creating the

Environment
for learning

Arranging The
Classroom

we

should consider the effects that

various arrangements are likely to
have on students behaviors.
Ultimately, we want a situation in
which we can:
Minimize distractions
Interact easily with any student.
Survey the entire class art any
given time.

Creating An Effective
Classroom Climate

We must also consider the

psychological environment, or
classroom climate, that we create.
We want a classroom in students make
their own learning a high priority and
feel free to take the risks and take the
mistakes so critical for long-term
academic success.

To create such a classroom climate, we

should:
Communicate acceptance of, respect for,
and caring about our students as human
beings
Establish a businesslike, yet
nonthreatening, atmosphere
Give students some control over classroom
activities
Create a sense of community among the
students

Setting Limits

Setting reasonable limits on classroom

behavior not only promotes a more
productive learning environment but
also contributes to students
socialization by encouraging them to
develop behaviors essential for
successful participation in the adult
world.

Suggestions for setting reasonable

limits on students classroom behavior

Establish a few rules and procedures at

the beginning of the year.
Present rules and procedures in an
informational rather than controlling
manner.
Periodically review the usefulness of
existing rules and procedures.
Acknowledge students feelings about
classroom requirements.

Planning Activities That

Keep Students on Task

Plan activities that not only facilitate

students learning and cognitive
processing but also motivate students
to want to learn.
think about how to make subject
matter interesting and incorporate
variety into lessons, perhaps by
employing colorful audiovisual aids.

Monitoring What
Students Are Doing

Effective teachers communicate

something called withitness: they know
(and their students know that they
know) what students are doing at all
times in the classroom.

They regularly scan the classroom and

make frequent eye contact with
individual students.

Modifying Instructional
Strategies

When our students are learning and

achieving successfully and when they
clearly want to pursue the curriculum
that the classrooms offers, they are
likely to be busily engaged in
productive classroom activities for the
most of the school day. .

when they have difficulty

understanding classroom subject
matter or when they have little interest
in learning it, they are likely to exhibit
the nonproductive or even
counterproductive classrooms
behaviors that result from frustration or
boredom

Five Basic
Elements of
Cooperative
Learning

Positive Interdependence

This means the group has a clear task

or goal so everyone knows they sink or
swim together.
The efforts of each person benefit not
only the individual, but also everyone
else in the group.
The key to positive interdependence is
committing to personal success as well
as the success of every member of the
group.

Individual and Group Accountability

The group is accountable for achieving

its goals, and each member must be
accountable for contributing a fair
share of the work toward the group
goal.

The performance of each individual

must be assessed and the results given
back to the group.

Interpersonal and Small

Group Skills

Interpersonal and small group skills are

required to function as part of a group.

These are basic teamwork skills. Group

members must know how to - and be
motivated to - provide effective
leadership, make decisions, build trust,
communicate, and manage conflict

Face-to-Face
Prommotive Interaction

This means that students promote each

other's success by sharing resources.

They help, support, encourage, and

praise each other's efforts to learn.

Both academic and personal support are

part of this mutual goal.

 Completing tasks
Communicating
Decision making
Managing conflict
Appreciating group
members

Group Processing

Group members need to feel free to

communicate openly with each other
to express concerns as well as to
celebrate accomplishments.

They should discuss how well they are

achieving their goals and maintaining
effective working relationships.

Nonlinguistic
Representatio
ns

Nonlinguistic
Representations

Nonlinguistic representation enhances

a student's ability to represent and
elaborate on knowledge using mental
images.

It represents an imagery mode of

representation. Imagery modes include
mental pictures, physical sensations,
smell, taste, touch, kinesthetic
association and sound.

Below is a list of classroom

recommendations:

Use graphic organizers to represent

knowledge.
Have students create physical models of
the knowledge.
Have students generate mental pictures
of the knowledge they are learning.
Use pictographs to represent knowledge.
Have the students engage in kinesthetic
representations

Patterns of
nonlinguistic
representatio
n

Descriptive Patterns

They can be used to represent

facts about specific persons,
places, things, and events.

The information does not need

to be in any particular order.

FACT

FACT

TOPIC
FACT
FACT
FACT

Time-Sequence Patterns

Organize events in a specific

chronological order.

Eve
n

Eve
nt

Eve
nt

Eve
nt

Eve
nt

Process/Cause-Effect

Patterns Organize information into a

casual network leading to a specific
outcome or into a sequence of steps
leading to a specific product

EFFECT

Episode Patterns

a setting (time and place)

specific people
specific duration
specific sequence of event
particular cause and effect

PLACE

DURATION

TIME
CAUSE

PERSON

EPISODE

PERSON

EFFECT

PERSON

Generalization/Principal
Patterns

Organize information into general

statements with supporting examples

Principle
Example
Example
Example

Draw Pictures and Pictographs

Symbolic pictures that represent the

knowledge that has been learned
Flip books
Illustrate vocabulary

Concept Patterns

The most general of all patterns

Organize information around a word or

phrase that represents entire classes or
categories of persons, places things,
and events

Example

CHARACTERISTIC

CONCEPT
CHARACTERISTIC
CHARACTERISTIC

Example
Example
Example
Example
Example

Example

Make Physical Models

Concrete representation of the knowledge

that is being learned
Souvenirs/tokens
3D models dioramas
File folder reviews

Actions speak
louder than
words

T
H
E
R
EP
O
RT
ES
:

Cheryl Borra
Gwendolyn Garcia