Ms. Yorke's
Standard #3: Learning Environments
The teacher works with learners to create environments that support individual and collaborative learning, encouraging positive social interaction, active engagement in learning, and self motivation.
Summary: To me, this is one of the most important standards for teachers. Engagement is the difference between a student who learns, and one who does not. This standard implies that I must develop meaningful lessons that meet learner preferences, get students interested in the content, and motivate them to succeed.
Artifact 1: Hands-On Activities (collage)
Essential Knowledge: 3 (i) Understands the relationship between motivation and engagement and knows how to design learning experiences using strategies that build learner self direction and ownership of learning.
Description: These photos are just a small sample of the many hands-on activities I included throughout the semester. The grouping of the activities varied; some required small groups, some required pairs, and some required independent work. Each activity required physical and mental involvement with the content and appealed to various learning styles. Regardless of the activity, every student was engaged and had a role in their own learning.
Artifact 2: Jeopardy!
Performance: 3 (b) Develops learning experiences that engage learners in collaborative and self-directed learning and that extend learner interaction with ideas and people locally and globally.
Description: My unit got broken up quite a bit with snow days and other changes in the school calendar, so to help refresh students' memories, I created a "Jeopardy!" game to review content before their summative assessment. The students were in small groups and I kept track of each team's total. At the end of the game, each student got to add their team's total to their checkbooks. At the end of the year, the students get to use the amount of money left in their checkbooks to bid on items in an auction.
Rationale: Each activity changed the traditional pace of the classroom and immediately engaged the students. The activities were fun and encouraged positive social interaction amongst students and myself. The classroom climate was relaxed which promoted risk taking and got students interested in what they were learning. My goal from the beginning was to make the learning fun and engaging. This was ultimately achieved through the use of these activities.
Rationale: Since students knew that their team's total at the end of the game would be added to their checkbooks, students were motivated to work cooperatively with their group members to get the highest score that they could. This meant that they had to be engaged with the content and be able to discuss and explain ideas to their group members. Again, this was a fun way for students to review the material and collaborate with their peers. It created a relaxed environment and allowed all of the students to feel comfortable and participate.