Learning Environment

(Students learning in a healthy environment)

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By: Asif Uddin

       The competent teacher structures a safe and healthy learning environment that facilitates cultural and linguistic responsiveness, emotional well-being, self-efficacy, positive social interaction, mutual respect, active engagement, academic risk-taking, self-motivation, and personal goal-setting. If any one of these are not set by the teacher, then student learning will be affected in a negative manner. The classroom environment needs to be set in place before the teacher begins teaching any content. If the environment is up in the air, the content the teacher conveys will also be up in the air.

       Their are many ways to have a great classroom learning environment. According to Paul Bogdan, do-it-yourself, student-to-student teaching, project-based learning, and student-centered learning environments are some of the more encouraging programs. Also, the integration of technology into every subject and at all grade levels allows unprecedented levels and types of exciting collaboration and learner to learner connectivity (2011). In my pre-clinical, students love working together with a partner. They are even more excited when they are allowed to choose their partner. I believe collaborative activities are one of the greatest methods to enhance classroom learning environment.  

Differentiated Instruction

(Multiple color pencils for multiple instruction)

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By Asif Uddin

Students feel so special when they know that their teacher wants whats best for them in regards to every aspect of their lives, especially in regards to student learning. Differentiated instruction is not putting all the students under one scope and using only one lens to teach them all. Carol Ann Tomlinson mentions in her book, differentiation means giving students multiple options for taking in information (1999). The teacher is not force feeding his/her method of teaching because it is believed to be the most correct method of instruction. 

In my preclinical experiences, I have seen when the teacher is providing information to the students as a class, not all the students are able to retrieve the information being presented. When the teacher recognizes this, she goes to each student separately to assist them or she puts them into stations and reteaches the material using another method to make sure students have been given the opportunity to learn in multiple ways. By doing this, it allows students to feel special because the teacher cares about student learning rather than just "the money".     

Diverse Students

(Diverse students working together)

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Teaching is a profession which extremely difficult, but it is also a profession which has biggest reward and impact on young lives. In every classroom, there is some type of diversity. Whether that diversity be based on students social, economic, cultural, linguistic, and academic experiences. Any competent teacher would not teach his/her classroom based on one culture or ethnic group. However, they will teach based off of the experiences of students and there learning styles. If certain students understand the material one way and other students another way, then the competent teacher will always find a way to assist in all the different learning styles.

It is extremely sad to see the tragically low academic achievement of students of color. I say this based off my preclinical experiences and talking with my cooperating teachers. Majority of the time, I see that the students falling behind in the assignments are these students. These students continuously fall through the crack and pass on to the next grade even though they should not based off of their grades. Teachers need to come up with a plan to help these students succeed. A great teacher is not one who further helps students who understand the concept being taught, but a great teacher is one who is able to help students that are struggling, remains patient, and continues to encourage students. Every student has their own specific learning style and until the teacher does not find that learning style, that student will never reach his/her full potential.