TAP+Environment

Please post ideas here for creating a Welcoming Classroom Environment: TAP Rubric: Examplary, for Environment The classroom:
 * welcomes all members and guests
 * is organized and understandable to all students.
 * supplies, equipment, and resources are easily and readily accessible
 * displays student work that frequently changes.
 * is arranged to promote invidual and group learning.

__Classroom Examples: Student Work- Ownership; How do I get home?; Community Supllies; Desks- Arrangements__

__**Welcomes all members and guests**__ __**Is arranged to promote individual and group learning**__

**is organized and understandable to all students.**


**supplies, equipment, and resources are easily and readily accessible**


 * 11 Photos that follow from Lisa, Michelle E., David, and Nicole


 * [[image:100_0131.JPG height="360" caption="Organized and understandable to students"]] ||
 * Organized and understandable to students ||


 * [[image:100_0130.JPG height="360" caption="Welcomes members and guests"]] ||
 * Welcomes members and guests ||


 * [[image:100_0126.JPG height="360" caption="Welcomes members and guests"]] ||
 * Welcomes members and guests ||


 * [[image:100_0123.JPG height="360" caption="Organized and understandable to students"]] ||
 * Organized and understandable to students ||


 * [[image:100_0122.JPG height="360" caption="Organized and understandable to students / Arranged to promote individual and group learning"]] ||
 * Organized and understandable to students / Arranged to promote individual and group learning ||


 * [[image:100_0121.JPG height="360" caption="Arranged to promote individual and group learning"]] ||
 * Arranged to promote individual and group learning ||


 * [[image:100_0118.JPG height="360" caption="Displays student work"]] ||
 * Displays student work ||


 * [[image:100_0117.JPG height="360" caption="Organized and understandable to students"]] ||
 * Organized and understandable to students ||


 * [[image:100_0116.JPG height="360" caption="Arranged to promote individual and group learning"]] ||
 * Arranged to promote individual and group learning ||


 * [[image:100_0115.JPG height="360" caption="Arranged to promote individual and group learning"]] ||
 * Arranged to promote individual and group learning ||


 * [[image:100_0114.JPG height="360" caption="Organized and understandable to most students"]] ||
 * Organized and understandable to most students ||

// Article to share on Arranging Classrooms by Kristina Balassi //

// Article Title: Arranging the classroom with an Eye and Ear to Students with ADHD // []

//As of 2001 it was estimated that// //ADHD effects// //3% to 5%// //of school aged children. This article discusses different ways to arrange your classroom that are beneficial to children who struggle with this disorder. This article focuses on the four major difficulties that students with ADHD struggle from Hyperactivity, Impulsivity, Inattention and distractibility, and Disorganization. Having a son who suffers from ADHD I understand and struggle with these difficulties at home and at school. The article suggests instead of isolating the child with ADHD to instead surround them with well-behaved desk neighbors. This will promote and encourage positive peer interactions. I plan to suggest this to my sons teachers. For the last two years my sons teacher have isolated him from the class, nothing positive came from this other than making him feel like an outcast. I found this article to be very informative and plan to implement some of it's ideas into my classroom.//

LINK TO ARRANGING CLASSROOM ARTICLE DENA WALTER DV MAC

[]

ARTICLE TITLE

** Preparing the classroom environment to promote literacy during play [|*1] **

** COMMENT FROM DENA WALTER ( ** ﻿Great article Dena. The relationship between content and classroom arrangement is often overlooked. Consider how you might arrange your classroom to promote math learning in a classroom. Paula) ** EED 521 Arranging Classroom Article Assignment **

** I HAVE WITNESSED THE BEHAVIORS DESCRIBED IN THE ABOVE ABSTRACT OF A CLASSROOM ARRANGEMENT ARTICLE IN MY OWN DAUGHTERS AS THEY GREW UP. THEY LEARNED MORE WHEN THEY PLAYED. I DID NOT KNOW THAT EDUCATIONAL SCIENCE HAS CAPTURED DATA TO STUDY THE EFFECT OF PLAYTIME AREA ARRANGEMENT ON LITERACY. I WANT TO FIND OUT MORE ABOUT THE OTHER STUDIES REGARDING ARRANGING PLAY AREAS TO IMPROVE LEARNING. I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN IMPRESSED WITH THE AMOUT OF DETAIL THAT A VERY YOUNG CHILD CAN ABSORB AND USE IN DAILY LIFE. A WONDERFUL RESULT OF PLANNED PLAYTIME IS WHEN CHILDREN WANT TO READ. ** // COMMENT FROM DENA WALTER //

// RE: CHALLENGING CHILDREN ARTICLE //

// The article used a situation that a teacher experienced with a student that had bad temperament that interfered with teaching to describe changes in teacher response strategies that have developed in education. Per this article, the classroom environment improves with relationship building between student and teacher. I agreed with this concept and with the no punishment strategy in this article. The teacher in the example situation was allowed to interact with the “difficult” student by helping with providing basic needs such as grooming in the morning to build a bond by allowing “caring” with a lesson plan. I found the suggestions useful for my classroom planning. ( ** ﻿There are a lot of different takes on classroom management and motivating students. Managing through relationships is certainly a positive route for many teachers and students. This article probably best relates to the descriptors under Respectful Culture on the TAP rubric whereas the article you placed above fits nicely with Environment PT). **//   COMMENT FROM DENA WALTER RE: RESPECTFUL CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT ARTICLE I am surprised that so few people practice these principles of respect in the day to day activities in the workplace and school. Some students may need to learn to trust that the respect from a teacher is real. The teacher’s gestures of respect could be a ploy to gain popularity during a lecture or a positive work evaluation. Such a manipulation of a student’s trust causes misunderstandings and a sense of betrayal which would most likely decrease student performance. Therefore, I agree with the article that respect will increase effectiveness of instruction, but the respect must be real and not orchestrated. ( ﻿Well stated. Again, this fits better under Respectful Culture. The student/teacher relationship is key for learning to occur. PT) 



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MICHELLE DEVITA'S ARRANGING CLASSROOM ARTICLE ASSIGNMENT

Article Title: "Room Arrangement as a Teaching Strategy"

[|Authors:] [|Dodge, Diane Trister]; [|Kittredge, Bonnie]

**I found this article on Eric Ebscohost. It is originally a video but it is also available in text. While I was unable to get the text version off of ERIC, I decided to use this article off of the abstract alone because I think it is very relevant to what we have been talking about regarding planning your classroom environment. My favorite sentence from the article is this: " A well-ordered classroom promotes learning, helps build a classroom community, and frees teachers to observe and interact with children in positive ways". I completely agree with this sentence and I think that it sums up the importance of taking time to plan everything out in your classroom's environment. I have noticed the effort my mentor teacher has put in to planning her classroom environment. Every item in her room serves a purpose to the students. She has lights everywhere to give students more light to read by, she has lots of green plants and cushions everywhere to make the students feel comfortable, she has specifically arranged the seats at tables to form little groups within the classroom community, and she has all supplies and materials neatly organized and labeled so they are easier for the students to locate. This article only emphasizes what I already know about the importance of carefully planning out every details of your classroom's environment to suite student needs.** Creating respectful classroom environments: Lisa Rae Frank

In this article Wessler (2003) states that a respectful classroom means different things to different people. He feels that students need to feel physically and emotionally safe and valued for whom they really are. By lowering the effective filter you can create an environment where anything is possible. Teachers are responsible for modeling what appropriate behavior looks like and for informing students what their expectations are to themselves first and others as well. They also feel that by putting those expectations on the parents, other teachers, and even community as well helps with the student development. I feel that Paseo Hills does a GREAT job at creating this type of atmosphere, from the top to the newest teachers to even us as interns. We are expected to model appropriate behavior at all times while encouraging students proper behavior as well.

Twelve rules for arranging your classroom: Lisa Rae Frank http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/firstyear/252

This article discusses how important it is to set up your classroom by decorating the wall space by incorporating a diverse array of images. Arrange desks so students can participate in groups and solo. You should also add a welcome sign somewhere and keep a spot open for original student work to be displayed the 1st week so students can learn about each other. Another way we learned from teachers last week is to try to get things from other teachers they aren’t using anymore, or by creating our own things!

Reaction to the article “Arranging the Physical Environment of Special Education Classrooms” by Sam Minner and Greg Prater – David Accessible at []

While ostensibly an article targeted towards special education teachers, there is a lot of good information here for any teacher, especially a first time teacher, setting up a classroom. The authors isolate several key factors to keep in mind when arranging the classroom environment: proximity, view, separation of space, and reduction of stimuli. Teachers will want to keep in mind that proximity is a great discourager of behavior problems and arrange their classrooms so that they are never far from student groupings and students needing regular individual behavior modification. It is important to have a classroom with clear sight lines, where students are never out of view and barriers do not obstruct or allow for mischief. If possible, separating the classroom into three separate areas – group instruction, individual seatwork, and free time areas – can be advantageous. Finally, it is important to arrange the room so that windows and doors aren’t easy distractors for students.

I enjoyed the straightforward, helpful information found in this journal article. Though it probably isn’t practical in most mainstream classrooms due to size limitations and the average number of students in a class, I thought the idea of segmenting the room space into three separate areas was inspired. The authors also suggested that each area would have its own individual rules, guidelines and decorum to be taught and followed.

Reaction to the article "Arranging the Classroom with an Eye (and Ear) to Students with ADHD by Eric Carbone - Roxi   []   This article addresses the issue of dealing with ADHD students in the general education classroom by offering teachers ways to physically alter the classroom in order to manage student behavior more effectively. While not all students are technically ADHD as defined by medicine and the law, the traits that ADHD students exhibit are some of the same behaviors we find in our non-ADHD students (although to less extreme degrees). Any strategy that helps us effectively deal with hyperactive and inattentive students should be highly appreciated. Much of the article discusses some of the same things that we have been seeing and talking about in classrooms: different sections of the room to accommodate individual and group work, a “recovery seat” for the student to calm down when frustrated, and reward systems to encourage socially appropriate behavior. However, one interesting suggestion by the author was to set up a “listening area.” This area consists of earphones connected to some sort of listening device and serves multiple purposes. First, it allows the student an area to listen to any oral instructions they may have missed. Second, it filters out distracting background noise when the student is completing new or complex tasks. Finally, because studies have shown that a moderate amount of background noise is actually conducive to learning during routine or familiar tasks, the student can listen to mellow music during such activities. I thought this was a really interesting strategy, and it left me wondering just what kind of music one should play. A little Nine Inch Nails maybe… =)