Creating High Performance Learning Environments

In this blog post I'll review three learning environments and which techniques I could use or adapt in my classroom to help my students succeed.

Project-based learning in a fifth grade STEM class
 Academic Expectations
In this classroom, the teacher begins by clearly stating the day's objective and reminding them of how their previous work on this project can help them complete the task. This is a great way to set the tone for the lesson. Possibly more importantly, the groups are set up so that each student has a unique job and is responsible for different aspects of the project. This shows the students that each of them must participate and contribute to the assignment, and is a great way to make sure everyone is involved. Since there are certain aspects of the project that one person would have been responsible for, the teacher is able to assess how that student performed on their task.  She has clearly set this classroom up for success.

Behavior Expectations
Due to the nature of the project, students must do independent planning work, then collaborate,  troubleshoot together and reach consensus to create a final product. The teacher also implements a great feedback activity called "chiming." Each group chooses a spokesperson who shares their successes and failures of the previous work day with the class. The other students may "chime in" as well. This is an opportunity for formative assessment, surely, but also creates a space where the students have to self-assess and other groups may affirm them or share suggestions. The amount of listening to each other and and collaboration that happens among the students is impressive.

Norms and Procedures
Aside from the "Chime" activity and the group jobs mentioned previously, another successful procedure in this class was the budget and "shop" the students used to purchase their product  supplies. Although no money was exchanged, the groups had to reach consensus on their purchases, which involved having conversations about which materials would work best for their roller coaster and budgeting their spending. The norms and procedures in this classroom created an environment where the students had to collaborate, think critically, be responsible for their contribution to the work, and develop "real-world" skills as well.

Math lesson in a third grade, Chinese-immersion class
 Academic Expectations
 Although this was a short video, there were some good examples of high academic expectations. The students were well-engaged with their math drills. The numbers or equations they were repeating had a rhythm to them that seemed to keep the students participating. Based on this article, it might be safe to assume that the students are repeating centuries-old rhymes about number relationships. The downside to this short video is that it was not evident that the teacher was able to provide space for all students to participate or for her to even gauge that all students are participating, as she was in the front of the room. At one point, a boy can be heard saying, "why isn't she picking me [to answer]?"

Behavior Expectations
The teacher was keeping everyone on track with their routine, and as soon as they started getting out of control or speaking out of turn, she used some attention-getters to help them re-center. Those seemed to work very well for her group. I do not speak Chinese, but I do teach in a similar setting in a Spanish immersion classroom. It's often said of foreign language-immersion classrooms that they are "chattier" or "noisier" -- sometimes on purpose. Students are encouraged to repeat and practice language, and it can be a delicate balance of letting them vocalize the new language vs. keeping them on track. So, that being said, I saw some of that in this video and although the students weren't totally under control the whole time, I don't think that's necessarily "bad." But there may have been other ways of arranging that lesson that allowed for student engagement that would have been more constructive than speaking out of turn.

Norms and Procedures
The teacher clearly has taught these students a routine and they seem very engaged while they are reciting. Whether or not it is just rote recitation, I am not sure, but the article mentioned previously suggests that to some extent, China's math scores show that it makes a positive difference. The article states, "The goal of math education in China is to develop conceptual and procedural knowledge through rigid practice"(Wei). The other procedure that is evident in this lesson is the attention-getting chant. This seems to be effective, and the students seem to enjoy it. But, I would have liked to see how these students did with collaborative engagement or with some sort of method to make sure each student was being involved. Of course, it was a short clip of a lesson, so I can't be sure if that is happening at another time in the class.

 Whole-brain teaching in a ninth-grade geography class
 Academic Expectations
The video I watched about whole-brain teaching didn't show this very clearly, but from what I read online about the methodology, it is formatted to provide students with concise (1-minute) chunks of information, lots of repetition, both with the teacher and with each other. It makes information intake more manageable and includes body movements to help students absorb the information on multiple levels. As well, students are expected to participate and engage with the group (for example, with the "speed reading" activity) so it seems that academic expectations are quite high.

Behavior Expectations
What is most fascinating and impressive about this methodology is that classroom management is built in. Although it seems very "teacher-centric" (the teacher must be energetic and engaging and prompt the students constantly), it is effective. The students were focused, involved, and on task during pair work.

Norms and Procedures
This video was full of norms and procedures. The students clearly had been taught many of the norms, which seemed to be a mix of "call-and-response" and prompted behaviors--for example, repeating the page number they were turning to until they were all there. There were a variety of exercises that served as check-ins for both the students' attention and the information being taught. The student-led activities had clearly been practiced before. I can tell that a lot of time is spent on teaching effective routines and procedures in this Whole-Brain Teaching classroom.


Summary

There are a number of great methods that I could use in my Spanish-immersion Kindergarten classroom. While I feel that the Whole-Brain Teaching method would take some training on my part, I have a class of high-energy students who can be unruly at times, and the dynamic, kinesthetic approach of Whole-Brain Teaching would probably help them stay focused.  
As I mentioned before, the verbal engagement of the Chinese math class is similar to the approach I currently take of engaging my group as a whole and encouraging them to participate that way.
While project-based learning is more difficult for me to imagine in my kindergarten classroom, I think it would be beneficial to integrate more student-driven work into our routines. Even a more simplistic variation like assigning and/or rotating class jobs would be a great way for students to gain more responsibility for their behavior and academic achievement and would also encourage collaboration and real-world skills.

References

Chen, C. [Crystal Chen]. (2011, June 13). 3rd grade Chinese--math class.avi. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h7LseF6Db5g

Newell, B. (Producer). (2012). Roller Coaster Physics: STEM in Action [Online video]. WLIW. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/teaching-stem-strategies

[roxishayne]. (2011, May 31). Whole Brain Teaching Richwood High - The Basics. [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iXTtR7lfWU&feature=youtu.be

Establishing a Positive Classroom Climate

Schools and educators are not just in the business of teaching students academic material; we are also invested in teaching students interpersonal skills such as conflict resolution and social/emotional intelligence. While they may not retain or use every academic concept we teach, all students will eventually become adults who have to communicate and exercise self-control in their personal and professional lives. It is in our best interest as a society and as educators to help our students develop these important skills. Also, studies show that students who feel welcomed and safe at school will have higher attendance rates and higher standardized test scores.  For better or worse, many schools are judged on the outcome of standardized tests, so helping students to feel more comfortable at school and therefore be present and focused on their learning is also in the best interest of schools and districts.

My current teaching situation is a small, private school in a small, mostly white, mostly working- and middle-class town of only 4000 people. I have between 14 and 20 students in my class any given year. This year, all of my students are white, but while we may not be a racially diverse group, I still find it important to create a classroom culture that celebrates diversity and helps students of all backgrounds feel welcomed and safe.

Firstly, I teach Spanish immersion. My students are native English-speakers who are learning Spanish – I teach 100% of my content in Spanish, with the goal that by the time the students are graduated from our program as teenagers, they will be highly proficient or fluent in Spanish. It is a core tenant of our program to elevate the status of Spanish in our classroom by helping students develop a personal connection to Spanish-speaking culture(s). We do this by celebrating holidays (I lived in Spain so I focus on Spanish holidays), by reading books about important Hispanic historical figures, like Cesar Chavez and Frida Kahlo. I have even found books that talk about those two people as children, which is even more relevant to my kindergarteners. I am sure to include books in our curriculum that feature children of many racial or national backgrounds. I also am sure that my classroom posters feature diverse groups of children. As Perspectives for a Diverse America says, “Diverse classroom images affect students’ conscious and subconscious understanding of classroom values”(Perspectives for a Diverse America, p. 9). I want my students to develop empathy for people who are different from them. This will also help them to understand and embrace the differences they have between each other (IE students of different abilities, from different family or socioeconomic backgrounds).

Secondly, many students experience bullying, and this can have devastating impacts on students’ mental, emotional and physical health.  In kindergarten, this often comes out as playground taunting or physical intimidation. It is important that I incorporate social and emotional intelligence skills into my teaching, both to set a norm for my kindergarteners who are new to school, and to help them at this critical age in their psychological development. Kindergarteners can express themselves clearly through language, but sometimes haven’t developed the self-awareness or self-control to communicate without using tantrums or physical aggression. I use tools such as self-calming techniques (the Montessori “silence game” is a great starting place), controlled breathing, and creating a physical space (chair, quiet corner) where my students can go when they need to calm down or regain control.

I haven’t used any restorative justice techniques in my classroom before, but I an inspired to use dialogue circles as a means of conflict resolution. Learning to be active listeners and use “I statements” (“When you…. I feel….” format) will help students develop empathy and understand how their words and actions can hurt others. I believe this will help my kindergartners learn to think before they speak and put themselves in another’s shoes before acting on bullying impulses. I love the idea of training students to be “peacemakers” or facilitators of the dialogue circles.

Similarly, using the morning meeting time to check in with each student shows that I care, and creates a space for my students to get to know their classmates and develop empathy for one another.  I plan to include team-building activities to help my students further develop their cooperation and communication skills. I want my students to feel that our classroom is a sort of family, and that in our family there is mutual trust, support, and friendship. Especially as the teacher of young children, I want my students to feel like they can tell me about their struggles, whether or not they are related to school, and that I will help support and guide them through it. Luckily, with such a small class size, it is easy to develop positive relationships with all of my students, and I think that as the school year progresses they will realize that I am a trustworthy and caring adult in their life.

Finally, I want my students to all feel safe in our classroom, regardless of their background. It is important to me that I become aware of my own biases and do my best to break those down and create a safe space in my classroom. In kindergarten, it is easy to divide students by gender – I will not do this. I want students to learn to work together regardless of gender and to develop bonds with all of their classmates. As well, I will check my assumptions about class and family background. I don’t want students who come from a divorced or blended family to feel like their family background is “broken.” We talk a lot about our families in kindergarten, and I plan to celebrate all of our families by making a “family tree” where we can post photos of our families in the room. I will share about my own experience growing up in a blended family, and will be sure to display and read stories with my students about all kinds of families from all economic backgrounds.

Because of the amount of social and emotional growth that happens in kindergarten, I feel that this aspect of my job as a teacher is especially important. They are in school for the first time, and will learn behaviors based on my modeling that may stick with them throughout their school career. I know that I am not the only influence in their lives, but I will do my best to create a classroom environment that encourages my students to become empathetic, self-aware, communicative and open-minded people.

References
      Atkins, K. (Producer). (2015). Morning Meetings: Creating a Safe Space [Online video]. The George Lucas Educational Foundation. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMctALPpLF4  
      Edutopia. (2010, November 16). Smart Hearts: Social and Emotional Learning Overview [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4wOWEGyO60o    
     Morning Meetings: Creating a Safe Space for Learning (2015, August 12). In Edutopia. Retrieved September 2, 2016, from http://www.edutopia.org/practice/morning-meetings-creating-safe-space-learning 
     Perspectives for a Diverse America. (2014). Critical Practices for Anti-Bias Education. In Teaching Tolerance. Retrieved September 3, 2016, from http://www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/PDA%20Critical%20Practices_0.pdf   

     Ryan, C., Slattery, I., & Weimberg, G. (Producer). Bullying: Being an Ally [Online video]. Teaching Channel. Retrieved September 3, 2016, from https://www.teachingchannel.org/videos/be-an-ally#video-sidebar_tab_video-guide-tab