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Jennifer Willie ED PS 6451 Final Paper There are three essential components to creating a productive classroom: management, environment

and instruction. These components work together like a three-legged stool. If the stool were to be missing a leg, it would not be stable. The same is for a classroom, if any of the three components are missing, the classroom would not be stable. Throughout this paper, we will explore the three essential components and how various learning theorists have influenced their implementation and development. Classroom Management Classroom management is one of the most important components of the classroom. Without it, the curriculum might as well be thrown out the window and the students can go home. The first two to three weeks of the school year are devoted to developing routines and procedures with the students; as well as setting expectations for what should and should not be done within the walls of the classroom and school. The sooner students are able to master basic classroom routines and procedures, the sooner they are able to start academic learning. Behaviorists believe that learning is an observable change due to interaction with the environment or stimuli. Just as Ivan Pavlov was able to train dogs to salivate when they heard a bell, students can similarly learn classroom procedures in the same stimulus-response fashion. For example, when I want their attention, I ring a chime. The students know that when they hear the chime, they are to stop what they are doing and look at me. We practice talking and stopping talking with the chime. The class is rewarded points (which can later be exchanged for extra recess, field trips, etc.) when they demonstrate the correct behavior. Similarly, the class loses points when they dont respond in the correct way to the chime. Other procedures and routines are established in a similar method of stimulus-response. Students, individually or as a whole group, are rewarded for correct behavior and there are consequences for incorrect behavior. As the school year goes on, the rewards are slowly removed, until procedures become automatic. Automaticity, a cognitive principle that occurs when something becomes habitual, allows students to focus their attention on more important, academic topics rather than procedures, thus freeing their cognitive load. Learning Environment The learning environment in a classroom should be cultivated so that students have the confidence in themselves that they can succeed. In Albert Banduras learning and motivation theory, he discusses the idea of self-efficacy. Perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs in ones capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments (Driscoll, p. 316). For example, a student who feels like they have the ability to learn cursive will most likely have a lot more patience as they learn to read and write in cursive, compared to a student who feels the letters are too tricky and confusing to learn. Self-efficacy is an individual internal thought process, as the teacher nurtures the student through support and scaffolding, a students self-efficacy can develop or be strengthened. An example of this teacher support is through Lev Vygotskys Zone of Proximal Development. The Zone of Proximal Development states that students have different zones: undeveloped capabilities, developing capabilities and developed capabilities. In the zone where capabilities are developing, students are able to successfully complete tasks with assistance from an adult. As students experience success with harder tasks within the developing capability zone, their self-efficacy can grow.

Jennifer Willie ED PS 6451 Final Paper In addition, as noted by constructivists (and several other theorists), the learning environment should be engaging and as realistic as possible. Students cannot be expected to learn to deal with complexity unless they have the opportunity to do so (Driscoll, p. 394). The idea of presenting realistic situations and materials will be further discussed in the instruction section. Instruction When preparing and teaching instructions, there are many factors be considered. Factors to consider include: students abilities, motivation and interest. Jerome Bruner, a stage theorist, suggested that people go through three different stages when learning new materials or skills. As students begin to learn a new concept or skill, they are in the enactive stage, where knowledge is best achieved through hands-on experiences. As students continue through the learning process and stages, they enter the iconic phase where they are able to visually represent their new knowledge. Finally, as students knowledge becomes more concrete, they enter the symbolic phase where their knowledge can be represented symbolically, or in an abstract way. Thus it is the role of the instructor to support students and tailor instruction and materials according to which stage they may currently be in. For foundational skills such as recognizing sight words or basic math facts, there comes a time when those skills must be automatic. As discussed in the classroom management section, Cognitivists discuss the idea of automaticity, where a certain task, or in this case sight words and math facts, are automatically known or recognized. Thus lessening the cognitive load to allow students to focus on other things, such as more comprehending what theyre reading. An example of where automaticity becomes important is when students reach the age where they must be able to compute double and triple digit addition and subtraction problems. For students who have not achieved automaticity with their math facts, performing the more difficult task of double and triple digit computations is a frustrating and slow process. Material that needs to become automatic is presented repeatedly, with frequent opportunity for practice; examples of this would be flash cards, word lists or timed tests. In other learning situations, the cognitive idea of automaticity is neither appropriate nor needed. When learning more difficult or abstract concepts, the Constructivism approach of learning in context is the most appropriate. Constructivists believe that a students knowledge is constantly changing and being added to. Students construct their knowledge by building on what they already know. More responsibility is placed on the learner, as the instructor moves into the role of facilitator. In my classroom, mathematics is a natural place for the Constructivist approach to fit into a content area. As the teacher, I facilitate conversation between students, but students do most of the teaching and exploring together. When first learning about multiplication, before any of the basic facts have been memorized, students are encouraged to explore different ways to solve the equations. They can share their ideas with the class, thus giving them ownership of various methods, as well as instant feedback from their peers. Methods may include using pictures, skip counting or graph paper. As students are able to share their findings, they become motivated to continue exploring and think outside of the box. Using this approach gives students the confidence, or self-efficacy to later try harder problems. As the three essential components, management, environment and instruction work together, like the three-legged stool, students will be become autonomous, self-propelled learners (Bruner).

Jennifer Willie ED PS 6451 Final Paper

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