MY CLASS, MY HAVEN
AN IMAGE OF OUR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
I believe that in order to achieve the goal of high level learning, we must first meet the immediate social & emotional needs of our children. Where ever I am, no matter what school, students need to feel safe, secure, and comfortable in their learning environment. At that point they will feel safe to take academic risk in the classroom.
I create a sense of calmness with an approach that comforts students using their senses, and sparks curiosity. How you ask? Low calming background music (hear), scent warmers (smell), lighting kept dim (sight), natural sunlight, illumination from the aquariums, plants (nature). (Relationship building) Getting to know my students and building caring relationships is key. I find that in most cases the best learning outcome and behavior management happens when relationships are strong between students and teachers, and teachers and families as partners. I have also found that behavior problems are lessened with positive relationships because students won't want to let you down.
Use of animals in the classroom. Exposure to a variety of animals sparks curiosity, excitement and motivation as well as a therapeutic effect.
Students are to take ownership of all classroom habitats. This builds a sense of community in the classroom and fosters the development of responsibility and compassion for animals as pets and species of our natural world. Each aquarium is set of to reflect that organisms natural habitat. It is my hope and goal to inspire a generation that will peruse the biological, environmental, animal welfare, and engineering career paths.
AN IMAGE OF OUR LEARNING ENVIRONMENT
I believe that in order to achieve the goal of high level learning, we must first meet the immediate social & emotional needs of our children. Where ever I am, no matter what school, students need to feel safe, secure, and comfortable in their learning environment. At that point they will feel safe to take academic risk in the classroom.
I create a sense of calmness with an approach that comforts students using their senses, and sparks curiosity. How you ask? Low calming background music (hear), scent warmers (smell), lighting kept dim (sight), natural sunlight, illumination from the aquariums, plants (nature). (Relationship building) Getting to know my students and building caring relationships is key. I find that in most cases the best learning outcome and behavior management happens when relationships are strong between students and teachers, and teachers and families as partners. I have also found that behavior problems are lessened with positive relationships because students won't want to let you down.
Use of animals in the classroom. Exposure to a variety of animals sparks curiosity, excitement and motivation as well as a therapeutic effect.
Students are to take ownership of all classroom habitats. This builds a sense of community in the classroom and fosters the development of responsibility and compassion for animals as pets and species of our natural world. Each aquarium is set of to reflect that organisms natural habitat. It is my hope and goal to inspire a generation that will peruse the biological, environmental, animal welfare, and engineering career paths.