way they felt like they had a choice and they were able to work with someone they felt comfortable with. Sometimes that would back fire but for the most part, giving kids some choices improved the motivation in the classroom.

(Hach) commenting on Hawkins - I also have tried to increase student participation in some of my classroom activities by letting my fourth graders pick their own partners (or groups) in hopes that by feeling more comfortable with their working partner/group members they will be more willing to participate in the activity. This was never really an option when I taught first grade, but like you said with older, more mature students I see it increases motivation for the most part.

(Hach) I try and set up the physical environment of my classroom using many of the things Ayers suggests – warm and inviting areas, displaying student work, defined work areas, etc. However, the part of this chapter that resonated most with me was Ayers bullet point list about his core beliefs about learning and the purpose of schooling (p. 73-74). My school received a rather large science grant with the expectation and requirement that we teach science using a very new and innovative way (at least in my opinion). Many of the requirements for how we must “teach” science are similar to Ayers beliefs about learning, including: · People create and construct their own learning – with this new approach students guide their own learning, their questions lead us to where and what we study, their misconceptions stay misconceptions until they prove themselves wrong. · People learn best when they are allowed to explore – with this new approach students create and design their own tests and experiments (teachers provide any needed materials), this allows students complete ownership in what they are doing and if something fails or doesn’t turn out how they thought it would then their knowledge changes and learning takes place (learning does not occur by reading a textbook, filling out a worksheet, or by a teacher telling them the answers). These are just two ways this new science method fits into Ayers list, but really most of this chapter fit very nicely with this new approach we have embraced for science (and have begun to expand to other subjects).

(Jones) - One of the things that I try to do in my American History classes that I think creates an environment where students are interested and motivated to learn is to ensure that all students see themselves in the curriculum. “I want them (students) to see themselves in books and to see, as well, worlds that are dazzling in their diversity.” (Ayers, 2010, p. 72). Traditionally Social Studies classes have been taught from only one perspective but I think it is important to teach from multiple perspectives. As a result, I constantly try to infuse diversity into the curriculum so that students have the opportunity to see themselves in what we study. In my experience this practice has been highly motivating for many students because they can relate to the curriculum on a personal level. I often see students who seem disinterested in history take a genuine interest in some of the topics that we study because they see relevance and connection to their own lives.

(Wendler commenting on Hawkins): Amy I couldn't agree more about choices for kids. It helps them to take charge of their own learning. When students take ownership of their learning excuses go out the window and you have created an environment where students have motivation to learn rather than learning because the are required to be there!

Hawkins commenting on Sebring)- I totally agree that a teacher can really make a class interesting/exciting and improve engagement in their students. The nice thing about your content area is that all students take your class and the class relates to the real life activities they will all face at one time or another. Kids like to be around teachers that have energy and make relationships with them. Teachers that go through the motions are easily seen by students.

(Merritt): In a way, I kind of think I have it a lot easier than a lot of teachers. With me being a computer science teacher, I've found that the majority of the students that walk into my room come in with a great interest in what we are doing since it is different than most of the classes they take during the day. One thing that helps me is something that Ayers recommends and that is project work. Nearly everything we do is a project (typically multi-day) that students really take an interest in. Part of the reason that happens is because I give guidelines on what I need to see done on the project (i.e. this type of formatting, this many pages, this color change, etc.), but allow them to make a lot of the customization decisions on their own. When they feel like they are having some decision as to what goes into the project, they tend to be more interested. Also, I like to make an environment that allows for open communication with classmates. I allow students to help each other out, sometimes work in small groups, but always provide each other support and show each other their finished products. When they know that they are going to show their peers their work, they want to make sure they are doing things the best that they can.

(Baldry) On page 75, Ayers says, "we long for community--for places of common vision, shared purpose, cooperative effort, and personal fulfillment within collective commitment." As an ESL teacher, I have classes of 7-12 students. With these smaller classes, I am able to really work on building community. I also see many of the same students 2-3 times a day, whether they are in my advisory, a class I teach, or I class I am in as a co-teacher. This allows me to build stronger relationships, which include mutual trust, with these students. I recently had an administrator from another building in the district compliment me on the community he saw when he spent 15 minutes in my classroom during a walk-through. I think this really speaks to smaller class sizes. I realize that our budget crises across the state and nation have forced class sizes to grow and grow, but I really think one way we could improve education is through reducing class size, especially in classes with large numbers of high-risk students. It's so much easier to build strong communities in those classrooms with smaller numbers. We need to try to give these opportunities to those students who need them.

(Rial) In my classroom I have the opportunity to help students promte their bodies health. By doing this we give the kids choices. Choices in activities form a wide variety. However, some students don't respond well to some choices and it is my obligation to explain why we are providing these choices. The big theme in our classes is to promote healthy lifestyles while preparing kids not only for the future but for our goals on the Presidential Fitness tests. All the activity choices we provide for our students coenside with the fitness tests. The students see the pictures of past national and presidential winners up around the school and it motivates them to make that choice to becaome physically fit. Not all are motivated just on that though. We as educators provide these choices but we also need to provide motivation to choose. Providing students the right to choose enables us to see them grow as physically active students.

(Hughes) Creating a classroom where children desire to learn is tapping into their interests and connecting the meaning of learning taking place. As Ayers states, “Environments tell us what to do” (p. 63). I work hard on the message of my classroom and adjust it continuously. I add and adjust areas in the classroom based off of student interest or need. As an early childhood educators, environment is a huge focus for creating learning. I try to establish ownership as Ayers explains throughout the chapter. One thing that works for my students is giving them freedom to decorate the room with learning and monthly information on walls. At the beginning of each month, the students are in charge of clearing the calendar, weather chart and walls of thematic work. They have tape and new information to display in the room. As an educator, I work on not controlling where things go or if it is hanging straight (very hard to do). Of course I assist and guide ideas, but I try to leave wall displays where students decided to place them. I found, students are excited and interested in being a part of this process. They learn information about each month by par-taking. For example, students hang the new month and sequence the numerals taken from the calendar. As this happens, they talk about what events happen annually, why certain pictures are used in a pattern and discuss birthdays of the month, be it their own or family members. This allows for teamwork and ownership of what is hanging in their environment. Ultimately, there needs to be time for students to develop a sense of belonging in a classroom. The biggest thing I struggle with is having the time to create an ideal environment. I think as long as educators work to improve continuously, it is a step in the right direction.

(Wylder)––Inspiring student learning in my own classroom begins with the curriculum. One thing that I had utilized is the technology component. Students have a 90 minute block of reading where they are taught whole group and small group lessons and are not allowed to leave the classroom. In each small group we will read about a particular topic and then I will show students how to look up more information on a topic using YouTube clips and other internet resources that extend their learning. For example, the other day students were reading about different types of artwork and read specifically about mosaics. They had never seen one before, so I showed them pictures from my own vacation from Washington D. C. when I visited the National Cathedral and the pictures I had taken. Students got to see what mosaics really looked like and how elaborate they could be. The questions that the students posed were fantastically insightful and created a great discussion about art and its creation. Ayers wants a structure for students to engage in exploration, I think this is an example of exploration happening in a structured manner.

(Wylder commenting on Rial)––Giving students choices in their learning activities is a great way to increase student participation, engagement, and retention of desired skills. I know that a there are still students that shy away from physical education due to their own perceptions of being uncoordinated. I think our next step is, how do we get our coordinated students to value the uncoordinated students which can encourage the overall growth of fitness skills we want students to attain.

(Griswold) Chapter 3 describes exactly what our program tries to do every day. We try to get students to enjoy learning again. We are mostly project based (recently web based as well) in all subjects and the projects are related to real world applications. When I teach psychology and sociology, I relate the projects to tasks that were related to things that social workers or psychologists will do on a daily basis. Or, for business class they have to create a business plan for new business. Career Education class involves work in exploration of careers, includes a plan for future careers, and usually guides students in possible projects while they are at FP.