H3 – Honor the classroom/school community as a milieu for learning. Creating an environment where the classroom and school community are conducive to learning is essential part of effective teaching. Learning should take place in a variety of forms and in a variety of environments within the classroom and school. Teaching is dynamic and through careful planning and reflective practices, instruction should reflect the dynamic nature of teaching to ensure students’ are engaged in learning, learning is relevant to standards and student prior learning, and appropriate for students’ development and various learning needs. This can be accomplished in part through the practice of honoring the classroom and school community as a milieu for learning.
As a teacher, I have more control over creating a milieu for learning within my classroom but I can also find ways to foster this environment for learning within and throughout the school community. During my internship I had the opportunity to honor the classroom and school community as a milieu for learning during our Ecology unit. During this unit we had multiple opportunities to learn in our classroom and throughout our school community as we journeyed outside to explore different concepts of ecology. One such opportunity to create a learning environment within the classroom and school community occurred when I had students design and carry out their own field study. Students worked in groups of two or three, to design a procedure based on a field study question they were interested in investigating. Students then went out into the school community to collect data and carry out their procedure, students then wrote a conclusion based on their results. To help guide students in designing their own field study, I began by giving them background information on what a field study is by discussing a field study I had conducted in my undergrad. I have found discussing and providing examples that are more personal grabs students’ attention better and is more engaging. To structure the design of our field studies we used a template for our procedure and conclusion that students may encounter on the end-of-course (EOC) exam. This allowed students to continue to prepare for the upcoming EOC. This was a very engaging activity and depended on the classroom and school community as a whole to make this learning experience complete and effective. It is rewarding as a teacher when you can create learning activities that can foster learning throughout the school, honoring this ideal that learning should be holistic and not just occur in the classroom but should occur throughout the school community.
Samantha Whisenhunt bportfolio 